Jackie Moldawsky is a first-year PhD student in musicology at Rutgers University. She graduated summa cum laude from Drew University with a Bachelor of Arts in music and Italian, and specialized honors in music. At Drew, Moldawsky was a Presidential Scholarship and Music Scholarship recipient and completed a Specialized Honors Thesis called “Frédéric Chopin’s Life and Work: The Scholarly Debate and the Limitations of Nineteenth-Century Nationalism.” Upon completion of her thesis, she was given a Distinction in Music Research from the Music Department. She has been teaching private piano lessons for the past 10 years, both independently and in a school setting. As a scholar, Moldawsky’s focus is in ludomusicology, the study of game music, particularly the use of leitmotif which is the center of her masters thesis, “Birth of a Legend: Leitmotif as Characterization in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.” Moldawsky presented this thesis at GameSoundCon 2022 as part of the conference’s academic track. She has also presented at the Spring 2022 Rutgers University Musicological Society’s Spring Colloquium, on key relationships in the soundtrack of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Outside of her research, she currently serves as a faculty advisor for the Rutgers University Club for Video Game Music, and is a pianist, soprano and arranger for the all-volunteer New Jersey Gamer Symphony Orchestra.