THE GROUP FOR ELECTRONIC MUSIC (GEM) was founded in 1978 by Wesley Fuller (Clark University, Music), Stephen Jaspersen (Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Physics), and Shirish Korde (College of the Holy Cross, Music), devoted itself to the establishment and growth of Computer Music Studios at the three participating institutions, the development and teaching of courses in electronic music, the conducting of workshops for invited composers, and an on-going series of lectures, colloquia, and public concerts. Leading figures in the field have participated in these events.

The educational and curricular component of the program includes introductory courses in the history and techniques of electronic music, computer music and special seminars and directed studies in Computer Music techniques and composition, psycho-acoustics, and experimental music composition.

In the presentation of its concerts, GEM frequently includes music which has no direct involvement with the computer but which does explore contemporary compositional techniques. This is based on the belief that such exploration is one of the important areas of "related research".

GEM has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the George F. and Sybil H. Fuller Foundation, and the Mellon Foundation. Music created in the studios of GEM receive frequent international performances.

The current directors are Shirish Korde (College of the Holy Cross, Music), Linda Dusman (Clark University, Music), and Steve Jasperson (Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Physics).