In an earlier, we had pointed out several theremin student design projects. Here, we mention theses and dissertations related (however remotely) to this hands-off instrument:
Visual Frets for a Free-Gesture Musical Interface, Leila Hasan, MIT MS EECS, 2001. Visible lasers provide frets.
Toward an Understanding of Musical Gesture: Mapping Expressive Intention with the Digital Baton, Teresa Anne Marrin, MIT MS Media Arts and Sciences, 1996.
Radical User Interfaces for Real-time Musical Control, Andy Hunt, University of York PhD, 2000.
Design of Virtual Three-dimensional Instruments for Sound Control, Axel G E Mulder, Rijks Universiteit Groningen PhD School of Kinesiology, 1989.