AES Student Blog

We are happy to post some interviews with the student design competition winners of the AES 133 in San Fransico. Congratulations again!

honorable mention of category 1 (Undergraduate): Marc Messier

SDA: Tell us a little bit about you. Where are you from? Where and what do you study?

Marc: I am originally from Fall River, Massachusetts. I currently study Electrical Engineering at the University of Miami.


SDA: Tell us about your Design Competition entry. What were your inspirations? How long did it take to implement your concept? Any interesting stories?

Marc: My Design Competition entry started out as a project for my Electronics class. The assignment was pretty open ended: design something cool using the material covered in class. I had always wanted to design an analog audio synthesizer. My friend Jordan and I started out by playing around with a lot of different designs for oscillators and distortion effects, and the project grew from there.


SDA: What initiated your passion for audio software or hardware design? What was your first project?

Marc: I have been playing guitar since age six. I got really into electric guitar in high school. I loved playing with effects pedals. I didn’t understand how they worked though. To me, it was magic. That’s how I got into electrical engineering. Believe it or not, this was my first real hardware design project.


SDA: What is the biggest mistake you made during a project?

Marc: I generally feel that I should have spent more time researching other designs and implementing them to get a feel for what I was going for when I work on a project. Being a full-time engineering student involved with various clubs and organizations, it can be difficult to make time for such research projects though.


SDA: What are your highlights of AES 133 San Francisco?

Marc: I had a lot of good experiences during the AES 133 San Francisco Conference. I was thrilled to be a finalist in the Design Competition. I also got to spend time meeting other students who had a lot in common with me. I learned new things from the various sessions on product design. Overall, it was a great experience, and I think I’ll be attending many more AES Conferences to come.


SDA: How has the AES helped you on your way to becoming a successful engineer?

Marc: AES helped me out by giving me networking opportunities to meet people in the fields where I want to be one day, establishing a design competition where I can both showcase my talents and meet other passionate students in engineering, and bringing in distinguished speakers to provide learning experiences to students like myself.


SDA: Any other hobbies?

Marc: I have always been into music, but a new hobby that I am beginning to foster is traveling. I enjoy going to different places and experiencing the lifestyles of others. I spent some time in Mexico over the summer and Portugal this winter. I have had positive experiences.


SDA: Where do you want to be in 10 years?

Marc: I want to be working for a well known technology company on the west coast in 10 years. I’d like to have a job that involves traveling to different cities around the world.