IEEE Gold Medal - Computer Engineering
Engineering strikes a chord for medal winner

UVic has been kind to computer engineering graduate Daniel Vanderster. Or rather, he's been kind to UVic.

Not only has he graduated with the IEEE gold medal in computer engineering for having the highest GPA in his department, he's also spent four of his six co-op work terms on campus and has already begun his master's degree.

"I came to UVic because it was recommended to me by a high school teacher who was also an engineer," he says. "It was a great decision."

Vanderster says he thrives in computer engineering because it allows him to apply his skills to projects, and to see results.

He's also a musician whose pop rock band regularly plays at local venues. Vanderster, who plays the guitar, was able to fuse his musical knowledge with his engineering skills for his undergrad project. He and a fellow engineer designed a re-programmable guitar effects pedal that allows musicians to download specific effects from the Internet.

"Normally when you buy an effects pedal from a music store it comes with certain effects so that you can change the sound a guitar produces," he says. "Our pedal increases the diversity of sounds you can produce."

Vanderster's master's project is to develop a national supercomputer that will help process physics information and simulations. He decided to pursue a graduate degree after working for Dr. Randall Sobie during his final co-op work term. Sobie invited him to continue working on the project, and the rest is history.