Team
Name: Carissa Ouellette
Age: 25
Program: Electrical Engineering - Biomedical Option
Year: 4th year
Hometown: Edmonton, Alberta
Bio:
Carissa moved out west 2 and half years ago to pursue her Electrical Engineering degree. With her Electronics Engineering Technology diploma in hand, she took on the gruelling bridge program at Camosun and found her way into the 3rd year of UVic's degree program.
Now, 2 and half years later, Carissa is breathing a sigh of relief as she makes her way to the end of her studies. In August of 2013, less than a year from now, she hopes to move on and into the exciting field of Biomedical Electrical Engineering. Her eyes are widened with every passing semester and co-op term as she grows more excited about her future in such an exciting sector of engineering.
Teaming up with Dr. Gebali, Dr. Haytham, and a fantastic 399 team, she is able to explore the exciting topic of Binaural Synthesis: digitally creating 3D Spatial Awareness. She is excited to face the challenges that only few in the scientific community have taken on so far. While she feels this project will be challenging, she is confident that the 3D Stereo Navigation team can push the lines of innovation forward.
Carissa knows she can take life a little too seriously sometimes, so she's always sure to keep her balance by enjoying the company of friends, dancing her face off at a show or two, or perhaps just in her living room. She's always riding life with a little spunk, and will gladly ramble your ear off if you lend her one. With graduation on the horizon her excitement is probably warranted.
Name: Sean Cunningham
Age: 25
Program: Bachelor of Engineering, Electrical
Graduating Year: 2013
Hometown: Edmonton, Alberta
Bio:
Upon completing his diploma with honours in Electronic Engineering at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, Sean immediately set his eyes on a bridge program offered through Camosun College in Victoria, BC. Allowing him a "fast-track" through the equivalent of the first two years of university, Sean is now setting his sights on graduating in 2013 with a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering.
Finding his passion in signal recognition and processing, Sean has catered many of his personal and academic projects towards pushing his knowledge within this broad field in an effort to narrow his focus down further. A few of these past projects include a personalized MIDI controller, a consumer product designed to control gas valves and detect leaks from the tanks, and image acquisition and recognition software utilized by an autonomous aerial vehicle.
Discovering a high interest in the processing and synthesis of media-related signals (more-so than general information), Sean was naturally drawn to this 399 project which promised work with 3D audio synthesis. Sean has learned much more than he would have ever imagined within this field to date, and is excited at the prospect of the continuous learning this project has to offer.
In the future, Sean hopes to find a career utilizing audio and/or video information for computer vision and comprehension.
Name: Ben Mahlman
Age: 22
Program: Electrical Engineering
Year: 4th year
Hometown: Cloverdale, BC
Bio:
Ben moved out to the island straight out of highschool in order to pursue an Engineering degree at UVic. Despite having a strong interest in computer hardware and electronics from a young age, he had originally planned on entering the Mechanical program. However, a change of mind led him to instead pursue Electrical Engineering as well as a minor in Computer Science.
In his remaining time at UVic, Ben hopes to pursue a specialization in either Digital & Embedded Systems or Digital Signal Processing, as well as study more about electronics, communication and various engineering techniques. The 3D Audio project provides an excellent way to do all of these while helping to develop a very interesting design.
Name: Matt Holland
Age: 31
Program: Electrical Engineering
Year: 4th Year
Hometown: Campbell River, BC
Bio:
As a happy husband and father of two wonderful children, Matt is happy to see that his August 2013 UVic graduation is quickly approaching. He graduated from Camosun College in 2009 with a diploma in Computer Engineering Technology, and the following year he completed the Camosun bridge program into 3rd year Electrical Engineering at UVic.
Matt has taken full advantage of the Co-op programs offered at both UVic and Camosun, so he will be graduating with over three years of work experience in a number of different positions. He hopes this experience along with his academic performance will help him find a rewarding employment opportunity somewhere in Western Canada.
Matt has enjoyed working with his fellow 399 team members as they researched the exciting subject of binaural synthesis and worked towards developing fully featured 3D Audio synthesis software. He is especially excited to see where their ideas take them as they push forward with their project, and he looks forward to the challenges that await them next semester.