We are proud to welcome two new distinguished members, Mr. Jeremy Caldera and Dr. Ed Nykaza, to our part time faculty, a team of highly accomplished and passionate audio professionals, scientists, technologists, and artists. Welcome Jeremy and Ed and thank you, among other things, for each of you undertaking a rather long commute every week to come and help our students!

Jeremy Caldera

Jeremy Caldera is currently the lead Audiovisual Design Engineer at Zdi, Inc., where he began in 2011. An AV9000 compliant company and one of the top 50 audiovisual systems integration firms in the US, Zdi, Inc. engages in audiovisual design, management, and execution projects of impressive scope. Jeremy’s contributions have been instrumental to the firm’s recent accomplishments. Zdi was the first worldwide recipient of a “Cisco Compatible” designation for its integrated room solutions and one of only three integrators worldwide granted “Cisco Preferred Solutions Developer” status in the Cisco Developer Network (CDN). Zdi, Inc. is also the first firm to receive InfoComm International’s “AV Provider of Excellence” distinction.

Prior to Zdi, Inc. and upon graduating from AA&A (2003), Jeremy worked at Thompson Electronics Company, hired by former NSCA President, Craig Thompson, to develop the firm’s visual presentation and control systems department.
In late 2014, and following involvement with InfoComm International as an instructor and exam writing committee member, Jeremy was elected to the InfoComm Independent Certification Steering Committee representing the worldwide CTS-D holders. The committee is responsible for overseeing the development, administration, and quality control of credible Certified Technology Specialist certifications (CTS®, CTS-D® and CTS-I®) as well as the multiple other committees that report to it.

In 2014, Jeremy was tasked by AA&A to co-design a new course on Audio-Visual System Design, along with full-time faculty David McNutt, MBA. He currently assists in the first offering of the course and will be the course’s official instructor beginning in fall 2015.

Welcome Jeremy!

Ed Nykaza, PhD

Dr. Ed Nykaza is a Research Scientist & Acoustical Engineer with the Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) of the US Army Corps of Engineers, where he leads multidisciplinary teams and manages a diverse research portfolio engaging in both, basic and applied research. During his tenure at ERDC, Ed has given 100+ scientific presentations, and has published 10 peer-reviewed journal articles and 25+ technical reports/papers.
Some of his contributions to the military community include research on and applications of new military noise monitor technology and exploration of the ‘community tolerance’ hypothesis (i.e., each community has a unique tolerance to noise).
Ed’s current work includes leading a multi-year work package (RAPID Military Noise Environments), aimed at providing real-time feedback/analytics of dynamic military noise environments.

While working full-time at ERDC, Ed finished his PhD (2013) in Acoustics at Penn State, with support of the ERDC Long-Term Training Award (2011).
Other research achievements and recognition awards include
i) the ERDC-Champaign Researcher of the Year (2014), ii) Department of the Army Achievement Medal for Civilian Service for technical expertise and innovation (2013), and iii) the L.R. Shaffer Research and Development Achievement Award for advances in sleep disturbance from blast noise research (2006).

This spring, Ed joins our part-time faculty ranks, filling in for Prof. Dominique Chéenne’s sabbatical leave. He is teaching Environmental Acoustics and Acoustical Testing II, both required courses in our Bachelor of Science in Acoustics degree program.

In his … free time, Ed enjoys music, spending time with his family, and running marathons.

Welcome Ed!