Although international expertise is not necessarily considered a top priority for an engineer, Matthew J. Zimmerman has found that his knowledge of other countries and other languages has been an invaluable asset to the business he co-founded, FarSounder Inc.
He credits professor John Grandin, who established the International Engineering Program at the University of Rhode Island, with showing him the importance of global interaction. “He enabled me to develop my engineering skills with an international mindset,” Zimmerman said in his 40 Under Forty application.
Just before graduating in May 2001 from URI magna cum laude with bachelor’s degrees in ocean engineering as well as French and German, Zimmerman co-founded FarSounder Inc., a commercial marine electronics company that has developed unique three-dimensional, forward-looking, sonar technology. He is now vice president of engineering and a member of the company’s board of directors.
Because FarSounder has less than 20 employees, Zimmerman is intimately involved in all aspects of the business. He has had four patents issued to date, with more pending, and has managed more than $3 million in externally funded government research-and-development grants and projects.
He has traveled to more than a dozen countries to meet customers and oversee training and installation of FarSounder Inc. equipment. “I am fluent in French and German, as well as somewhat capable in Italian,” he said. “This has been a huge advantage for a small company working internationally.”
Although his work consumes a large part of his life, Zimmerman said he finds the time to enjoy scuba diving and playing music as part of Rhode Island’s live-music scene. He is a member of AS220’s Fab Lab and, as part of this Providence arts organization, he developed and teaches a workshop on “Electronics for Artists.” •
