As an audiovisual (AV) engineer and designer, Marlon Aguilar maintains the University of Chicago’s AV standards for campus classrooms and consults on AV projects across the university, from small conference room updates to large capital projects. He has become well-known across units and maintains relationships with vendors to stay at the forefront of their innovations. His colleagues commend him for his ability to find a solution for just about any space, which can be challenging with the University’s older buildings. Recently Aguilar won the Spring 2022 Finance and Administration Phoenix Award for his great work and impact.

He answered our questions about his interests and experiences:

Q: What drew you to a career in IT?
I worked in AV production with my alma mater, Western Illinois Univerity’s Westec Sound and Lighting. That early career in AV set up a pathway, which I continued throughout my professional career.

Q: What do you enjoy most about working at UChicago?
Working at UChicago has allowed me to continue learning by keeping up with the latest technology and bringing in the latest software and hardware.

Q: You’ve worked on a lot of AV projects across campus. Can you tell us about one of your favorites?
This past summer, we were able to refresh two large classroom auditoriums in Kersten 106 and Kersten 120. We took two rooms with very outdated AV and brought them up to standard with laser projection, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) video conferencing, wireless content sharing, lecture recording, and even Americans with Disabilities Act height-accessible teaching furniture. Both rooms received a new feature that shows an overhead camera view that will highlight experiments in the physics demos. I really enjoy the transformation of outdated teaching spaces.

Q: You test gear from vendors to determine if they’re a good fit. What’s your favorite product that you’ve brought to campus?
The Poly Studio hardware has been some of my favorite AV to deploy. It is easy to set up and supports BYOD, Zoom, and Teams room licenses. It’s great for hybrid needs.

Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share about your UChicago experience?
When I started with the AVS team in 2009, we supported about 86 media-enabled classrooms. We support over 200 rooms now and have come a long way. I look forward to seeing where we are in the next five, 10 years, and so on.