Nicklaus Martin, a 2015 graduate of Missouri State University-West Plains and sound designer with Source Sound, Inc., in Springfield, will give the keynote address at the campus’ 2024 commencement ceremony.

The event begins at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 11, in the West Plains Civic Center arena.

The Thayer native will discuss the useful things he learned about navigating life as a young adult and college graduate and share about his award-winning career in the sound design industry.

“We’re excited to have Nicklaus speaking to our graduates and their families,” MSU-WP Chancellor Dennis Lancaster said. “Not only because Nick is a great representative of our alumni who’s out in the world doing interesting, creative and innovative things, but also because he’s going to bring us an intriguing perspective on life after college.”

More about Martin

Following his graduation from MSU-WP with an Associate of Arts in General Studies degree, Martin transferred to Missouri State University in Springfield where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Electronic Arts-Audio with a minor in music composition in 2018.

He moved to Los Angeles, California, and found work as an editor and eventually a senior supervising sound designer at Source Sound, Inc. In 2023, he relocated to Springfield to open a branch studio for Source Sound.

 During his tenure with the company, Martin has worked on the sound for AAA games and trailers, including Call of Duty, Apex Legends, New World, Star Wars Jedi Series, Gears of War, Elder Scrolls Online, Battlefield, Back 4 Blood and Mortal Combat, among others.

He is the winner of three Motion Pictures Sound Editors (MPSE) Golden Reels for his work on the Call of Duty franchise.

Martin grew up on a 1,000-acre cattle ranch outside of Thayer in Oregon County. During his time at MSU-WP, he was in the William and Virginia Darr Honors Program, studied abroad as part of the China Semester Study Away Program at Liaoning Normal University in Dalian, China, in 2014, and served on the Welcome Week Committee.

For more information about commencement activities, contact the MSU-WP academic affairs office at 417-255-7272. For more information about MSU-WP, visit WP.MissouriState.edu.