His notable past research includes the advancement of digital transmission systems, including contributions that made
telephony possible over the existing telephone network, the use of
VLSI to realize functions in the telephone network, and VLSI architectures to solve
signal processing challenges. His work has increasingly been devoted to
software. In 1984, Messerschmitt wrote Blosim, a software-based
block diagram simulation system for
digital signal processing simulations. He also contributed to a successor to Blosim called
Ptolemy, which is still being actively developed and used. When the
UC Berkeley School of Information was created he co-founded courses on network applications and strategic technology, and later served as interim dean of the school. His research interests and curriculum development for the past decade have been largely devoted to the business of software and economics of the software industry. Messerschmitt graduated with a
Bachelor of Science in
electrical engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder in 1967, and received his
Master of Science and
Ph.D. in computer, information, and control engineering from the
University of Michigan in 1971. He was a
Bell Labs researcher until 1977, when he left to take an academic position at Berkeley. In 1983, David Messerschmitt was elevated to the grade of
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) fellow for contributions to the theory of transmitting digital waveforms on band-limited channels. In 1999, Messerschmitt received the
IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal "for fundamental contributions to communications theory and practice, including VLSI for signal processing, and simulation and modeling software". He was elected a member of the US
National Academy of Engineering in 1990 for contributions to telecommunication theory and practice and to engineering education. In 2007, Messerschmitt co-founded the
Software business community (SWBC) in cooperation with the Helsinki University of Technology. ==Books==