Vérin went on to study 5 years at the University of California, San Diego, where he obtained a Master of Arts (1982)[8] and a PhD (1986)[9] in composition and computer music.
His main professors there were Roger Reynolds, Jean-Charles François, Joji Yuasa, Robert Erickson, F. Richard Moore, Bernard Rands, Gordon Mumma, Julio Estrada.
[13][14] In 1988, he was chosen by Jean-Claude Éloy to work at CIAMI (Centre d'informatique appliquée à la musique et l'image, Rueil-Malmaison) in charge of the MIDI studio and the cmusic/CARL environment.
This involved coordinating the productions of invited composers (Michael Jarrell,[15] Michaël Levinas,[16][17] Frédéric Durieux, Hans-Peter Kunz) and teaching several courses of computer music (for the doctorate program of École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales and IRCAM's Computer Music Curriculum) as well as participating in the beta-testing of Miller Puckette's Max programming language.
[18] In 1990, Vérin founded the association Ligys, which becomes a studio coop with composers Christine Groult and Jacqueline Ozanne, active in Paris for productions and a few concerts.
In 1992 Vérin was appointed Professor of Electroacoustic music at the Conservatoire National de Région of Chalon sur Sâone (Burgundy), where he is tenured in 1998.
[20][21] He is appointed Musical Director for two editions of the Auch Danse/Musique Contemporaines Festival (in Gascony), involving the programming of 8 concerts, some in relation to dance companies.
With the improvised music trio DSV (Cécile Daroux [fr]: flutes, Louis Sclavis: clarinets, Nicolas Vérin: electronics) he performed in France[28] (Festival Agora in 2002[29]), in Russia and United States.
Vérin appears also as improviser or electronic musician in several CDs (Xe symphonie by Pierre Henry, Préfixes by Michaël Levinas, Congruences by Michael Jarrell, Improvisations préparées with Mirtha Pozzi and Pablo Cueco) and performed with saxophonist Daniel Kientzy, actor Jean-Louis Jacopin, flutist James Newton, saxophonist Steve Coleman, pianist Anne-Marie Fijal.