What is the Applied Computing Institute?
Since its inception, the GVSU Padnos College of Engineering and Computing (PCEC) has worked closely with industry partners to provide experiential learning within its degree programs. The School of Computing’s mandatory internship and industry sponsored capstone course have attracted participation from some of the largest technology companies in the U.S.A. Similarly, the School of Engineering has one of the strongest mandatory undergraduate engineering cooperative education (co-op) programs in the nation. At the graduate level, PCEC has introduced an Industry Sponsored Graduate Fellowship Program that has been instrumental in recruiting a number of talented full-time graduate students into its various graduate degree programs. These high-impact experiential learning opportunities are natural fit for reinforcing concepts, knowledge, and skills in an applied work setting, resulting in tangible benefits to the student, the employer, the faculty and GVSU.
Hosted by the GVSU School of Computing, the Applied Computing Institute is based upon well-established the school's competencies in computing, experiential learning, and industry collaboration with the aim of further enriching learning opportunities for GVSU students, while simultaneously providing key industry partners access to faculty and student expertise in computer science and related disciplines.
Our Team
Director
Jonathan Engelsma, Ph.D.
Jonathan Engelsma is the founding director of GVSU’s Applied Computing Institute (ACI). ACI provides applied computing services and collaboration opportunities in cybersecurity, apps, data science, health informatics, high-performance computing, and beyond to industry partners In addition to his leadership of ACI, Jonathan serves as a professor of computer science in the GVSU School of Computing and Information Systems, where he teaches courses in distributed systems, mobile computing, and web development. Prior to joining the faculty at GVSU, Jonathan spent almost two decades working in the tech industry and has numerous publications and patents in mobile computing-related areas. Jonathan earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Michigan State University in 1993.
Dr. Engelsma can be found via the following methods:
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Associated Faculty
Robert Adams, Ph.D. - Professor
Dr. Adams is a professor in the GVSU School of Computing and Information Systems, where he also serves as the program director of the Masters in Computer Information Systems graduate program. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky in 1999. His research focus includes the broad range of issues including computer science capstone pedagogy, and global software engineering. He is also interested in how computing can help other disciplines, being involved with projects in such diverse fields such as Latin and musicology.
Dr. Adams can be found via the following methods:
Hans Dulimarta, Ph.D. - Professor
Dr. Dulimarta is currently an associate professor at GVSU’s School of Computing and Information System. His research interests are in computer graphics and mobile applications. In recent years, Hans has served as a consultant on a number of industry-sponsored software development projects. He earned his PhD in Computer Science at Michigan State University, thanks to a scholarship provided by the Indonesian government. As a scholarship awardee, he was required to return and work for the Indonesian government after finishing his doctoral studies. After completing the employment requirement as a university professor in Indonesia, he decided to come back to return to USA and chose West Michigan as the home for his family.
Dr. Dulimarta can be found via the following methods:
Andrew Kalafut, Ph.D. - Associate Professor
Dr. Kalafut’s teaching and research focuses on networking and security. He completed his Ph.D. in computer science at Indiana University in 2010, where he focused on cyberfraud detection through infrastructure analysis.
Dr. Kalafut can be found via the following methods:
Zach DeBruine, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor
Dr. Zachary DeBruine is an Assistant Professor of Computing at Grand Valley State University within the Applied Computing Institute. Dr. DeBruine is leading research in collaboration with academic and industry partners to develop high-performance machine learning algorithms to analyze big biological data.
Dr. Zachary DeBruine can be found via the following methods:
Rahat Ibn Rafiq, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor
Dr. Rafiq is currently an assistant professor in the School of Computing. His research interests mainly concentrate on social computing, data mining, cyber safety, ubiquitous computing, and distributed systems. Before joining GVSU, Rahat worked at ThoughtSpot, a startup based in Palo Alto, California, for 14 months. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado Boulder, where he was one of the co-founding members of CUCyberSafety Lab. His Ph.D. dissertation is titled “Scalable and Timely Detection of Cyberbullying in Online Social Networks.”
Dr. Rafiq can be found via the following methods:
Guenter Tusch, Ph.D. - Professor
Dr. Tusch is a professor in the GVSU School of Computing and Information Systems, where he also serves as the chair of the Masters in Health Informatics and Bioinformatics graduate program. The program is member of AMIA’s Academic Forum and listed in the Top 25 Master’s in Healthcare Informatics Degrees ranked by mba-healthcare-management.com. His current research fields are classification and data mining in biomedical and bioinformatics applications with focus on integrated decision-support systems and their effective implementation; another focus is on microarray and NGS data analysis and temporal data mining in biomedical informatics, with more than 100 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Tusch earned a MS in Computer Science from the University and a PhD in Medical Informatics from the Medical School in Hannover, Germany. He received formative training with Ted Shortliffe, MD, PhD, at Stanford University. He held leading positions in the healthcare industry and academic positions in informatics, computer science and abdominal and transplantation surgery.
Dr. Tusch can be found via the following methods:
Julie Goldstein, MFA - Assistant Professor
Julie comes to Grand Valley from her most recent position as the Academic Director of Media at The Art Institute of Colorado, where she spearheaded the Game Art and Design program. She has also developed a media production company, which has served clients such as Carnegie Speech, Eisenhower Fellowships, The Franklin Institute, and Healthology. Julie also works with experimental animation, and her films have been exhibited worldwide. Her current research involves motion capture and virtual reality. Julie sees herself as a bridge between old and new technology and is an avid collector of antique cameras and films.
Professor Goldstein can be found via the following methods:
Paul Doyle, MBA - ACI Mentor-in-Residence
Paul Doyle is a serial-entrepreneur and current mentor-in-residence at the ACI. Paul has extensive experience in, High Tech start-ups, banking & payments, social networks, social media, training, security, and records & information management. Paul is known for helping organizations with the increasingly regulatory environment. He is familiar with regulations such as GDPR, CCPA, NIST 800-171 CMMC, HIPAA, 21 CFR Part 11, Sarbanes-Oxley, TREAD Act, Graham-Leach-Bliley, etc.
Paul Doyle can be found via the following methods:
Roland Heusser - ACI Mentor
Roland Heusser is a full-stack software engineer, who also serves as a mentor to students at the ACI. He obtained a Master of Science degree in Computer Information Systems from Grand Valley State University in 2016. Throughout his career, Roland has gained extensive experience in technology transfer, working at organizations such as SRI International, and has recently been involved in improving developer productivity for mobile engineers at Twitter. He is passionate about UI/UX design, mobile application development, and DevOps.
Roland Heusser can be found via the following methods:
Current Students
Andrea Gonzales Osorio - Graduate Assistant
Fullstack Developer
Luis Gomez - Graduate Assistant
Fullstack Developer
Isaac Beasley - Graduate Assistant
Isaac Beasley is currently our ACI Webmaster / full-stack developer. Isaac graduated in 2022 with a BS in Information Technology and is pursuing an MS in Cybersecurity here at GVSU. He has a wide array of tech experience in cybersecurity, system administration, digital marketing, video production, graphic design, UI/UX, and web development. Furthermore, he is a member of the Computing Club and former Esports Club VP and Coach for the competitive team(s).
Isaac can be found via the following methods:
GitHub LinkedIn
Usman Tahir Qureshi - Graduate Assistant
Usman Tahir Qureshi is currently a Full-stack Developer and also engaged in research related to conversational AI and Machine Learning. He is currently pursuing a MS in Applied Computer Science at GVSU.
Usman can be found via the following methods:
Meghan Harris - Undergraduate ACI Resident
Fullstack Developer
Meghan can be found via the following methods:
Sarah Wight - ACI Undergraduate Research Assistant
Sarah is a junior at GVSU pursuing a B.S. in Computer Science with minors in Engineering Sciences and Mathematics. Sarah has been interning at at Koops Automation Systems as a Systems Analyst intern. When she's not solving complex computing and engineering problems, you can find Sarah on the volleyball court, as one of GVSU Women's Volleyball players. In her free time, Sarah enjoys hiking, reading, and trying new cuisines.
Sarah can be found via the following methods:
Vishnu Mano - Undergraduate ACI Resident
Vishnu is a City High Middle School senior pursuing an International Baccalaureate Diploma with higher level concentrations in Mathematics, Biology, and History. Vishnu started a parking data analytics startup, Spotter, two years ago and is currently working with multiple parking distributors across West Michigan. During his free time, Vishnu enjoys competing in public forum debates, working with Kaufman Interfaith Institute, stand-up paddleboarding, playing the violin, and playing basketball. At school, he spends his time as co-captain of the Speech & Debate Team and president of the Coding Club.
Vishnu can be found via the following methods:
Skyler Ruiter - Undergraduate ACI Resident
Skyler is a junior undergraduate student studying Computer Science. He is currently the president of the CIS Computing Club, and loves to interact with other technology focused people from fellow students to professors. He currently is conducting research alongside Dr. DeBruine involving Non-negative matrix functions but is also interested in cloud computing, parallel processing, and full stack development.
Skyler can be found via the following methods:
Marc Tunnell - Undergraduate ACI Resident
Marc is currently an undergraduate research assistant for Dr. DeBruine. He is passionate about numerical analysis and high-performance computing.
Marc can be found via the following methods:
Seth Wolfgang - Undergraduate ACI Resident
Seth is a senior undergraduate student studying Computer Science. He is currently working with Dr. DeBruine to study new methods of compressing matrices for use in non-negative matrix functions. Seth loves to teach others about computer science and is interested in high performance computing, distributed systems, and system-level programming.
Former Students
Former Students
| Image | Name | Designation | Short Description | Social Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Alvaro Ardila | MS in CS (2020) | Developer at Facebook | |
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Esteban Echeverri Jaramillo | MS in ACS (2022) | Pursuing PhD at Michigan State Univeristy | |
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Evan Boardway | BS in CS (2022) | Cyber Risk and Regulatory Associate at PwC | |
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George (Jirí) Hoffmann | MS in CIS (2022) | Developer at Expedition Co. | |
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Isaac Rai | MS DSA (2022) | Analytics Engineer at Dematic | |
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Jemima Turnbull | BS in CS (2020) | Developer at HarperCollins Christian Publishing | |
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Nathan Hull | MS in CS (2019) | Developer at Amazon | |
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Nicolas Arias | MS in CS (2018) | Developer at Aha! | Github |
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Santiago Quiroga | BS in CS (2019) | Developer at VMware |