Dean's Corner
Welcome to the College of Computing at Grand Valley State University, where we are committed to cultivating an environment that fosters innovation, inclusivity, and excellence. Our programs blend theoretical knowledge with practical, hands-on experience, preparing graduates for the tech industry.
At the College of Computing, we’re not just cultivating the next generation of tech innovators and leaders – we’re igniting a technological revolution. We aim to transform Greater Grand Rapids into a dynamic tech hub, driving economic development and creating opportunities for all. Whether you’re interested in programming, cybersecurity, AI, or any of our other focus areas, you’ll find a welcoming and supportive community here.
We are proud to offer a range of computing undergraduate and graduate programs, along with specialized certificates and digital badges, all designed to meet the evolving needs of the tech industry. Our close collaboration with industry partners, Greater Grand Rapids community, and beyond ensures that our curriculum remains relevant and impactful, preparing our students to make meaningful contributions from the moment they graduate.
I invite you to join us on this exciting journey and please connect with me. Together, let’s push the boundaries of what’s possible in computing and create a brighter, more innovative future for our community and beyond. I look forward to seeing the remarkable things we will achieve together.
Hear Dean Kessentini's Vision
About the Dean
Education
Ph.D., Computer Science, University of Montréal, 2012
Biography
Marouane Kessentini serves as Dean of the College of Computing at Grand Valley State University, where he leads strategic initiatives to advance innovation, research, and industry collaboration across computing disciplines. An internationally recognized expert in software engineering and AI engineering, Dr. Kessentini’s research spans software quality assurance, intelligent software systems, big data analytics, mobile cloud and edge computing, and cybersecurity.
He has authored more than 180 publications, holds 14 licensed inventions with Fortune 500 companies, and holds 4 patents. His work has been cited over 6,000 times, with an h-index of 49. Dr. Kessentini is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the IEEE 10-Year Most Influential Paper Award in Program Comprehension, multiple university Distinguished Research Awards, and national honors such as the President of Tunisia Distinguished Researcher Award.
Throughout his career, Dr. Kessentini has founded several prominent research centers, including an NSF IUCRC on Pervasive AI and a Department of Energy Center on Cybersecurity. He is a frequent leader in international conferences in software engineering and AI and is passionate about fostering connections between academia and industry to empower the next generation of computing professionals.
Get in Touch
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (616) 331 - 2060
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Recent Publications
- Ghammam, A., Rzig, D. E., Almukhtar, M., Khalsi, R., Hassan, F., & Kessentini, M. (2025). Build Code Needs Maintenance Too: A Study on Refactoring and Technical Debt in Build Systems. CoRR, abs/2504.01907. https://doi.org/10.48550/ARXIV.2504.01907
- Malhotra, R., Jain, B., & Kessentini, M. (2025). QNet: Exploring deep learning for quantum code smell detection. Softw. Qual. J., 33(2), 25. https://doi.org/10.1007/S11219-025-09724-5
- Malhotra, R., Bansal, A., & Kessentini, M. (2024). Deployment and performance monitoring of docker based federated learning framework for software defect prediction. Clust. Comput., 27(5), 6039–6057. https://doi.org/10.1007/S10586-024-04266-0
- Malhotra, R., Bansal, A., & Kessentini, M. (2024). A Systematic Literature Review on Maintenance of Software Containers. ACM Comput. Surv., 56(8), 193:1-193:38. https://doi.org/10.1145/3645092
- Pan, W., Kessentini, M., Hua, M., & Yang, Z. (2024). EASE: An Effort-aware Extension of Unsupervised Key Class Identification Approaches. ACM Trans. Softw. Eng. Methodol., 33(4), 84:1-84:43. https://doi.org/10.1145/3635714
Recent Grants
- NSF REU: Undergraduate Research Experiences on Digital Accessibility. PI. 2024
- MEDC MTRAC: Intelligent Software Defined Vehicle Management Technology. PI. 2024
- Dept of Energy: Research and Training Center on Cybersecurity for Energy Infrastructure. PI. 2022
- Dept of Defense: Multi-Objective Rapid Generation of Virtual Environments & Data Analysis in Multi-user
- Immersive Gaming Environments for Testing New Crew Interface Concepts. PI. 2022
- NSF: CCRI: A Software Refactoring Community. PI. 2022