On December 11, Grand Valley State University students showcased collaborative projects as part of the Fall 2019 Computer Science Senior Project Reception.
Held at the university’s Kirkhof Center, the projects were sponsored by companies such as Whirlpool, Procter & Gamble, Mercy Health, the City of Grand Rapids, and more.
Jonathan Engelsma, director of Grand Valley’s Applied Computing Institute, said the senior project grants students the invaluable opportunity to work with clients and develop meaningful software. This semester, 14 teams delivered software solutions to 10 different industry partners.
“From the students’ point of view, this is the capstone of their computer science degree programme,” said Engelsma.
High-impact experiential learning and engagement helps reinforce the concepts, knowledge and skills students acquire in the classroom
“It is a significant undertaking for each team as they learn to engage clients with a real software need, elicit the requirements for the deliverable, learn new software stacks, accurately estimate effort, track progress, write and test lots of code, and ultimately deliver software that delights their client. The experience pulls together in a meaningful and authentic way, all of the technical and professional skills they’ve acquired during their studies at GVSU.”
Grand Valley prides itself on providing an experiential element in all computing programmes.
The Applied Computing Institute, Grand Valley’s experiential learning platform for computing students, works alongside industry partners to identify meaningful collaboration opportunities, Engelsma explained.
“High-impact experiential learning and engagement helps reinforce the concepts, knowledge and skills students acquire in the classroom, and provides a tangible benefit to both the student and the industry partner,” he said.
For more information on computing programs at Grand Valley, visit https://cis.gvsu.edu or https://aci.cis.gvsu.edu