Robert McGuire is a graduate of Georgia Tech. For his practicum, Marty implemented a large scale website for tracking social networking commitments of users to behave in more environmentally sound ways. The key engineering challenge was the addition of social science experimental design functionality into the website, so that some users experience one type of interface, while other users experience a different type of interface. In 2009, he became a research programmer for Carnegie Mellon University's Cylab. Marty says:
The VLIS program has given me the opportunity to understand how large information systems work in the real world. To begin with, the degree covers topics from the fundamentals of systems hardware, to algorithms for distributed systems, and even industry-accepted practices for software engineering. VLIS then pushes you that extra step - to actually apply these new skills in a real-world project.
Evan Stade is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University. For his practicum, Evan implemented and measured the performance of new type of "symmetric" publish/subscribe system. In 2008, he joined Google. Evan says:
The VLIS program is highly tailored to the individual needs of its students. I was given personal guidance but also the freedom to choose the coursework that mattered most to me. There was a focus on improving skills that would be relevant in industry and the advisors always showed a keen interest in the students' professional placement.
Keisuke Ito is a graduate of the University of Tokyo and worked for many years in the telecommunications industry. His summer practicum measured the performance of multiple different architectures for large scale grid-computing problems related to information extraction. In 2006, Keisuke joined Vocollect Healthcare Systems, a speech recognition company. Ito says:
Since the VLIS program is still young and small, you get close attention from the program directors and get to work with them closely. You could even contribute to shaping the direction of the program, especially the summer practicum. The curriculum is designed to let you study various aspects of very large information systems with flexibility to allow some freedom in your concentration. The courses have helped me understand the issues involving large information systems and the practicum is giving me hands-on experience dealing with such large information system using what I've learned in the courses.
Abe Wong
Abe Wong received an undergraduate degree from the School of Computer Science of Carnegie Mellon University in 2005. For his summer practicum, he constructed a briefing assistant (a program that automatically constructs briefings about people) using Question Answering technology. In 2006, Abe joined Microsoft. Wong says:
The VLIS program not only provided me with a solid background in very large information systems, but was a valuable extension of my undergraduate computer science education, filling in with software engineering, machine learning, privacy and security, and of course the experience of the practicum. The faculty is quite knowledgeable and I was particularly pleased to be able to work closely with the program directors. Their real-world VLIS experience was key to making the program work. As well, the degree was an excellent talking point during job searching, and it was good for my job prospects. I am confident my new skills will be put to good use in my future employment.