Student News
Student Spotlight: Marcos Sanson
December 03, 2024
What impact could designing and programming a 3D-printed robotic dog
have on a high school student? For Marcos Sanson, a computer science
student, it was the beginning of a deep passion for technology and a
curiosity for innovative projects. "That project was something I
really enjoyed doing and it also showed me that I can solve different
issues using software and computers," he recalled.
When scouting for a university, Marcos got a chance to directly
speak with computer science professors during his campus tour of GVSU.
The sense of community and belonging he developed from this encounter
was the main reason he chose to enroll at Grand Valley. "I
immediately felt like I belonged! The group projects and team-based
coursework also really stood out to me," he said.
Since joining Grand Valley, Marcos has embraced different
opportunities. One of his standout achievements was being selected as
a Kindschi Undergraduate Research Fellow in the Winter 2024 semester,
where he worked on a research project focused on improving
evolutionary algorithms with concepts from biology under the
supervision of Dr. Alexander Lalejini. Marcos also co-authored a
peer-reviewed paper and presented a poster presentation of this
research at the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference in
Melbourne, Australia.
In the summer of 2023, Marcos participated in a study abroad in
Spain, where he worked on an environmental project developing software
to process meteorological data into user-friendly databases and
graphs. During this current fall 2024 semester, Marcos is also
studying abroad in Spain as a full-time student at Universidad Carlos
III de Madrid, where he is taking computer science courses such as
machine learning in healthcare alongside students from Romania,
France, Germany, and beyond. “It’s challenging but rewarding to
navigate coursework in Spanish and see how other cultures approach
computer science. It’s unique!” he noted.
Beyond academics, Marcos is deeply involved in the campus
community, participating in student organizations like the Computing
Club and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. These groups
have provided him with spaces for collaboration and personal growth.
He has also worked at Gentex Corporation as an embedded software
engineering intern.
With the winter semester quickly approaching, Marcos is excited
to begin a research project with Dr. Austin Ferguson, exploring
computational models to study evolvability and mutations. His advice
to other students? “Get involved beyond the classroom. Joining
organizations and talking to other students can open doors to amazing opportunities.”
Article written by Naomi Sang.