For a group of Grand Valley State University students, summer break became an opportunity to find out just how far computing could take them.

Through the College of Computing's Summer Undergraduate Research & Growth Experience (SURGE), students spent 10 weeks working alongside faculty mentors on intensive research projects that connected computing with cross-disciplinary challenges in healthcare, cybersecurity, biology, environmental science, geographic information systems and bioinformatics.

The students who participated in SURGE this summer were from West Michigan, Detroit, Illinois and as far away as Tunisia. Most had only completed their first or second year of college. Some arrived already thinking about graduate school. Others weren't even sure research was something they wanted to pursue.

By the end of the summer, those possibilities looked very different.

"Before SURGE I thought that the only career path choice I had was to go right into an industry job," said Computer Science student Audrey McKeiver. "Now I have the option of exploring research."

Computing + Something More

SURGE launched its 2026 program with a focus on Computing + X: research that combines computing with another discipline. For the student researchers, that meant spending the summer discovering what happens when the skills they learn in computing classrooms meet problems that don't fit neatly within one field.

Lilianna Zubalik worked with computing professors Doctors Austin Ferguson and Alex Lalejini to simulate factors affecting biological diversity. Taylor Land, mentored by Dr. Imtiaz Ahmad, developed ScopeGuard, a project exploring explainable risk scoring for Google OAuth permissions. Kenza Chebil worked with Dr. Jiaxin Du to optimize antenna placement for future 5G and 6G coverage using geographic information systems.

Other projects tackled problems with an immediate connection to people's lives.

Working with Dr. Andrew Kalafut, Cybersecurity student Gabriel Prado developed a healthcare phishing dataset designed to support better phishing detection systems. Audrey McKeiver worked with Dr. Yong Zhuang on PyroLens, using AI to study how wildfires could spread from their original ignition points. Dr. Sara Sutton mentored Dorian Brooks as he studied anomaly detection methods for connected medical devices. And Dr. Kevin Maupin worked with Rowan Wallenberg on research using socioeconomic and substance-use variables to better understand predictors of depression.

The range of projects reinforced something several students discovered over the summer: computing can be a pathway into almost any field.

"I never pictured computing as having such a wide range of different applications," says McKeiver. "Seeing the different projects in SURGE has opened my perception of what topics computing can allow me to work on."

Prado came to a similar realization through his work in cybersecurity and healthcare.

"This project has indeed changed how I think of computing because I realize that computing can be used within multiple disciplines, such as healthcare, to benefit the world in an impactful way," he explains.

Learning What Research Really Looks Like

SURGE didn't simply give students a research assignment. It gave them an opportunity to experience the process of research early in their undergraduate careers. That meant getting code to work and figuring out why it didn't. It meant learning how to communicate ideas, work independently, collaborate with mentors and other researchers, ask better questions and sometimes reconsider the direction of a project entirely.

Zubalik identified communication, collaboration and research as the skills she developed most during the summer. "My research taught me that communication with others is very beneficial for projects and understanding.”

For Chebil, the experience also challenged her assumptions about what spending a summer doing research would actually feel like. "Before SURGE I thought it was only about research and being professional," she said. "Now I think it is very fun to have coworkers even if they work on different projects. This makes the work environment nice and encourages me to work."

That cohort experience was an intentional part of SURGE. Students worked on separate projects, but they weren't isolated within them. The summer created a community where students could learn alongside peers whose research crossed disciplines and applications.

Wallenberg said that sense of community became one of the reasons he would encourage other students to participate. "SURGE was a super fun experience and allowed me to feel so much more connected to other computing majors.”

Mentorship Beyond the Academic Year

Behind every project was a faculty mentor who chose to spend part of the summer working closely with an undergraduate researcher.

Ferguson, Lalejini, Ahmad, Du, Kalafut, Zhuang, Sutton and Maupin provided more than technical guidance. Students described mentors who helped them troubleshoot problems, think more deeply about results, identify future courses, explore specializations and consider career paths they hadn't previously imagined.

Prado said Kalafut encouraged him to think about which area of cybersecurity he might eventually pursue. Zubalik learned about code and Git hygiene and how to think more deeply about research results. McKeiver credited Zhuang with encouraging a hands-on approach to solving problems.

For Wallenberg, mentorship directly influenced what he now imagines for his future.

"My mentor has encouraged me to look into data science and getting a PhD," he says, "Without this encouragement I would not have pursued research."

At the center of that community was Dr. Erin Carrier, who led the SURGE program and helped build the structure, mentoring relationships and cohort experience that carried students through the summer. Known throughout the College of Computing for her commitment to student mentorship, Carrier's leadership extended well beyond coordinating projects and schedules. She spent the summer building relationships with the students, helping them navigate the unfamiliar experience of undergraduate research and creating an environment where they could grow alongside one another.

Rethinking What Comes Next

Perhaps SURGE's clearest impact can be seen in what students now imagine doing after graduation. Land entered the program hoping to determine whether research could become a career. After the summer, she said she's "heavily considering" pursuing a Ph.D.

Brooks had a similar shift. "Before SURGE I thought that I would never go for a PhD and do research," he explains. "Now I think I would actually enjoy doing research after graduation."

Wallenberg now plans to pursue a Ph.D. and hopes eventually to work at a national laboratory or in industry research. Zubalik also hopes to earn a Ph.D. and pursue research. Chebil is weighing an MBA against a potential Ph.D. in artificial intelligence, while Prado now considers graduate school an option as he explores a future in cybersecurity.

Not every student left SURGE knowing exactly where they wanted to go and that may be part of the program's value.

They left knowing more about the questions they wanted to ask, the problems they wanted to solve and the possibilities available to them.

For a group of students still near the beginning of their undergraduate education, one summer of discovery expanded what a future in computing could mean.