Technology Facilities

Explore Our State of the Art CIS Facilities

Valparaiso University’s Computing and Information Sciences (CIS) Department provides students with advanced facilities that foster collaboration, innovation, and hands-on experience. With access to specialized computer labs, a Mac lab within an art gallery, and shared learning spaces equipped with cutting-edge hardware and software, CIS students are well-supported in their academic journey. Facilities also include collaborative research spaces, student common areas, and advanced systems that enable experimentation in virtualization, parallel computing, and more.

A Hub for Innovation

CIS Facilities -Gellersen Hall

Computer Laboratories

In addition to the information technology resources available to all Valpo students, the CIS department offers two dedicated computer labs in the Gellersen Engineering and Mathematics Center that support ambitious explorations of the potential of the discipline. These include 24 lab stations per room and GNU/Linux (GEM 125) or Windows (GEM 232) operating systems, either native or virtualized. We will also sometimes teach in the Schnabel and VUCA Apple/Mac labs run by Communication & Visual Arts.

Additionally, CIS runs a student research and projects lab in Gellersen 227, which also supports students in Data Science, enables a wide range of faculty/student collaboration.

Finally, there is a third PC lab that is shared with the Math and Statistics department (GEM 160); several classrooms in both buildings have had upgrades to facilitate use of student and department owned laptops as well as the Department’s set of Google Chromebooks.

The Teaching Assistants Office

Gellersen 226 is the home of our teaching assistants – during the usual semester, this space is staffed 20 to 30 hours a week. Organizations like ACM/ACM-W and occasionally also use it for small meetings.

Other Facilities

CIS also supports a number of other assets, including:

A number of heavy servers that allow for substantial virtualization,
and, coming online in 2026, a research computing suite with strong AI/LLM capabilities and 3 flagship enterprise servers with over 512 GB RAM,
A sandbox environment for students working on networking and operating systems questions,
Two secure computing networks, one with 1g and another with 10g capability, also allowing for a variety of speed and performance testing,
A parallel/distributed computation environment, teaching computing at scale,
An array of less conventional CPUs – including standalone and cluster setups based on ARM and RISC-V chips.

Student Projects & Research Facility (MEH 137/138)

Overview

Students in several programs – Computer Science, Math/Statistics, Data Science, Analytics and Modeling, Information Technology, and Cyber Security – may be invited to joining various efforts based in Meier Hall’s rooms 137 and 138. This lab is used by MST and CIS faculty each semester as a student projects workroom and a research support area.

The combined rooms can provide up to 12 students with individual space while allowing for easy collaboration with both faculty and fellow students. Recent upgrades, including the allocation of both additional equipment and floorspace, is a testament to the success of the original configuration. The resources provided also reflects the ongoing commitment of the University to the individual student and the importance of the one-on-one experience.

The space is equipped with upgraded PCs loaded with software suites specific to everything from software development to tackling mathematically complex questions. It also hosts various CIS parallel computing platforms and a 55′ display with input switching for meetings and technical discussions (138) and a full size projector/speaker combination (137). It also has what may ultimately be the most popular asset – a couch described as “well suited for thinking.”

Current users and “Lab Alumni”

Christian Garcia
Matt Dembny
Spencer Gannon – who helped build out the 138 expansion with Ethan Hawk
Zack Lee
Eric Yager
Nathan Harmon and the ACM/ACM-W Website Project Group
Dylan Grace
Data Science Summer 2020 (TRIPODS) REU
- Ethan HawkAlexandra Lioutikova (Yale University)
- Marius Orehovschi (Colby College) [Offsite]
- Sydney Shearer (Juniata College)
- Ellie Strauss (Bates College) [Offsite]
- Frankie Vazquez
Alex Kaariainen
Brandon Sheehy
Kostadin Pendev
Dane Towner
Cody Packer
Nathan Randle
Frankie Vazquez
Gabe Fragoso
2019 Unity Project Team: Robert Schenck, Jack Truax, Ryan Guerrero, Stamatis Moundoulas, Brian Wall
Craig Garzella
Joey Gaudy
Nathaniel Bouman
Maxwell Grover
Terry Wade
Sam Iselin
Chris Zeniecki
Charles Morris
Dylan Snyder
Will Arloff
VERUM, 2017:
- Emma E. Ingram, University of Alabama
- Adriana M. Ortiz Aquino, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras
- James P. Canning, SUNY Geneseo
Benjamin Levandowski
Arezu Mansuri
Christi Florence Calina
Prasuna Pillalamarri
Casey Primozic
Sammantha Nowak-Wolff
Brittany Reynolds

Online Resources

Configuration/etc Github repository – https://github.com/valpo-acm/sprf-setup

Contact the Department

Valparaiso University’s Department of Mathematics and Computer Science welcomes inquiries from prospective students, fellow researchers, and community members.

Professor Tiffany Kolba, Ph.D., Department Chair

Mathematics and Computer Science

tiffany.kolba@valpo.edu

Gellersen Center, Room 112
1900 Chapel Drive
Valparaiso, IN 46383