The Grainger College of Engineering
Engineering IT Shared Services

Organizational Chart

      Engineering IT organizational chart (as of November 1st, 2024) is also available.

Current Leadership

Executive Associate Dean

Philippe Geubelle, Bliss Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering


Administration

Jim Hurst, Executive Director

The Director is responsible for providing leadership and overall direction to Engineering IT Shared Services. The Director oversees all aspects of Engineering IT operations including HR, budget, resource allocation, organizational structure, project and performance management. The Director works closely with the Executive Associate Dean to align the services of Engineering IT with the needs of Engineering at Illinois.

  • Kathleen Booth
  • Michael Chan, IT Architect

The IT Architect designs and maintains the overall systems and service delivery IT architecture for the Grainger College of Engineering. The IT Architect determines the best way to integrate IT resources at the college, campus, and cloud levels and facilitates service transitions and migrations. By employing a holistic approach that incorporates knowledge of trends in information technology with strategic plans, the IT Architect develops and adapts the long term service road maps of Engineering IT Shared Services and ensures that IT services continually meet the academic and research needs of the Grainger College of Engineering.

  • Bobbi Hardy, Communications and Customer Relations Coordinator

Each unit has a Customer Relationship Manager, or CRM, assigned to it. The CRM’s primary purpose is to proactively facilitate a partnership between the CRM’s assigned unit and Engineering IT. They provide personal attention to and focus on a specific unit’s IT needs, and act as advocates for the unit within Engineering IT. The CRM meets regularly with the unit’s leadership and its user base to provide updates on service changes that may impact the unit, check on general satisfaction with services, discuss significant IT needs and issues in depth, and ensures that there is an open channel between the unit and Engineering IT. Look up the CRM for your unit.

  • Kaity Bequette, Student Coordinator

 

Application Development and Data Analytics

Brad Butler, Associate Director for Application Development and Data Analytics

The major responsibilities of the Application Development and Data Analytics division include develop and maintain applications (with a focus on improving academic and business processes); and data reporting (advancement, financial, academic). The project management office provides project management and business analysis resources internal to Engineering IT, and to collaborative projects with Engineering IT and other units.

Application Development Team

  • Open Position, Manager
  • Ben Kaap, Team Lead
  • John Anindo
  • Halim Beere
  • Jeremy Bird
  • Robert Brank
  • Sarah Chen
  • Thang Le
  • Jordan Lowe
  • Josh Potts
  • Brandi Pulleyblank (50%)
  • Courtney Wright

Data Analytics Team

  • Travis Ashmore, Manager
  • Amy Hurst
  • Sarvani Putta
  • Pooja Yadav
  • Shivani Birwadkar (GA)

IT Operations

Sal Belahi, Associate Director for IT Operations

IT Operations oversees the core service offerings of Engineering IT including User Support, AV Services and Infrastructure. Four 4 IT Pods (MRL, CSL, Siebel, and MEL) within the College provide IT support for faculty, staff, graduate students, and undergraduate students within the Grainger College of Engineering. Further, underlying production infrastructure and datacenter management is handled within this group. The IT Operations group provides a solid foundation of stable and reliable core services that enable other teams within Engineering IT to partner better with our customers. The Audio Visual (AV) team provides consultation, design, and support on audiovisual and multimedia systems for all Engineering classrooms and conference rooms. 

  • Brian Nicely, Cybersecurity Technology Facilitator

Audio Visual (AV) Services Team

  • Luther Young, AV Coordinator
  • Matthew Bernstein
  • Kevin Li

Infrastructure Team

  • Darius Summerville, Assistant Director
  • James Babiarz
  • Casey Coughlen
  • Dexter Smith
  • Paul Taraszka

User Services Teams

  • John Lee, Manager (East Support Teams - located in MEL and CSL)
  • Michaela Jung, Service Desk Coordinator
  • Dani Ano
  • Pomona Carrington-Hoekstra
  • Kevin Chiang
  • Brendan Erickson
  • Joshua Genung
  • Juliet Path
  • Glenn Penecios
  • J (Jason) Smith

  • Irene Sakellarakis, Manager (West Support Teams - located in MRL and Siebel Center for Computer Sciences)
  • Kevin Barrera
  • Alex Burke
  • Spencer Gunning
  • Ji-Hoon Jung
  • Jonathan Kim
  • Zac Weisenbarn
  • Stephen Yamaguchi

 

Research Services

Mark Hart, Assistant Director for Research Services

Research Services provides specialized IT support for Engineering research including non-standard software applications, high-level computation, and specialized hardware and equipment. Researcher workstations, servers, virtual machines (VMs), high performance computing (HPC), high throughput computing (HTC), cluster management, storage, and more are enabled through consultation that allows the researcher to advance from innovation toward scalable infrastructure. Research Technology Facilitation and consultation enables research IT to operate efficiently and collaborates on a path toward growth and potential sustainability beyond the lifetime of a grant or project.

The Assistant Director also serves as an advisor to the Director of Engineering IT as well as to the Grainger College of Engineering on strategic or operational research IT needs including those surrounding the usage of the Illinois Campus Cluster Program and other resources used to enable research.

Research Services Team

  • Eddie Waldmire, Team Lead
  • Ethan Conner, Research Technology Facilitator
  • Sid Majumdar
  • Carlos Marquez
  • Caleb Petticrew
  • Gianni Pezzarossi
  • Glen Rundblom
  • Kaiwen Xue

 

Instructional Services

Elaine Robbins, Assistant Director for Instructional Services

Instructional Services Team manages over 1,450 Engineering workstations and 100 specialized software for 109 Windows and Linux labs. In addition, the team provides support in the operations and maintenance of computer systems in specialized teaching and student design labs as well as a computer-based testing facility. High-demand Engineering applications can be accessed through Instructional Services' Citrix and FastX services. The team’s lecture/presentation capture and video conferencing services can be used to create content for online distribution. Instructional technology facilitation assists Engineering faculty and instructors in identifying technologies, resources, services, and expertise to support their teaching and their students’ learning.

Labs Support Team

  • Khlaf Alkhaldi, Labs Coordinator
  • Jason Colwell
  • James Han
  • Janelle Hodgson
  • Brian Lee
  • Manu Pulikkan
  • Luke Scharf
  • Matt Seng

eLearning Team

  • Melissa Whitt, Team Lead
  • Rob Bennett, Instructional Technology Facilitator
  • Anya Kanevskaya