Jari Porras '93

What is your fondest memory of your time in the CS department?

I struggled a lot in the beginning because of my language skills. In one of the courses in my first semester I had to write a review/reflection and Prof. Seidel gave me D -- and asked if I used a French spell checker to check the language. Although one could find this a negative memory, I became motivated that I wanted to be better. This also gives me a perception to my own work these days. Not everyone is a perfect in language, math, coding, but with proper motivation one can improve.

How has your education impacted your career?

Dave Poplawski and his enthusiastic attitude inspired me in my career. The research work I did for him opened the doors to my academic career here in Finland.

In addition to his work as a professor at LUT University, Jari is a visiting professor at Aalto University in Finland and at University of Huddersfield in the UK. He is also as technical judge at the Market Court of Finland.

Jari participates in the CS1000 Alumni Assignment project where alumni correspond with first-year computer science students and answer questions they have about the school, the program, the industry, or just life in general at Michigan Tech.