The tech company expands experiential learning opportunities for University of Maryland computing students.
Fifteen years ago, Nick Gramsky (M.S. ’12, computer science; Ph.D. ’18, computer science) had a conversation with his advisor, Computer Science Professor Ashok Agrawala, about how incorporating more practical learning experiences could enhance the University of Maryland’s computer science curriculum. He never imagined being the one to help make it happen.
Today, as a Principal Security Architect for Microsoft Exchange and the D.C. Engineering Site Lead for Microsoft, Gramsky works with university staff to provide students with real-world learning experiences.
“Becoming D.C. Site Lead empowered me to elevate Microsoft’s relationship with UMD,” Gramsky said. “I am very proud to be a University of Maryland alum, and I’m proud to be able to contribute what I can to current students.”
As he set out to expand Microsoft’s connections with the community and academia in the D.C. area, Gramsky knew who to reach out to for support.
“I’d stayed in touch with Ashok since my Ph.D., and he really helped me figure out how we could utilize some of my Microsoft resources and capabilities to help strengthen that relationship between Microsoft and UMD,” Gramsky said.
From partnering with student organizations to setting up a table and speaking with students at Computing Catalyst events to sponsoring a cloud computing course, Gramsky focuses on finding ways to give computer science students more practical experiences.
“We want UMD students to know that there are plenty of jobs in tech in the DMV area,” Gramsky said. “And we want to play a part in developing more learning experiences at the intersection of application and theory in the CS program.”
One of the ideas Gramsky and Agrawala collaborated on was a cloud computing course where students tackle real-life projects using the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform. The course, taught by Computer Science Assistant Professor Alan Zaoxing Liu for the second time this fall semester, bridges the gap between theory and practice.
“There’s computer science theory, and then there’s real-world certifications. For these at-scale challenges that require deep CS understanding, it’s important to intersect that CS theory base knowledge with practical application,” Gramsky said. “That’s what we’re trying to do with this course.”
Undergraduates in CMSC498B: Cloud Computing learn the fundamentals of cloud computing, which uses a network of online remote servers to store and process data. Guest speakers supplement lectures and assignments, and the semester culminates with a project where students are mentored by a working professional, a graduate student or postdoc.
Senior computer science major Bhavini Pandey decided to take the course because she had never used Microsoft Azure and wanted to gain practical experience in cloud computing for her future software engineering career.
“This class helped me reinforce those fundamental cloud computing concepts that I’d been introduced to when playing around on AWS. Getting experience with Azure helped me understand the universal cloud components,” Pandey said. “Plus, because of the credits that we’re being given on Azure, we’re able to work on more complicated projects and do more interesting labs.”
For their end-of-semester group project, Pandey and her classmates worked with computer science Ph.D. student Peiqing Chen to observe video call relay patterns and identify routing locations and patterns to better understand how relay systems work.
“For platforms that offer free services and premium services, we noted that calls will disconnect more quickly at the free tier. They won’t be as resilient in trying to reroute again and again,” Pandey explained. “Whereas if you’re using the premium version of that same application, it will keep rerouting traffic through alternative servers”.
The students presented their final projects during a poster session hosted at Microsoft’s office in Reston, Virginia.
The cloud computing course wasn’t Pandey’s first experiential learning opportunity in the Department of Computer Science. Before she started her freshman year, she participated in the Computing Catalyst’s TechStart program, formerly known as Guild.
“[TechStart] was one of the first times I got to work with people I’d just met on a very short-term project where we wanted to accomplish something big,” Pandey said.
She built on that project-based learning experience in the Computing Catalyst’s Career Launch program in January 2024, when she worked with a team to develop a web application called the “Eco Sorter” that helps users sort their waste.
“Both these programs helped me get used to delivering results quickly,” Pandey said. “I’ve learned that communication is a big part of successful group work—being able to divide work evenly and find ways to pitch in.”
As Pandey looks ahead to graduating this May, she is still determining which tech niche she wants to settle in.
“Coding challenges me in a way that other tasks don’t; it’s a layered challenge, but it’s also a very logical one,” she said. “There is always something to improve and build upon, and I’m excited to keep learning from other software engineers in the future.”
As for Gramsky, he is committed to coordinating these shared learning experiences between Microsoft employees and UMD students—and he continues to ideate around future collaboration.
“I continue to grow and thrive from my relationships at UMD,” Gramsky said. “To be afforded the opportunity, the time and the space to have some conversations and then take action along with folks at UMD, all so that the students can really benefit—it’s very rewarding and satisfying.”
Learn more about the University of Maryland Computing Catalyst's corporate partnership opportunities here.