Michael joined California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI) in 2014 as Professor, and served as chair of Computer Science, Information Technology and Mechatronics Engineering until 2023. His vision is to build a world-class department where cutting edge applied research is put at the service of students and community. His Ph.D. is from the University of Toronto (under the supervision of the Turing Awardee Professor Stephen Cook). Michael was chair of Computer Science at McMaster University (2001-2014), an Ulam professor at the University of Colorado Boulder (2007-2008), a visiting scholar at UC San Diego (2013), authored two books (including “An Introduction to the Analysis of Algorithms” 3rd ed), and published over 60 research papers. He specializes in Algorithms, Machine Learning and Cloud Computing.
Michael has over two decades of consulting experience in the industry, where he was the director of IT security at Executek International, and since 2021 he is a principal scientist and director of the Cloud sector at GBL Systems Corp., a Ventura CA based defense contractor. He also works with the SoCal High Technology Task Force (HTTF), and the Navy, through a fellowship with the Office of Naval Research. In Cloud Computing he established a partnership between AWS (Amazon Web Services) and the CSU and GBL Sys Corp. Michael is a certified instructor in AWS technology, and a frequent public speaker (see here for selected talks).