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Meet Your Mentor!
We sat down with our 2025 Anvil REU Mentors to discuss their role at RCAC, what their REU students will be working on, and much, much more. Keep reading below to learn more about your mentor.
Jacob Verburgt
Please introduce yourself
I am Jacob Verburgt, a Senior AI Applications Scientist at RCAC.
What do you do?
Senior AI Applications Scientist
Why would I come to you for help?
Guidance with project layout or presentation, technical questions on Linux or HPC
What's one professional skill you're currently working on?
On-the-fly consultations with HPC users
What's your go-to productivity trick?
Just make a prioritized list and work your way downward.
What behavior or personality trait do you most attribute your success to, and why?
Be curious and explore the background and context of the systems you work on
What led you to this career?
My PI Advisor, Daisuke Kihara, Lab mate and now colleague Charles Christoffer, and my Mentor for RCAC, Ryan DeRue
What are you currently excited about in your job?
Building out new systems for monitoring GPU and CPU activity
What's the biggest misconception people have about your position?
People assume I only do AI work and support, when in reality that is only a small fraction of what I do
How long have you been on the Anvil team/at RCAC?
~½ year full-time, ~1.5 years total
Education, publications, engagement (groups part of), etc...
PhD, Biological Sciences, Purdue University; MS, Applied Statistics, Purdue University; BS, Biomolecular and Chemical Engineering, Milwaukee School of Engineering
Why did you decide to become a mentor for the REU program?
I enjoy helping students bridge the gap between theory and practice. I believe REU programs such as this help students extend skills past what is taught in coursework.
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What do you hope the REU gets out of the program?
An enhanced view of the HPC and research computing space, along with HPC and technical skills.
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How can this help them in their college career?
REUs like this offer experience with real-world applications and applying skills they have learned in their coursework. They also develop relationships with mentors and peers that can serve as support or references for future applications.
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How can this help them in their professional career?
HPC and distributed computing are increasingly prevalent even outside of research. This REU provides experience and exposure to real HPC usage, which is a valuable asset, whether pursuing graduate school or industry.
What value do you get from being a mentor for the REU program?
Apart from the enjoyment of helping students move forward in their careers, it also sharpens my own communication and mentoring skills.
What will your REU students be working on specifically?
You will develop tools and materials to support Quantum Computing and AI learning, training, and research. These projects will focus on supporting integrated hybrid quantum classical (HPC) computing such as quantum simulation, quantum machine learning, and quantum optimization. Specifically, students will be creating learning and application interfaces to understand and run quantum computing software on HPC resources. These will exist in the form of developing Open OnDemand interfaces that will make HPC compute accessible to non-technical researchers.