People

The staff and students behind our work.

The Institute operates as an academic R&D unit, hiring engineers to strengthen our technical capacity—supporting faculty and student innovation and enabling projects with partners. Supporting our engineering capabilities are communications, finance and program management.

Staff

S. Jay Yang, Ph.D.

Inaugural David & Cathleen Reisenauer Family Director

(509) 313-6478
yangj@gonzaga.edu

Jay brings expertise in AI, cybersecurity, and interdisciplinary innovation. Formerly Director of Research at RIT’s Global Cybersecurity Institute and Department Chair for Computer Science, he advances research and teaching at the intersection of technology and humanity.

Amy Hyde

Operations Officer

(509) 313-5601
hyde@gonzaga.edu

Amy leads digital product and organizational transformation for businesses where information is central to their mission. She partners with organizations to clarify vision, develop strategies that enable sustainable growth and build operational capabilities that create lasting impact. She balances strategic ambition with operational realities.

Christopher Lopes

AI Engineer

(509) 313-5636
lopes@gonzaga.edu

Chris designs and builds AI-powered systems that help people accomplish more and explore new possibilities. Drawing on a background in software engineering, he focuses on creating practical solutions, experimenting with emerging technologies and turning new capabilities into tools that expand what people can do.

Chanel Cheng

AI Engineer

(509) 313-5637
chengc@gonzaga.edu

Chanel hopes to create AI systems that are continuously shaped by the community while prioritizing transparency and traceability. Her work explores how traceable memory and learning mechanisms let AI continuously learn from experience while growing more capable, trustworthy, and responsive to the people around them.

Immanuelle Manohar

AI Engineer

(509) 313-5638
manohar@gonzaga.edu

Immanuelle builds AI tools that can make powerful capabilities accessible to the people who need them. She draws on a background in signal processing, software development, along with a love for teaching engineering and mathematics to design agentic analytics and data pipelines that are robust, insightful, and explainable. Her hope is to build tools that can grow with the people who use them and benefit the communities they serve.

Student Employees

Students work with the Institute for Informatics and Applied Technology in a variety of ways — some are student researchers supporting faculty on specific projects, some lead entire research projects independently, and others support communications, marketing and events.

If you’re a student interested in working with IIAT, follow us on LinkedIn to hear about new position postings or contact us at informatics@gonzaga.edu.