Student Profile: Hunter Malinowski, Computer Science

Undergraduate Hunter Malinowski, Computer Science

Why did Hunter Malinowski decide to attend Michigan Tech? There are many reasons.

Malinowski toured Michigan Tech during her sophomore year in high school and at the time, she was dead set on a Psychology major. “I toured the Psychology department, and I really enjoyed it because they had a ton of cool research going on.”

The summer before her senior year of high school, Malinowski attended a Women in Computing Sciences (WiCS) Summer Youth Program (SYP) at Michigan Tech. “I felt at home on campus. I liked the area, and I thought the dining hall food was really good!” says Malinowski.

Today, Malinowski is studying both computer science and psychology at Michigan Tech. “I want to go into the data science/machine learning field. I think there’s a lot to be said about the psychology perspective for that,” she says. “The more I’ve done with psychology and computer science, the more I realize how many connections there are, from designing a website to the user interface and user experience.”

Malinowski is very active on campus. She is president of the Delta Zeta sorority, the College of Computing representative for Undergraduate Student Government, and treasurer of Tiny Knitz, a student group that crochets hats for premature babies. She volunteers for Copper Country Coders and helped teach an online computing class to students in Bahrain in the 2022-23 academic year.

Malinowski has conducted research with several faculty members in the Computer Science and Cognitive Learning Sciences departments. She received a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) grant and an Undergraduate Research Internship Program (URIP) award, both from Pavlis Honors College (PHC), and she was selected by PHC as a University Innovation Fellow.

Malinowski was presented with the Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences 2023 Department Scholar Award. In her first year on campus, she won third place in the Bob Mark Business Model Competition and received an MTEC SmartZone Breakout Innovation Award and honorable mention in Central Michigan University’s New Venture Challenge for her start-up idea “Recirculate – The Future of Sustainable Fashion.”

Many in Malinowski’s family are Michigan Tech alumni. Originally, she wanted to blaze her own path, but as she learned more about Michigan Tech and its opportunities and programs, she decided to apply. “Now it’s cool that I have all this family history,” she says.

Malinowski is from Canton, Michigan. She graduated from Plymouth High School in 2020. Her mother, who earned a mechanical engineering degree from Michigan Tech in 1993, works at Ford as a Powertrain Onboard Diagnostics Manager.

Read about Malinowski’s internship with Realogic Solutions.