ITS is proud to recognize Tom Hsu, Lead Student Systems Developer, as the December 2025 Employee of the Month. Tom was nominated by Adelaida Diaz, Johannes Pikel, and Rehan Tahir for his pivotal role in the launch of the Graduate Student Management System (GSMS) Admissions module.

A Partner in Customer Success

Tom served as the primary technical lead for the GSMS Admissions module. GSMS is a single platform developed to streamline and centralize the management of graduate student funding and employment at UCR. Tom successfully navigated the entire development lifecycle, expertly managing both client expectations and technical oversight of contract developers, to deliver a stable, functional, and scalable product. The project presented significant challenges, but Tom's unwavering commitment and effort were key to overcoming obstacles and achieving this milestone. 

As the primary technical lead for the GSMS Admissions module, Tom consistently demonstrated outstanding leadership by providing technical guidance and direction in all working sessions. His patience and dedication ensured that features were correctly implemented by the team. He frequently went above and beyond, staying late to collaborate with campus partners, walking through issues, and updating code based on customer feedback. In addition, he readily took on extra responsibilities when other developers were unavailable, providing crucial support and guidance to the project team even during the implementation phase.

Johannes Pikel praised Tom’s versatility and flexibility as a developer:

“Tom excels at balancing high-level strategy with granular technical execution. He is consistently customer-focused, acting as a reliable "first responder" for critical system outages.”

Tom’s commitment to UCR’s campus partners is a hallmark of his work ethic. He took the time to understand the graduate admissions process, which allowed him to translate complex customer feedback into effective technical solutions. 

"The Graduate Division trusts Tom implicitly," shared Adelaida Diaz. "They view him as a highly dependable resource and feel completely comfortable collaborating with him on feature implementation.”

Driving Innovation

Tom demonstrated technical innovation in his work by implementing a robust Git merging strategy (a technical method for combining code updates from different developers).

“This crucial process improvement not only ensured code stability across the team, but also optimized the workflow, prevented bottlenecks, and allowed the team to focus on addressing customer feedback,” said Johannes.

“Tom utilizes Google tools to streamline the coding and implementation process, and is actively integrating and leveraging AI to assist with the implementation of the new GSMS system,” Adelaida added. “These practices have allowed Tom to be highly effective in his system implementation efforts.”

Going Above and Beyond

Beyond the GSMS project, Tom maintains an impressive portfolio of responsibilities. He continues to serve as the primary developer for the Qualtrics Course Evaluations project and provided crucial support on Banner upgrades.

“His ability to pivot between these major projects while also supporting the Banner upgrade activity demonstrates a rare level of professional agility,” said Rehan Tahir. He added, "Tom embodies the spirit of a true team player. His work ethic goes beyond simply getting the job done. He pursues excellence in the stability of our technology environments and shows a consistent willingness to support his colleagues.”

Congratulations, Tom, on this well-deserved recognition!

Do you have colleagues who deserve recognition for their hard work and dedication? Nominate them for one of ITS’ Employee Recognition Programs!

Staff members can be nominated for Employee of the Month or Team of the Quarter. Use our form to submit your nomination for the next Employee of the Month.