# West Arete Computing, Inc. -- Full Context > Human judgment, AI follow-through. West Arete builds software and AI systems for universities, research consortia, and mission-driven organizations. Based in State College, PA. For a shorter summary, see [llms.txt](https://westarete.com/llms.txt). ## About West Arete builds custom software and AI systems for universities, research consortia, and mission-driven organizations -- problems where the stakes are high and off-the-shelf tools fall short. Founded in 2005 in State College, PA. Certified B Corporation and 1% for the Planet member since founding. Employee benefits include fully-paid, $0 deductible health insurance for each employee's entire family and mandatory three-week sabbaticals every year. ## Contact - Email: hello@westarete.com - Website: https://westarete.com/ ## Approach Two commitments underlie every engagement: **Human judgment in the loop.** Models draft, propose, summarize, and surface. People decide, sign, send, and own. The interface is built around that handoff -- not bolted on after. West Arete is a software engineering firm first: if the right answer is well-designed custom software, a process change, or a tool the client already has, they will say so. Sometimes the answer is not AI. **Data sovereignty.** Client data trains nothing without explicit consent. Where data lives, who can see it, and what leaves the perimeter is decided by the client in writing before any code is written. The right to switch providers, host independently, or end the engagement also belongs to the client. ## Services ### Clarity Sprint Duration: Two to four weeks. Investment: ~$20,000. A gap analysis across four axes -- Data, Software, Collaboration, and Skills -- sized against the organization's strategic plan. Conducted through 1:1 conversational interviews with operators across the business. Deliverables include the gap reading, honest diagnosis, two to three prioritized opportunities with cost and risk, and a scoped, priced Use Case Build ready to take into a budget conversation. Output format chosen in week one: boardroom PDF, written report, microsite, podcast episode, or AI context bundle. Best for leaders who have been pitched too much and piloted too little. ### Use Case Build Duration: A couple of months, fixed price and scope. Investment: ~$75,000. Takes one named capability gap from the Sprint and builds it into a working, production-grade capability owned outright by the client. Covers data infrastructure, the capability itself, the collaboration patterns and decision rights the organization needs to use it well, and training from executive 1:1 coaching to fifty-person workshops. ### Transformation Partnership Duration: Ongoing, annual cadence. Investment: custom. For organizations ready to make AI work across the whole business. Covers org-wide training at the right altitude for each role, a coherent tooling stack chosen and configured on purpose, shared criteria for when AI earns its place, and security and human-review guardrails that hold across departments. ## Past Work - **MIT / Dr. Amy Glasmeier -- Living Wage Calculator**: Built and maintains the de facto US authority on living wage data. Aggregates multiple data sources to report the true cost of living for any US community. Influences public and private policy nationwide. - **Internet2 / InCommon -- Federation Manager**: Led security audit and initial modernization of the web application managing metadata for the InCommon Federation, which provides trust and identity services for hundreds of educational institutions and millions of users. West Arete is an official Internet2 industry partner and founding InCommon Catalyst. - **1% for the Planet -- Membership Payment Processing**: Integrated third-party platforms to create a streamlined, secure workflow for business members to pay annual dues, built to handle rapid organizational growth. - **Centre Foundation -- Centre Gives**: Designed and built a high-performance online giving day platform. Now hosts multiple annual giving day events for the community. - **Penn State University Libraries -- Research Information Management**: Designed and developed the core system capturing Penn State's full research output -- publications, grants, and accomplishments -- and publishing clean metadata via API for developers to build on. - **California Western School of Law -- Novo Student Information System**: Multi-year project to build a student information system designed around the law school's actual enrollment and grading policies, rather than forcing the school to adapt to off-the-shelf software. ## Pages - [Home](https://westarete.com/): West Arete as a practical AI partner for organizations that need trust before transformation. Two core commitments: human judgment in every consequential decision, your data and IP in your hands. - [Approach](https://westarete.com/approach/): The two commitments in detail -- human-centered AI architecture and full data sovereignty. Explains what "human-centered" means as a system design decision. Includes four design principles for keeping humans in the consequential loop. - [Offerings](https://westarete.com/offerings/): Three engagements: Clarity Sprint (2-4 weeks, ~$20k), Use Case Build (2-3 months, ~$75k), Transformation Partnership (annual cadence). Each with duration, investment, what you leave with, and step-by-step process. - [Past Work](https://westarete.com/work/): Six client stories from twenty years of mission-critical software for universities, research consortia, and impact organizations. - [Our Thinking](https://westarete.com/thinking/): Essays and field notes on building AI systems that earn trust. Three pieces in progress: human-in-the-loop as an architecture decision, when not to use AI, what a Clarity Sprint actually produces. - [About](https://westarete.com/about/): Mission, values, team bios, and company history. Founded 2005 in State College, PA. Certified B Corporation. 1% for the Planet member since founding. Mandatory three-week sabbaticals and fully-paid family health insurance for all staff. - [Contact](https://westarete.com/contact/): Email hello@westarete.com. A 30-minute call, no deck, no pitch. Reply within one business day.