Originally from Jakarta, Indonesia, Rudy Setiawan came to the United States in 1992 as a foreign exchange student. After attending Lenawee Christian School in Adrian, Michigan, for his senior year of high school, he continued his education at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

At Calvin, he majored in Engineering with Electrical concentration. While studying at Calvin, he also worked at Calvin's Computer Center (now called Calvin Information Technology Department). He started as a substitute student assistant at the Library Computer Lab (now called the Information Technology Center). This position led to various other positions within the department, from student assistant to help desk staff, resident hall computer coordinator, interim webmaster, and finally, returning back to the Computer Lab to hold position as a member of both the Lab's Special Project Team and Management Team. The experience dealing with various aspects of information technology led him to consider the possibility of pursuing a career in IT.

While considering whether to continue his education or working full-time right after graduation, he found a unique graduate program offered at the Information Networking Institute, a research center at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The program, called the MS in Information Networking program, is a multidisciplinary program integrating the disciplines of business, computer science, and electrical and computer engineering. After considering this unique combination, along with the flexible curriculum and CMU's reputation of excellence in the related fields, he decided to attend CMU for his graduate education.

At CMU, he joins 34 other individuals from all over the world in the MSIN's 9^th class. Even though the program is pretty intense, he is enjoying his time at CMU.