Brianna Adkins – Page 6 – Seidenberg School News

Pace Women in Tech is reaching out to young women in technology

There’s a female-central club on Pace University’s New York City campus that all women in technology fields should check out. Pace Women in Tech (WiT) is a Seidenberg organization that empowers young women technologists. WiT is led by President, Jennifer Rhau, and co-President, Sammy Chen Li. We got in touch with Jennifer to learn more about her and the club she heads.

Jennifer explained that she started going to WiT meetings during her first years at Pace: “in Seidenberg, we have a peer mentorship program for all freshman. In this program, one of our assignments is to go to a Seidenberg Club event with our mentor.”

It just so happened that Jennifer’s peer leader from her university introduction class was the then secretary of WiT. She learned about the club meeting from her peer leader and scheduled a time to attend the meeting for a class assignment.

“My mentor ended up canceling, but I went alone and loved the environment the club was based on. So I vowed [at] that first meeting with my friend Tiara to one day ‘rule Seidenberg’ with WiT,” explained Jennifer.

Flash forward to now, and Jennifer is the president of the organization. It seems her vow to “rule Seidenberg” with WiT has come true. But ruling comes with its own challenges.

“WiT has had very rocky beginnings where we met randomly and weren’t very established,” she explained. With her and Sammy’s leadership, the group will continue to strengthen immensely.

“We try to have very informal meetings, [and] we are always set up in a circle. When the [current] board took over this year, we decided our main goal was to create a safe, fun, supportive community. Everyone talks about everything. We just eat and talk, while we (the board) sneakily slip in helpful tools for navigating the workplace and school. In the future, we want to continue sneaking in more opportunities and information,” shared Rhau. “It’s very important to us that we don’t become a monotonous club.”

Under Jennifer and Sammy’s leadership, it is certain that becoming a “monotonous club” is out of the question. They both work tirelessly to make the club open and comfortable for everyone—even though the organization is dedicated to women. According to Jennifer, “everyone can join!” They certainly want everyone to see the work going on in WiT.

“You should join it for the community, but also because we are so supportive. Not only supportive in an emotional friendly way, but we share opportunities we find and things we’ve learned along the way,” Jennifer shared.

Overall, the organization is dedicated to empowering women in the technology industries. Their organization gives a safe space to women navigating an industry dominated by individuals who identify as male.

“It doesn’t always feel like it, but all STEM fields are almost taboo for women. Even [now] it’s so hard to be heard,” explained Jennifer. “Then, when we get farther along we start getting imposter syndrome. It’s always a climb, but if we get enough women into STEM fields, future women won’t have to feel the same way. It will be a norm and no one can say anything to make us feel unworthy.”

Jennifer’s work as president is going towards making sure that the incline for women who have to make the climb into this tough industry gets easier each year. Her vow to “rule” Seidenberg was realized with her current title at WiT. Her newest vow? To leave a legacy behind.

“I would love WiT to leave a legacy in Seidenberg,” Jennifer expressed. “We have another club at Seidenberg called [the Pace Computing Society] (PCS). It is involved in so many activities in Seidenberg. They even hosted the peer mentor project launch! I want that to be [WiT] in the future when I come back to visit.”

WiT will always carry an inclusive legacy, especially under the reign of Jennifer and Sammy. You can join WiT for meetings every other Monday in the Seidenberg Lounge 12:10pm to 1:10pm.

Follow WiT on Instagram (@PaceWiT) to keep up with all of their events!

The Pace Cyber Team Participates in CCDC

The Seidenberg School is proud to share that the Pace Cyber Team participated in the Northeast Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (NECCDC) Qualifier on January 26. The team competed from the Goldstein Academic Center on the Westchester campus.

The team is made up of Seidenberg students—Daniel Barr, Andrew Ku, Ryan Kennedy, Benjamin Longobardi, Charlie Adams, Joel Thomas, Cole Patterson, Ryan Nuebel, Ryan Distelhurst, Danny Decarvalho, Mark Rolon, and Ronny Cervante. They worked hard to prepare for the competition and come as far as they did.

Michael O’Rourke, the System Administrator at AQR Capital Management, served as a team judge for Pace University. Dr. Li-Chiou Chen also supported the training of the team throughout the fall and spring semesters by allowing the students to utilize the Cybersecurity Education and Research Lab. The team would like to thank both Michael and Dr. Chen for their time and contributions to the group this academic year. The team would also like to thank their coach, Professor Andreea Cotoranu, who has been working with the team since 2012.

Andreea notes that “throughout the competition the students get real-life experience with hardening systems, handling attacks, and reporting incidents in a high-pressure environment. In training for the competition, the students work on their technical, communication and teamwork skills.”

Andreea continues: “cybersecurity is a team sport yet getting a team of talented, strong-willed students is not always easy. I am proud of what the team has accomplished this season; beyond expanding their technical expertise, the students worked really well together, not only in the Northeast Collegiate Cyber Defense Qualifier but also in the Northeast CAE

Hackathon where they placed 2nd out of eight teams.”

Joel Thomas, a graduate Computer Science student, first participated in CCDC during his freshman year. He has a lot to say about his experiences with the Seidenberg team.

“What drew me to the competition was the idea of being able to work hands-on with so many different technologies at once. I was really curious about the Information Security field and just what [it] entailed,” he says. “Throughout my years of working in CCDC, I can honestly say it was a great resource for taking my experience beyond the classroom. To not only be able to see what technologies companies are using but also gain hands-on experience.”

Students who gain this hands-on experience working on the Cyber Team gain useful skills to add to their resume and get great experience working on realistic cybersecurity challenges. The team is a great way to engage with the Seidenberg community.

“The team is always looking for new members to help the team grow and continue,” Joel states.

The Cyber Team is always recruiting more students! Are you interested in becoming part of the Cyber Team next season? Get in touch with Andreea Cotoranu!

Check out Seidenberg’s own Artificial Intelligence Club!

The Seidenberg School’s very own Artificial Intelligence (AI) Club kicked off the new semester with a meeting to gather new members last week. They held a party to welcome new and returning students to the club, and gather ideas for AI projects.

Milind Ikke, the AI Club’s social media chair, explains that the club (which has been active for a while now) was “created by some graduate students with a lot of passion for AI.”

“They wanted to create a community where great AI minds can come together and work towards [solutions to] different projects,” Milind states. “They also wanted to create an AI awareness, [since] AI has become a major part of today’s technology and will continue to grow [over] time.”

Now, the club wants to branch out and involve more of the Seidenberg community. They’re looking to reach individuals with an interest in AI and a willingness to learn from the numerous resources the club provides for its members—like the Tech Talks.

Milind explains that for the Tech Talks, the club “get[s] speakers from excellent AI companies, and they not only talk about what they do in their job but also guide the students on how to achieve their goals.”

Guidance from industry professionals is a fantastic resource for students who are looking to expand their network into the technology industries, so joining the AI Club gets students access to people who can further their careers!

Milind explains that students can benefit from the club in many other ways: “they can benefit from our club by building a community where ideas related to AI are discussed, … learn from the frequent speakers who come and give the talks, … get a platform to share their projects and other research work, … [and present] their work [to] enhance their presentation skills.

If anyone wants to start an AI project but doesn’t really know where to start, that’s where the AI Club comes in! “[Students] can meet people who would like to be a part of their project and can find people who can guide their project,” explains Milind.

If anyone would like to know more about AI in general, the AI Club can help! The club is looking to be an innovative part of the Seidenberg community.

If you’re a student (or faculty member) interested in learning more about what AI is all about, or if you have an idea for an AI project, you are welcome to attend the AI Club’s weekly meetings on Tuesdays at 4:30pm in the Seidenberg Conference Room. Follow them on Facebook, Instagram, or email them at aiclub3@gmail.com!

Seidenberg goes to the International Conference on Information Systems

During the week of December 13^th, 2018, several Seidenberg students and faculty traveled to San Francisco to attend the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS). ICIS, the leading conference in the academic information systems field, is held annually in the middle of December at a new location. Seidenberg community members had the opportunity to travel to California for last year’s prestigious conference.

Attendees of the conference—Dr. Daniel Farkas, Dr. Namchul Shin, Dr. Li-Chou Chen, student Tianyu Wang, Dr. Yegin Genc, and Dr. Isaac Vaghefi—hosted workshops, presented talks, and papers, and won some pretty amazing awards.

Dr. Farkas and Dr. Shin hosted a GIS workshop during the conference. The half-day workshop on Location Analytics and Location of Things brought in scholars from around the world interested in this area to discuss their professional experiences and research.

Left to right: Dr. Namchul Shin, Dr. Dan Farkas and a colleague from University of Redlands, CA, who is one of the co-organizers of the workshop held at ICIS.

Dr. Farkas also worked with Dr. Chen to present a TREO talk on the topic of “Individual Attitude, Trust, and Risk Perception towards Blockchain Technology, Virtual Currency Exchange, Cryptocurrency Transactions and Smart Contracts.” This talk opened up dialogue about each of these subjects at the conference.

Tianyu, who is in the process of obtaining a Ph.D., presented a paper, co-authored with Dr. Chen and Dr. Genc, titled “An N-gram-based Approach for Detecting Social Media Spambots.” Tianyu won the Doctoral Research Award from the PRE-ICIS SIGDSA symposium for the paper.

Lastly, and most impressively, Dr. Vaghefi won an award for the highly competitive “Paper-A-Thon,” in which he competed against 15 international teams. The paper submitted by Dr. Vaghefi, “DIGITAL DETOX? Understanding Users’ Abstinence from Social Network Sites Use,” was selected as the best paper to be presented at the conference. Overall, the paper “embeds a series of mixed-method studies to understand how social network users can take a break from technology and its positive outcomes,” according to Dr. Vaghefi.

With Tianyu’s Doctoral Research Award and Dr. Vaghefi’s winning “DIGITAL DETOX?” paper, Seidenberg had some major wins at the ICIS. The Seidenberg community continues to create leaders in the information systems field.

If you’re interested in attending the ICIS this coming December, get in touch with one of the previously mentioned faculty members and get started on your ideas!

Start your summer Internship search ASAP

Summer is the best time to take advantage of New York City’s opportunities. With thousands of available internships with the best companies in the world, it’s the perfect time to make a name—and a resume—for yourself with these opportunities. The start of the spring semester is the perfect time to begin your summer internship search.

Don’t fret, Pace University and Seidenberg are here to help. With Career Services right on campus, it’s easy to get your resume and cover letter updated and on point. The next step is even better: opening yourself up to endless internship opportunities! If the search is overwhelming you, then check out this list of internships available this summer:

You can assist scholars with HTML, CSS, Ruby, and more at the Kode with Klossy summer camp for young women. With supermodel, Karlie Kloss, as your boss, it’s sure to be an encouraging and engaging summer opportunity.

Look into the Cybersecurity Summer 2019 Internship at IBM. According to IBM’s application website, interns have the opportunity to “work with IBM subject matter experts, learn and assist with several tasks including how to identify crown jewel assets, methods to protect them and test to ensure they are well protected.”

There’s another fantastic opportunity at Canon this summer working in their Technology Systems internship program. According to their application website, interns “will be exposed to business, marketing, and strategy initiatives… will be involved in projects that help [interns] learn, develop business skills, and provide a meaningful contribution to Canon’s business and goals.”

At Google, interns have the opportunity to work in Information Technology. The application website states that interns will “provide support for desktops/laptops and user access to corporate network and applications both on the network as well as through remote VPN access,” as well as “assist with moving equipment and users,” and much more.

Also watch out for internships at Bloomberg, NBC, Adobe, Sprint, and News Corp. No matter what company you choose to work for—or get accepted to work for—you will gain incredible industry knowledge to shift your career forwards.

Job search engines and platforms like LinkedIn, Indeed, and Glassdoor are helpful resources for finding companies that have internship openings. If there is a company that you really want to work for, but their openings don’t show up on any of these sites, then head directly to the company’s site to find their positions and applications. Sending a quick email to their hiring manager is also a good way to get your foot in the door.

If you’re looking to expand your horizons or just gain more experience, the knowledge that you can gain from industry experience will stick with you forever. If you apply and are accepted, let us know! We want to celebrate with you and cheer you on.

This Seidenberg Blog Writer wants to tell your story!

Hi, I’m Brianna Adkins. I’m a sophomore Communication Studies major, so it’s probably odd that I spend most of my time at the university sitting in the Seidenberg lounge with my laptop out. Am I coding? No. Am I designing the next innovative project with Pace University’s Design Factory? No. What I am doing is writing about the Seidenberg students who do these wonderful things. This is because I am the newest writer for the Seidenberg Blog.

I started this position in November 2018 during my first semester on the New York City campus. As a transfer from the Westchester campus, it was quite a shock moving into the city. When I was hired for this job, it seemed like a dream come true! I get to be a writer in Downtown Manhattan! I love writing, technology, and writing about technology, so being able to work at Pace University’s Seidenberg School with a position rooted in both of those interests is a fantastic chance to explore those topics.

As a former Kode with Klossy scholar, I know that technology impacts everything. I learned how to code with HTML, CSS, Ruby, and even a little bit of JavaScript over a two-week coding course before my senior year of high school. I learned coding with a group of 20 other amazing young women, one of which I get to work with at Seidenberg as well—I’m looking at you, Elysha Ang.

I was brought back onto the Kode with Klossy team as a teaching assistant the summer before my freshman year of college. I had the opportunity to teach young women in St. Louis, Missouri alongside a team of fantastic STEM women. Technology changed my life for the better, and my interest in it grew with my exposure to it.

While I only know a little bit about technology, in my new position as Seidenberg’s resident writer I’m being introduced to a world of innovative creations and projects by Pace University students. Insider knowledge of the projects Seidenberg students are working on is a privilege that I hold close to me.

I get to tell the stories of students who are creating apps, changing the rules in sports, and even going so far as traveling around the globe to work with international clients. These students are making waves before they’ve even left school. Their voices and stories are heard through the Seidenberg blog.

I’m looking forward to telling more stories in my time as a writer for the Seidenberg Blog. You can email me at badkins@pace.edu or you come visit me in the Seidenberg lounge and share your story! I would love to hear from any student or faculty member; you know where you can find me. I’ll have my laptop and my mind open.