I got interested in computer science through my high school networking classes, which taught me the fundamentals of computer networking. When we went over a section on network security, I got very interested in computer security and began learning Unix commands and learning about basic attacks in my free time.

I really like the curriculum and all of the customization it allows. I was able to start my CS classes in my first semester and was able to start taking CS electives that interested me in my second year. I also like that the low amount of credit hours required by the major (especially in comparison to other programs) lets you customize your education by adding a minor, or in my case taking a lot of CS electives. I believe that our program teaches more practical skills earlier and allows students access to a wider variety of topics in their time here than others.

I have participated in Cyber Defense Club, The Digital Forensics Group, and Unix Users Group since my first semester here, and for the past two years I have been the President of Cyber Defense Club. I am also a member of UPE since last semester. I often like to help out with Choices and Orientation events for the department by being a part of student panels, and last semester I traveled to Martinsburg, VA to be a coach in a Cyber Security Competition for local high school students.

Outside of class I am the Vice-President of the Club Cycling Team and I enjoy riding road and mountain bikes with them in the greater Harrisonburg area whenever possible, as well as traveling to cycling races with them all over the East Coast with them during race season. I am also involved with WXJM, JMU's student radio, where I have had shows in the past and volunteer at MACROCK, the largest non-profit music festival on the East Coast held right here in Harrisonburg every spring.

I have accepted a job offer at Cisco as a Network Engineer in Raleigh, NC after graduation starting late July. However, before that I am currently planning a cross country bike ride with my younger brother and a friend starting in Washington and ending in Virginia. Along the way we plan to raise money for a young adult cancer foundation based in my home town of Chapel Hill, NC. I have done it once before and, because I have a gap this summer between graduation and starting work, I decided that this was my chance to do it again.

I am currently writing a paper with Dr. Buchholz and Maddie Brower on the recovery of data from corrupted file systems formatted with Microsoft's NTFS. This is research that stems from the Digital Forensics Group's free data recovery services that we offer to the JMU community. After encountering many corrupter NTFS hard drives in a row, we decided to develop our own tool to recover data, and have started writing a paper on our efforts.