| Date (Mon) | Lecturer | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| Sept 20 | Tracey Dudding and Amanda Tolman | Optimizing Blood Bank Inventory with Machine Learning Techniques COMBATING SOCIAL LIES: Placing Trust Back in Social Media Video |
| Oct 4 | Tyler Bamberg | Hacking What you Eat Attack on US Food and Agriculture Video Example FBI Private Industry Notification |
| Oct 18 | Dr. Alfred Wicks | Who’s In the Driver’s Seat? NO ONE. Autonomous Cars Drive Themselves Video |
| Nov 1 | Steve Cresawn | Drawing with Data: What Data Science and Data Visualization Are Teaching Us about Virus Genomes Video |
| Nov 15 | Katrina Koomey | Capabilities within Commercial Clouds (AWS, Google, Azure) for automation as it related to cost controls Video |
Speaker Biographies
Tracey Dudding:
Tracey Dudding, would you like to be a data scientist in the healthcare field? Absolutely I would! That is my dream job! To prepare for this role, I earned a B.S. in Statistics from Virginia Tech and I will earn an M.S. in Data and Information Management (DAIM) at Radford University. As I ended my senior year of college, I wanted to appear unique to employers. I knew Radford’s computer science graduate program would help me standout and help me acquire the skills and experience to prepare, manage, and analyze data. DAIM has given me amazing opportunities to participate on research projects and serve as a web developer for the School of Computing and Information Science. To complete my MS degree, I am putting my skills to the test. Working with Carilion and other healthcare providers, I am using data to save lives and improve the quality of care in our community.
Amanda Tolman:
A command-line? A GUI, and Dr. Pittges wants us to do what?! This is only one of many reactions after I transferred from Virginia Western to Radford University. The past two years at Radford have transformed me into the young data engineer I am today. Other interesting facts about myself, I started a blog on AWS last month, to help my fellow believers with their faith in Christ, and to help other passionate computer scientists understand what is going on behind the scenes of certain technologies. When I am off the computer I enjoy cooking, traveling, listening to music, and cuddling with my dog. It is a pleasure to meet you!
Steve Cresawn:
Dr. Steven Cresawn is an Associate Professor in James Madison University’s Department of Biology and a co-director of the JMU’s Center for Genome and Metagenome Studies (CGEMS). He has served as Lead Computational Biologist for the HHMI SEA-PHAGES program since the program’s inception in 2009.
Katrina Koomey:
Katrina Koomey is the President and Chief Technologist for Thorben Consulting, LLC. Thorben is a 100% woman-owned small business that delivers Cloud services, ERP services and Technical Consulting services for growing businesses and organizations She has over 25 years’ experience supporting complex technology projects for large organizations. Mrs Koomey began her career with Booz Alan & Hamilton in 94, then spent 8 years with PriceWaterhouse Coopers before starting Thorben Consulting in 2004. Katrina has been involved with the technical architecture for almost every major Federal ERP implemented by the US Government including DOI, Treasury, Homeland S.ecurity Customs & Border Protection, Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, and the Internal Revenue Service. In addition to supporting DOI, Katrina has been assisting the US Army with AWS cloud migrations. Katrina is passionate about improving Enterprise Cloud Solutions throughout the Federal government.
Benjamin Tyler Bamberg:
Benjamin Tyler Bamberg manages the IT infrastructure at VPT a company that manufactures military and aerospace power converters. He is the FBI infragard sector chief for critical manufacturing in Virginia and the treasurer of the FBI Infragard Richmond Chapter. Tyler is an adjunct professor with Virginia Western and teaches CSC205. In his community time, Tyler is a Master Mason, Shriner, Scottish Rite 32nd, and a Knights Templar.
Dr. Alfred Wicks:
Dr. Wicks received his Ph.D. from Michigan Tech University. Since joining the faculty of the Mechanical Engineering Department at Virginia Tech in 1986, Dr. Wicks has developed numerous techniques for applying scanning laser technology to dynamics measurements. He has taught numerous courses on signal processing, instrumentation, modal analysis and vibrations.
Wicks has lead the autonomous vehicle teams for the DARPA Challenges and continues his work leading the AutoDrive Challenge team. Funded research in unmanned systems involves sensing technologies, navigation strategies, and wireless communications in cooperation with the Marine Corp Warfighting Lab.
Current teaching interests involve two graduate courses in Mechatronics, and Digital Signal Processing and undergraduate courses in Building Winning Teams, Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies
He is also served the Technical Chairman of the International Modal Analysis Conference for 25 years
Past CS Scholars
We are excited to present the Spring 2021 synchronous CS Scholars Lecture series. The series is strongly suggested for all CS and IT students and all others are encouraged to join us!
The CS Scholars program is a speaker series for CS/IT students and professionals. The Series is sponsored by the CS/IT department at Virginia Western.
In order to attend the lectures, you must register. There is no cost.
Scheduled Lectures
| Date (Mon) | Lecturer | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| Feb 8 | Aimee Arias | Tips and Tricks on a Successful Resume and Interview Experience Video | Aimee Arias Transcript Customer Service Certification discussed: HDI-CSR |
| Feb 22 | John Cornthwait | How to Start Your Own IT Business Video |
| Mar 8 | Randy Marchany | Click Here to Kill Everyone: Security in a Hyper-Connected World Video |
| Mar 22 | Caleb Bradberry | Are You As Smart As a Machine? Lessons from Machine Learning Video | ML talk VWCC |
| Apr 5 | Rob Schadey | Cloud 101 Video |
| Apr 19 | Rick Whitner | Blockchain == Crypto.? |
Presenter Bios
Randy Marchany
Randy Marchany is the University IT Security Officer and Director of the IT Security Lab at VA Tech. He’s been in the cybersecurity world for 31 years and is a Senior Instructor for the SANS Institute. He is the co-author of the “Responding to Distributed Denial of Service Attacks” document that was prepared at the request of the White House in response to the DDOS attacks of 2000. He was a member of the original team that created the Center for Internet Security’s series of Security Benchmark documents for Solaris, AIX and Windows. These benchmarks are available for free and represent the first successful attempt to create a set of consensus documents with detailed steps for implementing system security. He was a member of the White House Partnership for Critical Infrastructure Security working group that developed a Consensus Roadmap for responding to the recent series of DDOS Internet Attacks. He was a recipient of the SANS Institute’s Security Technology Leadership Award for 2000, the VA Governor’s Technology Silver Award in 2003. part of the team that won the EDUCAUSE Excellence in Information Technology Solutions in 2005 and a member of the Virginia Cyber Range team that won the 2017 Virginia Governor’s Technology Award for innovative use of technology in education. He is the author of the original theme song of the National Public Radio program, “World Cafe”.
Aimee Arias
Aimee Arias serves as the Supervisor for the Technology Service Center at Carilion Clinic. She has worked with Carilion for the last 13 years, previously as an Epic Application Analyst. Aimee loves being on the front line for the Technology Services Group. She enjoys facilitating resolutions to get our clients back up and running, so they can continue to provide patient care and complete tasks needed. Aimee is passionate about building the Technology Service Center, helping them grow and develop their skills to pursue their professional goals.
John Cornthwait
John Cornthwait is a Partner and the Director of Products at Firefli, a Virginia-based consultancy where he oversees the firm’s product services. He was previously the Webmaster for Carilion Clinic (2008-12) and the City of Roanoke (2004-08). His work has been recognized by the American Advertising Federation and The Webby Awards. He holds a BA in Psychology from Roanoke College (2004) and a MS in Information Architecture and User Experience Design from Kent State University (2018). John recently presented “How to Win at Information Architecture” at WordCamp DC (2017) and WordCamp Raleigh (2018). He is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Virginia Western Community College, where he teaches web development.
Rob Schadey
Rob Schadey serves as the Business Mission Area Director for U.S. Army Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems (PEO EIS). In this role, he is responsible for the integration and modernization of the Army enterprise resource planning systems, with a focus on enterprise initiatives such as cloud computing and data analytics.
Mr. Schadey began his career as an enlisted computer and network specialist in the U. S. Marine Corps, where he served for six years before transitioning to the private sector. In his next role, Mr. Schadey joined MITRE Corporation, where he supported the Army computer emergency response team. He was then selected as a group leader for cybersecurity engineering at Army Information Systems Engineering Command. Following that position, Mr. Schadey served as chief technology officer for Acquisition Logistics Technology Enterprise Systems and Services. He then returned to the private sector as vice president and chief information security officer at a startup. Most recently, Mr. Schadey resumed his work in civil service at PEO EIS as the Chief Information Cybersecurity Officer.
Mr. Schadey holds a Master of Science in computer science and cybersecurity from Capitol Technology University in Laurel, Maryland. He is a distinguished graduate of the National Defense University Chief Information Security Officer Program, and he holds (ISC)2 Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and Information Systems Security Architecture Professional (ISSAP) certifications. Mr. Schadey is a recipient of the Superior Civilian Service Award, Secretary of Defense Medal for the Global War on Terrorism, and was twice awarded the Commander’s Award for Civilian Service. He is a member of the Army Acquisition Corps with Level III certifications in both Systems Program Research Development and Engineering (SPRDE) and Information Technology (IT).
Caleb Bradberry
Caleb Bradberry is currently an assistant professor of Information Systems at Radford University, with areas of interest in machine learning, data science, and healthcare informatics. He completed his undergraduate degrees in computer science as well as information systems at Marshall University in 2007, and proceeded to work full time as a systems administrator while pursuing a nighttime Masters of Business Administration. He left industry in 2012 to pursue a Ph.D. in Information Systems at UNC Greensboro. He completed his degree in 2016 and subsequently started at Radford in that same year.
Rick Whitner
Rick Whitner is Vice President of Architecture at Voice (US) LLC, where he leads the research and architecture development of the Voice blockchain-powered social media platform. He has over 35 years of industry experience, 26 as an architect and technical leader at industry leaders such as HP, Agilent Technologies, CA Technologies (Broadcom), and Block.one. His projects have covered a spectrum of technologies such as operating systems, networking, telecommunications, data analytics, and more recently, blockchain and social media. Prior to joining Voice, he was part of the research team at Block.one that originated what is now Voice. He holds 15 US patents.
Blockchain == Crypto.? Ask someone about blockchain and you’ll likely get a response related to cryptocurrency. While the linkage between the two is well founded, blockchain as a technology offers much more than cryptocurrency. In this presentation, we look beyond the common view to explore what a blockchain is and what other uses of this emerging technology might be.