URCAD is Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Submission deadline: February 15, 2021

Name: Bianca Monge

Internship, Co-op or Research Site: Leidos

Position Title: Cybersecurity Analyst Intern

Major(s)/Minor(s): Information Systems

Current Class Level: Senior

Work Term: Summer 2019

Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities.

During my internship, I worked within the Cyber & SIGINT department of the Intel group as a Cybersecurity Analyst Intern. My project over the summer was to research a product pitched to our company that would be able to prevent software memory corruption attacks. My team and I researched, analyzed, and tested the product to document its effectiveness and faults. Not only did we test its functionality as a cyber hardening product, but we also looked at if and how it could be misused in the wrong hands. The areas of cybersecurity that my day-to-day responsibilities entailed were buffer overflow attacks, reverse engineering, binary analysis, vulnerability/exploit testing, and malware analysis.

Describe the process of obtaining your position. When did you hear of the position and submit your application?

I found the internship position listing on Glassdoor, which linked me to the Leidos website in October of last year. I was contacted shortly after applying to come in for an interview, and not long after that I was told that I got the internship.

Although I found and obtained my position outside of UMBC, I would highly recommend going to the Career Fair and attending recruiter workshops to get your name and face out there. I did, and it definitely gave me a chance to practice interviews and become more comfortable interacting with recruiters. 

What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization? 

The people and work that I get to do. The people I met were all so intelligent and had so much knowledge, experience, and advice to share. I felt like I always learned something new by saying hi to someone new everyday. Having that great environment around me, and finally getting the chance to do real work in the field I love, was a dream come true.

How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?

The documentation of all the research my team and I did on the product was actually going to be sent to higher ups in order to help them make their final decision on whether or not Leidos should use the product within their systems and/or relay the product to Leidos customers.

What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience? 

Take advantage of the Career Fair and technical/recruiter workshops. Even if you do not get any responses back, it is networking experience to prepare for the day when you do land that interview.

During interviews, don't shy away from telling the interviewer what you aren't the most well-versed in. It's important for both you and them so that they place you in a position they think you'll enjoy and be good at. Also, if you're passionate about a certain subject, express it!

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Want to be the next Intern of the Week? Make sure to fill out this form and stay tuned. New interns are announced every Friday!

Dive deep into your city.

Civic Engagement 2020

Friday, November 8 | 12:00pm - 1:00pm 

Mapping the Historic Lumbee Community in Baltimore

Wednesday, November 13 | 3:00pm - 4:30pm

Bagels & Banter Pop-Up #2: Indigenous Erasure and "National American History and Founders Month"

Wednesday, November 13 | 5:30pm - 7:30pm

Film Screening: The Thick Dark Fog

Monday, November 18 | 12:00pm - 1:00pm

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How to Be A Better Ally: Local Indigenous Communities

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• Bellese - “Good booth overall, student presentations were great”
• Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab - “Reps were extremely friendly, well-coordinated and great speakers”
• Clearview Group - “I’m not recruiting engineers, but this association’s booth caught my attention. It clearly showcases the focus of AICHE and indicates the members put thought into their presentation. This booth stood out to me more than any other! I forgot to mention they also included demonstrations so it was interactive. Great job!”

UMBC faculty poised to help shape national policies in computing

Adam Bargteil, assistant professor of computer science and electrical engineering, has been named chair-elect of the Association for Computing Machinery’s (ACM) Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques (SIGGRAPH). He will lead SIGGRAPH as chair starting Fall 2020.

With Bargteil’s election, UMBC’s College of Engineering and Information Technology (COEIT) now has two faculty members serving as leaders of two of the ACM’s largest special interest groups. Helena Mentis, associate dean for academic programs and learning in COEIT and associate professor of information systems, has been president of the Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI) since July 2018.

In these leadership roles, Bargteil and Mentis will have an opportunity to shape important policy matters, including redesigning computing education guidelines.

Bargteil’s group, SIGGRAPH, is the leading international society for computing professionals and students in computer graphics and interactive techniques, attracting people from academia, industry, and artistic communities. Bargteil helped create the ACM SIGGRAPH Frontiers program, which highlights emerging fields of research, such as machine learning, medical applications of computer graphics, and autonomous vehicles.

Bargteil plans to continue to empower the SIGGRAPH executive committee to create high-impact programming and opportunities for conversation among members when he is at the helm next year. “I’d like to continue to be proactive, and create more value for the members of SIGGRAPH,” he shares.

Over the summer, Bargteil participated in an intensive leadership program, which he says helped him prepare for his upcoming role in SIGGRAPH. Reflecting on the experience, Bargteil says that he found the selected readings, training exercises in public speaking, and opportunities to connect closely with fellow participants to be valuable for his growth as an emerging leader in computing.

SIGCHI, the group Mentis leads, is the world’s largest association for professionals in human-computer interaction. The group’s main conference attracts more than 3,500 attendees each year, and the SIG sponsors 23 specialized conferences.

Mentis is director of UMBC’s Bodies in Motion Lab, and focuses on how technologies can improve collaboration and coordination in healthcare contexts, from empowering patients to helping surgeons utilize interactive imaging. SIGCHI is a highly multi-disciplinary community that includes researchers and students in fields from sociology to mechanical engineering.

Adapted from an article by Megan Hanks. For additional stories, visit the UMBC News site.

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