For the past two semesters I have had the pleasure to work on the Socio-Cybersecurity Research project. Throughout my time, I have been able to learn more about cybersecurity and how different people within the Hampton Roads area feel about the topic as well as NSU students. Conducting interviews with interviewees allowed me to understand one’s take on cybersecurity to gather data and research to help build a better app. The biggest takeaway for me from this internship is how to conduct interviews for research purposes. I love to talk to anyone about any and everything but conducting an interview is a different approach. These interviews are more formal and require a bit of background information about the subject nature just in case I get asked a question. With this experience I was able to see and feel truly ready to give interviews about anything and know how to conduct myself during one.

As a graduate student this semester, I was able to work on a project for the RISE 22 conference and learn about gender differences within the field of cybersecurity. This project required some research on my own but with the help of Dr. Turner and Dr. Shen, I was able to gather more data and literature to incorporate in my poster.          My research topic opened my eyes to see the wide gap that is within this field and how men and women are treated and paid differently. Looking at the gap, I knew that there must be a call to action to bring more women within cybersecurity and properly treat them like equals.

This internship has also strengthened my relationship with all professors within the Sociology department on a deeper level than simply being a student. I feel as though they see me as a young woman who has grown from the 18 year old girl who came to NSU Freshman year in 2017. This opportunity not only allowed me to make friends within the internship but also share knowledge and gain help in areas outside of the internship and fall more in love with Norfolk State University.