Students in the Spotlight

"After my high school graduation, I knew NKU was the right institution for my next educational journey. I chose NKU because it goes beyond professors' caring. At the Norse family, everyone cares. As a student here I have had countless mentors to be quite honest. Our faculty and staff do everything they can to see us succeed and provide us with exactly what we need to do our best, inside the classroom and outside of it."

"My best memory from my time at NKU was meeting new people and making great friends. I definitely enjoyed and continue to enjoy every bit of my time on campus and the long-lasting friendships I have built."

"I have had the opportunity to be involved in various activities at NKU and have taken on leadership roles on campus. Served as the President of National Society of Black Engineers of NKU; Student Ambassador for the College of Informatics and Student Support Services (SSS TRIO) and Junior Advisor for Alpha Lambda Honor Society. Also, during my time at NKU, I have had the opportunity to be a Research Assistant as well as a Teaching Assistant in the Department of Computer Science where I was able to explore various projects and put my skills and knowledge into practice."

"As I prospective NKU student, I would encourage you to get to know your professors outside of class. Because a mentor makes all the difference. Most freshman classes are in large lecture halls; it’s easy to feel lost and unmotivated. Also register for classes that will challenge you, and never be afraid to ask questions. Moreover, get involved in organizations around campus because oftentimes these are the most rewarding experiences."

"Currently, I’m working for GE Aviation as a DTLP (Digital Technology Leadership Program). This role offers those with a passion in technology to grow their leadership, business acumen, and technical skills. Hence, I will be working with different business functions in Software Engineering, Cloud & Cybersecurity and Product development."

"Go Norse!"

"My name is Jacob Koch, I am a cloud, edge computing, and virtualization specialist. I graduated in 2022 from the College of Informatics at NKU with my MSCIT degree after switching in 2018 from history and German in my undergrad. I am currently a student in UC's PhD in IT program and expect to graduate in 2026. I am a research assistant in the Smart Synergies lab in the Digital Futures Building, our research focuses on IoT systems and smart home research.

My dissertation research centers on cloud, virtual systems, and IoT in smart homes. Recently research that I presented on with a lab mate won an award at the Spring Research Conference co-hosted by UC, UK, and UofL. In January, I was part of a student-led team of researchers that received a $100K award from the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT). This grant was to develop a cloud system which will help ODOT identify bridges that are used by bats throughout Ohio. The justification is that ODOT benefits from identifying which bridges are used as important roosts for bats early in any planning process.

My goal post graduation is to be a tenure track faculty member that continues research in cloud computing in partnership with industry and agencies."

"I am working at Huntington Bank as a Cloud Engineer."

"I was a campus tour guide, a tutor, a teaching assistant, a member of the Honors Student Association, a founding editor of the Honors College Magazine, and a member of Alpha Omicron Pi sorority where I held the positions of Historian, Vice President, and Chapter President."

"My freshman year I lived in the Honors College dorm. When the residents in my hall moved out we got to leave our handprints in paint on the dorm’s wall, and it was so much fun decorating our handprints."

"Get out of your comfort zone, and try new things. You never know what activities you will enjoy or what new friends you could make!"

"I like that my major allows me to be an engineer, a builder, of data. I’ve always loved computers and had a subscription to PC World when I was young. That should’ve been a clue for my future career path, however this program will be my second undergraduate degree.

I love figuring out how things work. To get to build something, tinker around with it, and problem solve is fun for me. My Mom loves to tell stories about how when I was younger, she’d come home from work and need to figure out what I’d taken apart and put back together. I may or may not have ended up with an extra piece left over at times, but I  always fixed everything eventually!"

"This summer I accepted a position working with the NKU Ecological Stewardship Institute. As an ESI Scholar, I’ve been able to do independent research on the environmental impact of wireless networks, as well as how tech and green infrastructure can be merged to advance the quality of life in our communities, which has been fascinating.

Our long-term ESI group project is Strategic Depaving, which is the replacing of impervious surfaces with public greenspace. We’ve worked with community members in the directly-impacted area of Westside in Newport, KY, the Westside Citizens Coalition, and the city to get feedback on what they’d like to see in the proposed greenspace.

I’ve previously worked in community organizing and social justice campaigns, so being able to do research like this is a wonderful way to link my interests with our local communities through a technology centered lens."

"I cannot stress enough the importance of utilizing campus tutoring, working with your class TA, and going to your professor’s office hours. It’s completely free, one-on-one learning. You’ll have a better understanding of class concepts because everyone learns differently. One explanation may make more sense than another.

Also, be kind to yourself. While this major might come naturally to some, don’t think you’re incapable of learning it if it doesn’t for you. CIT has challenged me in ways I didn’t think were possible. It’s complicated and difficult because, at times, it’s genuinely complicated and difficult. However, it’s also creative, wild, and incredible for how it all works together. As students, we can do fantastic things with what we’re learning, build whatever we want, and create magic every day."

"Pursue a full-time position as a network engineer. Additionally, my research project has expanded my interest in making technology and research work to improve lives and infrastructure, so if I can explore that as well, that would be a bonus. Long term, I’d like to develop my own consulting business to work with non-profits and businesses that focus on progressive causes."

"My responsibilities in Digital Technology Leadership Program (DTLP) will be constantly changing. The program is designed for me to work in teams as a technical asset as well as develop my leadership and business skills along the way. For the next two years I will work with different teams all over the world where I will get to function in cybersecurity, software development, and project management! I am excited for what I will learn and that I get to start my career this way!"

"I love finding ways to share my passion for technology with others, I plan to take part in mentorship programs and be involved with any events meant to trigger younger peoples’ passion for tech. I’d like to also find ways that I can be helpful to the NKU Cybersecurity Club  NKCyber after I’ve graduated."

"The first time I had the opportunity to be the team Captain for the NKU Cyber Defense team. We were a newer team and we weren’t even sure how we were going to even compete. When we found out that we won first place in the state of Kentucky, it was such a joyful experience."

"Work hard, strive to be one of the best, but remember to take time have some fun."

"I enjoy critical thinking, problem solving, learning about computers and making the world a safer place."

"I have participated in 2 technology internships with the same company (Mubea) during the summers of 2018 and 2017. I have also participated in many CTFs that have been hosted by the informatics department and the Cyber Defense Club.

My participation in both these activities has given me valuable hands on experience as well as a drive to learn more about my field of study."

"I would recommend that they do their best in their studies. Don’t lose site of the goal (graduation). Find your specialty within the major, choose whatever you like the most about CIT and study that as much as you can. The work force needs specialist in almost every area of CIT."

"I am currently working for the Corporate Information Security team at Kroger."

"I am a Client Support Specialist I here at Northern Kentucky University. My main responsibility is to provide I.T. support for staff and faculty so that their work flow can progress, which ensures the success of our students.

As well as supporting staff and faculty, I am responsible for hardware repair, individual machine imaging, and lab imaging. I also oversee and guide students that have been hired on and that are assigned to my team."

"Considering I work here at Northern, I would say I give a decent amount of my time back to the university. I also try to impart some knowledge to the students that I work with here on campus."

"I think my best memories were the ones I got to create with my friends in between my classes here at NKU. Whether it was just hanging out in the Student Union, or a very hurried trip down to Newport for ice cream or grilled cheese. NKU really solidified several of the friendships that I have."

"A motto I embrace is, “If it’s free, it’s for me.” Never pass up free food, you might even find something new that you like. Don’t pass up free items as well, you never know when that weird pen with the highlighter on the other end is going to come in handy. Keep and emergency snack somewhere, backpack, purse, car, doesn’t matter. It will come in handy when nothing else is open.  Also, go to class, you are only cheating yourself out of the knowledge that you are paying for. Talk to your professors, they are people too. Chances are they can help you beyond the topics happening in class. Lastly, make friends with people in majors other than your own. Different perspectives and knowledge bases will prove to be handy in a myriad of problems."

"I am a Senior Software Engineer II at Xandr, an AT&T company, which is a platform for programmatic advertising. Programmatic advertising, also referred to as Real Time Bidding (RTB), is akin to an auction where advertisers bid on the chance to show an ad to the user. This ad could be an empty spot on a web-page, an audio advertisement on your internet-radio, an ad that plays before your video, etc. Typically these auctions happen on demand (as the page loads) and complete in about a tenth of a second.

I work on the Supply & Demand team which has the mandate to support our supply-side integrations (providing our platform with additional publisher inventory), such as Google's Authorized Buyers platform, and to support 3rd party bidders that participate in the auctions on our platform. I am primarily responsible for our supply-side integration with Google which involves building and maintaining a couple of different applications written in C and C++ and participate as a bidder on their platform. I also assist in other strategic areas to accelerate initial development or provide support on difficult bugs. This includes our internal tooling we build for our support team to troubleshoot integration, a new UI for our bidder clients, and providing a set of reusable components for building micro-services."

"I have focused on giving back to my work community by leading training sessions and encouraging practices such as "lunch and learns" and "mob-programming sessions." I have recently started to build out cpp-vs.com as a way to contribute outside of my work environment. In the future I would like to focus more on contributing to the development community and to NKU."

"I don't know if there is a single memory that stands out above the rest, but I can say that working with the other students at CAI was fantastic. Being able to "nerd-out" over similar interests, work on fun projects, and play Minecraft on our shared server really made NKU feel like somewhere I belonged."

"The most valuable skill you can master is how to learn. Learning doesn't stop after college and isn't something that only continues in post-grad. In the course of my career the ability to learn, and do so quickly, has been essential."