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CELEBRATING THE FIRST GRADUATE OF UD’S NEW BAIM/CYBERSECURITY DUAL DEGREE PROGRAM

As a first-generation Asian American and an alumnus of the First State’s University of Delaware, Devarshi Patel knows a lot about firsts. And now, Patel has added another first to his list as he became the first graduate of UD’s master of science dual degree program in business analytics and information management (BAIM) and cybersecurity.

“It is a privilege to be the first graduate of this amazing program,” said Patel, who grew up in Camden, Delaware and completed his bachelor of science in information systems as part of UD’s Class of 2018. “I hope more students interested in business and technology find their way to this M.S. program because I truly believe it provides the best of both worlds.” Patel said that he was drawn to the dual degree program, which is offered as a collaboration between UD’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics and UD’s College of Engineering, because of his active interest in technology.

“After completing a technology internship for one of the largest banks in 2018, I realized which areas of tech were gaining popularity,” Patel said. “The three main areas of tech that are on an upward trend are big data, cybersecurity and cloud computing. I decided that I wanted to focus on particular areas of technology that I knew would last indefinitely and continue to rapidly advance.”

On his time in the new program, Patel said: “I had an opportunity to meet a lot of great students and professors and learn from some of the most knowledgeable instructors from both Lerner and the College of Engineering.” He added that his favorite part of the program was his experience “working on team projects with real-world applications.”

Now that he has graduated as part of the Class of 2020, Patel hopes to begin a full-time position in the cybersecurity and/or information security industries. This summer, he also worked with a friend to start a business, Iterics.io, which creates websites for small businesses.

Regardless of his next step, Patel’s future is bright, said Chase Cotton, a professor in UD’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering who works closely with the dual degree program. Cotton taught Patel in several cybersecurity classes and said that it’s “really exciting” for the new dual degree program to have its first graduate.

Cotton also said that the program has been running “quite smoothly” so far, adding that “because today’s world has an increased focus on cybersecurity, we find the Lerner BAIM students wanting to further reinforce their IT knowledge in the cyber domain.”

Students like Patel who have this unique and specialized qualification, Cotton said, are well prepared to join a number of fields and career paths.

“In today’s world, almost any technical, business or healthcare student needs to be introduced to those aspects of their future careers that will be impacted by cybersecurity needs and issues,” Cotton said. “Since a large fraction of the IT workforce enters the business via a MIS path, it is very useful to let them add needed cybersecurity knowledge and skills to their IT foundations.”

Andrea Everard, Lerner College associate dean of undergraduate programs and professor of MIS, provided additional insight on this distinctive partnership between colleges and the benefits it provides to students in providing core and advanced courses from both colleges.

“Students get the best of both degrees, with a more in-depth coverage in cybersecurity,” Everard said. “Discussion with potential employers revealed a need for graduates not only equipped with training in cybersecurity but also able to understand the business environment where these skills would be applied. Controlling organizational risks and managing security threats requires not only the more technical aspects of cybersecurity (provided through the College of Engineering) but also, very importantly, an understanding of what is required for the successful implementation and management of IT in business.”

Over three Saturdays in October and November 50 students from around the country visited UD and ECE as part of Blue & Golden Saturdays.

These B&G days are the first in-person recruiting events since 2019. As part of the open house, students heard from Drs. Phillips and Martin about Electrical & Computer Engineering and potential job opportunities after graduation. Drs. Cotton and Novocin shared experiences in computer engineering, cybersecurity and Senior Design classes and projects. Dr. Mirotznik and Mr. Lum demonstrated equipment in the Maker Space showcasing capabilities in additive manufacturing.

We’re looking forward to seeing these students as blue hens in September!

Non-Thesis MS Graduates Master Theses

Jason Anderson Aric Canaanie Xiaodong Cao Jeffrey DiIenno Emilie Doyle Xingyu Huang Rupert James Jiaming Lin Jingyuan Luo Connor Olaya Aashiv Patel Chaiwarut Santiwipharat Jacob Sisko Kunal Vohra Zihan Zhang Yilei Zheng Devarshi Patel Jarel Benjamin Ayou Birch Winston Budala Rami Del Toro Ming Gao John Golden Enjolokee Jones Zachary Kuptsow Michael Kyle John Lynn Mark McFadden Hunter Miller Benjamin Osawe James Plastine Adithya Ragunathan Mrunal Shah Thomas Stewart Kyle Sullivan Qiyao Tang Ron Teixeira Courtney Whitman Mohammad Baksh Advisor: Barner Modern Computer Vision and Deep Learning Approaches for Face Mask and Social Distancing Detection

Navarun Jagatpal Advisor: Prather Thin Film Lithium Niobate Modulators at 1064 NM for CMOS-Compatible Systems

Bowen Li Advisor: Wu A Survey on Generative Adversarial Networks

Samuel Matylewicz Advisor: Goossen Effect of White-Roof on Ice Rink Refrigeration Systems

Daniel May Advisor: Kiamilev Exploration of FPGA Based Accelerators in Linux Host Systems

Salvatore Servodio Advisor: Li An Efficient Shuffle-Light FFT Library

Simrat Singh Advisor: Gu Growth and Device Study of Chalcogenide Optical Phase Change Material

Madeline Smith Advisor: A. Singh Stochastic Analysis of Gene Expression Noise

Boshu Sun Advisor: Gu Laser Direct Writing Metalens with Phase Change Material and Application

PhD Dissertations

Kuncheng Bai Advisor: Kiamilev Advanced Components for Electric Vehicle System: Vehicle-to-Grid Metering, Vehicle-to-Vehicle Charging, and High-Power Charge Circuit Interrupting Devices

Tyler Browning Advisor: Kiamilev Enhancing and Characterizing a Packetized Display Protocol (PDP) for Infrared Scene Projectors (IRSP)

Patrick Cronin Advisor: Cotton Investigating Mobile and Peripheral Side Channels for Attack and Defense

Angela Cuadros Advisor: Arce Sparse Sampling in X-Ray Computed Tomography Via Spatial and Spectral Coded Illumination

Benjamin Garrett Advisor: Mirotznik Development of Novel Engineered Materials for Applications at Microwave and Infrared Frequencies

Fateme Hosseini Advisor: Yang Technology Trend-Driven Reliable Embedded System Design

Rebekah Houser Advisor: Cotton & Wang Investigations of the Security and Privacy of the Domain Name System Abhishek Iyer Advisor: Opila Understanding and Optimizing the Performances of PEDOT: PSS based Heterojunction Solar Cells

Christopher Jackson Advisor: Kiamilev Hardware and Close Support Electronics Architectures for Enabling a Packetized Display Protocol on IRLED Scene Projectors

Lin Jin Advisor: Cotton & Wang Understanding the Security Risks and Censorship Behaviors on the Exploitation of Domain Names

Aaron Landwehr Advisor: Kiamilev A Packetized Display Protocol Architecture for Infrared Scene Projection Systems

Hwaseob Lee Advisor: Gu Designed Non-Hermitian States in Notched Silicon Microring Resonator

Kuang Lu Advisor: Fang A Unified Framework for Event Related Information Seeking

José Monsalve Diaz Advisor: Gao Sequential Codelet Model: A Supercodelet Program Execution Model and Architecture Siddhisanket Raskar Advisor: Gao Dataflow Software Pipelining for Codelet Model Using Hardware-Software CoDesign

Conor Ryan Advisor: Prather Microwave Photonic SpatialSpectral Imaging

Thomas St. John Advisor: Li Performance Analysis and Optimization for Extreme Scale Systems