FBI Internships

The 2016 FBI Internship application window is OPEN and closes November 24, 2015

 

The FBI has opened the call for applications for the 2016 Honors and Cyber Internship programs and launched a new application process. All intern candidates must go to www.fbijobs.gov, register and complete a profile, and then select their profile to be added to the Intern Talent Network by November 24, 2015.

 

After selecting the Intern Talent Network, intern candidates must attach their résumés and answer suitability questions. Candidates are strongly encouraged to review the instructions for navigating the Intern Talent Network (attached) before beginning the process. Only those candidates in the network by November 24 will be considered for the 2016 program.

 

All educational backgrounds will be considered for the internships. To qualify for the Honors or Cyber Internship Programs, candidates must:

 

·         Be a second-semester freshmen or above; candidates cannot have graduated before June 13, 2016;

·         Be available 40 hours per week from June 13, 2016 to August 19, 2016 (10 weeks); and

·         Have a minimum cumulative 3.0 GPA.

 The instructions for navigating the Intern Talent Network site are located at

http://www.personal.psu.edu/gms/temp/TA_Job_Aid_Intern_Talent_Network.pdf

Learning resurces for undergraduate students

It’s that time of the semester when students are thinking about scripting final course presentations, designing and creating media projects, and using technologies to enhance end-of-semester assignments. If your students need assistance with group or individual public presentations or with media technologies, consider advertising the following College and University resources:

College of IST Tutoring Program

https://learning.ist.psu.edu/Learning/Tutoring

Media Commons

http://mediacommons.psu.edu/

Tech Tutors

http://techtutors.psu.edu/

Undergraduate Speaking Center

http://speakingcenter.la.psu.edu/

Federal security clearance workshop

Former special agent, and Penn State graduate, Kevin Clark will hold a workshop on obtaining and keeping a Federal security clearance from 6-7:30 pm in room 208 IST on November 12.  This event is sponsored by the SRA Club but is open to all interested students, faculty and staff.

SIA Seminar: “Special Operation Forces, Cyber and the Gray-Zone fight” - Nov 12

US Army Colonel Patrick M. Duggan will present "Special Operation Forces, Cyber, and the Gray-Zone Fight" from 1:00 - 2:15 p.m. on  November 12^th in 116 Katz. Duggan has published several papers on cyber-enabled Special Operations and is the winner of the 2015 Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, National Defense and Military Strategy Writing Award. COL Duggan was selected for command of Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall-McNair in summer 2016 and is currently the SOF Fellow to the Strategic Land-power TF in the NCR.

NSA Day of Cyber

This is is an interactive, self-guided and fully-automated cyber career awareness platform.  It is free and registration is good for an entire year.

For more information go to

www.nsadayofcyber.com

JPMorgan Chase summer internships

The JPMorgan Chase Technology Analyst Program has extended the Application Deadline for Technology Summer Internships to Friday, October 30^th at 11:59PM. Please pass this information along with the attached job description to your student members.

Students need to apply to our careers page in order to be considered for an interview with us.  The link to our careers page is below. 

2016 Technology Analyst Program – Summer Internship

Let me know if you have any questions. Please send emails from your psu.edu accounts, I am unable to respond to personal email accounts such as gmail.

Thank you!

Lauren Kuhne  |  JPMorgan Chase & Co.  |  Chase Loyalty Solutions BSA  |  Work: 302-516-3535  |   lauren.kuhne@jpmchase.com

job opportunities in NYC

I am passing along information on security engineer and security analyst positions in the NYC area. 

For more information please see:

http://www.personal.psu.edu/gms/temp/Information%20Security%20Engineer.pdf

http://www.personal.psu.edu/gms/temp/Information%20Security%20and%20Risk%20Analyst.pdf

Vincent D’Agostino talk on Oct 30

You are invited to a special lecture:

"Investigating Cyber Crime in the 21st Century"

U.S. Cyber Crime Expert Vincent D'Agostino ’99 Lib

Supervisory Special Agent (FBI-NY) Jay Kramer ’89 Lib

Friday, October 30, 2015

Sutliff Auditorium, Lewis Katz Building

4:30-6:00 p.m.

Free and Open to the Public

For additional information, email scholars@psu.edu or call 814.863.4542

Vincent D’Agostino is an Associate Managing Director in the U.S. Cyber Investigations and Incident Response practice at K2 Intelligence. Vincent brings a deep investigative background in traditional and cyber investigations to the firm. He has extensive federal and civil trial experience.

Before joining K2 Intelligenc , Vincent served as one of the most senior Special Agents within the Cyber Branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) New York Office. He established himself as one of the U.S. Government’s foremost authorities on identify theft, DARK/DEEP web, crypto-currency and international botnet investigations. In addition to his work as the FBI’s Trial Agent for Silk Road 1, United States v. Ross W. Ulbricht, he also served as the Case Agent for Silk Road 2, Operation Onymous, United States v. Blake Benthall, which led to the seizure of hundreds of TOR hidden services and servers. Vincent directed the international take down of infrastructure which hosted TOR illegal hidden services operating in over 17 European countries in coordination with Europol/European Cybercrime Center 3 and Eurojust based out of The Hague.

Upcoming events:

Some upcoming events courtesy of the Cyber-Competition Club, the SRA Club and the IST Interest House:

- Oct 14 - 6-7:30 pm IBM security speaker 208 IST
- Oct 27 - 6-7:30 pm Fireeye/Mandiant speaker (room 110)
- Nov 12 - 6-7:30 pm Federal Security Clearance workshop (room 208)

more info will be posted as I have it.

IBM Security speaker - SRA Club

The SRA Club will meet this week in room 208 on Tuesday, Oct 14.

Our guest speaker will be Chris Derobertis, from IBM security.

He will talk about what IBM is doing for information security and will also be talking about job and internship opportunities with IBM.

Free online tech classes

Udemy.com has a number of free online tutorials covering a number of technical subjects.  They also have some tutorials for a fee.

Here is a link to the free tutorials related to SQL - you can use it as a starting point to find other relevant tutorials.

https://www.udemy.com/courses/search/?ref=home&q=sql&price=price-free

The Web is the post powerful learning environment available - learn how to use it by being aware of online learning modules that you can access as needed.

IBM speaker Christopher Derobertis at SRA Club Oct 14

The SRA club will have a special meeting on October 14, replacing the regular meeting that would have taken place on October 15.

Our guest speaker will be Christopher Derobertis, from IBM.

Christopher V. DeRobertis is Senior Technical Staff Member (STSM) and Secure Engineering in Test/cybersecurity subject matter expert for the Server & Storage System Test organization, IBM Systems. STSM is a prestigious position within IBM and represents one of the highest technical roles within the company.

As an STSM and security specialist, he has the opportunity to work with different teams on security and data privacy across a broad spectrum of IBM server, storage, cloud, mobile, and application products and solutions.

This is a great way to network and learn about security at one of the largest IT organizations in the world.

I-schools video contest - win $5000 !!!

The iSchools organization announces a video contest that seeks to foster interest in the field of information and promote study at an Information School. Prizes of $5,000, $2,500 and $1,000 will be given for the top-three most innovative and impactful videos, respectively. The top five finishers will also be offered up to $1,000 in travel support to attend iConference 2016 in Philadelphia.

For more information please visit:

http://ischools.org/news/ischools-promotional-video-contest-you-could-win-up-to-5000/

Third national women in cybersecurity conference

March 31 to April 2, 2016.  Travel scholarships are available!  For more info see this PDF:

http://www.personal.psu.edu/gms/temp/WiCyS%20General%20Flyer.pdf

SRA Club

The SRA club will meet tonight (October 1), and every other Thursday unless otherwise notified, at 6 pm in room 215 IST.

Jobs and internships with NSA

It's job hunting season!

As your partner in Information Assurance/Cyber Defense, NSA believes your students are well suited for many of our Cyber related student programs and full time positions throughout the National Security Agency (NSA). Please encourage your students to consider a career with NSA and help us spread the word about these opportunities to Department Heads and Career Service organizations on your campus.

Thank you for helping build a cadre of top talent to protect and defend information and cyber systems for the Nation.

"Defending Our Nation. Securing The Future"
"Confidence in Cyberspace"

The National Security Agency (NSA) currently has a number of openings for full-time positions in all our mission areas. Students receiving degrees in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, or other Information Security and Cyber-related disciplines are encouraged to apply at: https://www.nsa.gov/careers/index.shtml 

NSA's Information Assurance Directorate (IAD) believes students from the NSA/DHS National Centers of Academic Excellence may be particularly interested in the positions identified below but may apply to multiple positions. 

          . 1063184 - IAD Information Assurance/Security Professionals
          . 1063504 - IAD IA Doctrine Policy Officer
          . 1063508 - IAD Interagency OPSEC Support Staff (IOSS) Instructional Designer
          . 1063522 - IAD Business Technologist Support to Investment Analysis
          . 1063526 - IAD Information System Security Designer Support to Investment Analysis
          . 1063410 - Computer Network Operations Development Program (CNODP)
          . 1063155 - Summer Internship Program for Information Assurance (SIP/IA)

************  Student Internship, CO-OP, & Scholarship Opportunities  ***************
The NSA has many different summer Internship Programs in addition to our CO-OP and Scholarship programs that, like our full-time positions, support all our mission areas and offer exciting opportunities in a wide array of disciplines. Descriptions and requirements for each of these programs can be viewed by visiting www.nsa.gov/careers and selecting "Student Programs" on the pull-down menu.

IMPORTANT - The application deadline for most of the summer internships is 31 October; however, some of the math related internship deadlines are as early as 15 October.  Also, students may apply to multiple internships as these are each reviewed and selections made independently.

Students may apply for these full-time positions by visiting www.nsa.gov/careers and looking for the position numbers listed above. Student Program opportunities can be located by using the key word search and entering "internship". "CO-OP", or "scholarship."
***********************************************************************

 PLEASE ENTER EVENT CODE 485-1 WHEN APPLYING TO ANY JOB OPENINGS

Please Note:
          - U.S. Citizenship is required for all applicants
          - Reasonable accommodations will be provided to applicants with disabilities during the application and hiring process where appropriate.
          - NSA is an equal opportunity employer and abides by applicable employment laws and regulations.

For questions concerning the application process, please contact NSA Recruitment & Staffing at:
1-866-NSA-HIRE (1-866-672-4473) or e-mail customercare@NSA.gov  

Upcoming HLS program at PA State Capitol

Please see information attached regarding the Homeland Security Program Information Session being hosted at the Pennsylvania State Capitol, East Rotunda.  It would be a great opportunity for you to meet and greet, and receive updates and perspectives from across the program. 

Also, please encourage your students or prospective students to attend this event October 1, 2015!

The Program

12:30 – 12:40 p.m. Welcome and Overview of Program Alison Shuler, Program Coordinator, Penn State Intercollege Master of Professional Studies in Homeland Security

12:45 – 1:00 p.m. Penn State | ONLINE Education for Continuing and Emerging Leaders in Homeland Security: Intercollege Master of Professional Studies in Homeland Security (iMPS-HLS) and Graduate Certificates Alexander Siedschlag, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of Penn State Homeland Security Programs

1:00 – 1:15 p.m. Discussion with Members of Penn State’s Homeland Security Advisory Council

1:15 – 1:30 p.m. Infectious Disease Preparedness in Pennsylvania Gene Lengerich, V.M.D., Director of the Public Health Preparedness Option in the Penn State Intercollege Master of Professional Studies in Homeland Security

1:30 – 1:45 p.m. The Current Challenge of Biosecurity Gretchen Kuldau, Ph.D., Director of the Agricultural Biosecurity and Food Defense Option in the Penn State Intercollege Master of Professional Studies in Homeland Security

1:45 – 2:00 p.m. Discussion – Open Forum

2:00 – 2:15 p.m. College & Continuing Education Program Highlights

2:15 – 2:30 p.m. Mix and Meet over Light Refreshments

See link for event registration: 

REGISTER at https://penn-state-hls-capitol.eventbrite.com 

We hope you could join us or stop in and say hello.

Penn State Office of Information Security

http://news.psu.edu/story/369437/2015/09/11/administration/penn-state-establishes-office-information-security?utm_source=newswire&utm_medium=email&utm_term=369419_HTML&utm_content=09-14-2015-00-03&utm_campaign=Penn%20State%20Today

Intelligence Community Job Fair

Internship and job opportunities with the various organizations involved in U.S. Intelligence.

See this flyer for more information.  Registration is limited so please do not delay!

http://www.personal.psu.edu/gms/temp/security%20fair.pdf

SRA club meeting this Thursday

Hi all - the SRA Club will meet in room 202 this Thursday from 6-7:30.

We have officers now, and they are

  - President: Carson Brown
  - Vice President: Jimmy Steff
  - Secretary: Tieasa Gordienko
  - Treasurer: Daniella Callaghan

  - web and marketing: Emily Eckert and Ryan McGurgah

With this meeting we will try to make plans for:

   - upcoming meetings, visitors and special projects

   - plan for advertising for membership

   - discussion of permanent meeting time 

   - plus anything else ...

Hope to see everyone there!

JP Morgan Chase events

With a technology investment of nearly $8 billion each year, you’ll have the resources, influence and scope to change how we work from the inside out. You’ll begin to work with cutting-edge systems and products, from phenomenally large scale infrastructure to industry-leading apps. Discover how we can support your talent and provide the platform for your career as a technologist set to become one of the best. §  JPMC Technology aims to hire 300+ full-time new graduates and 480+ summer interns in the U.S. in 2016 §  Our Code for Good challenges give university students opportunities to assist nonprofit organizations with technology AND was won by a Penn State team last year §  This fall, we are opening the Delaware Technology Center - our new cutting-edge tech facility for 2500+ technologists Where you can join us A firm like ours offers technologists almost limitless potential in the long term. The team you initially join will encourage you to harness every opportunity that comes along. Whether you start in our Software Development or Infrastructure Engineering tracks, you’ll draw on your technical and people skills as well as unbeatable adaptability and creativity every single day. Visit http://techcareers.jpmorgan.com/techcareers/us/opportunities to find out more about Technology Internships & Full-time roles. Interested? Apply directly on the JPMorgan Chase tech careers website. Be sure to also submit your application through your campus career center’s website. If you think there's another opportunity that will better match your skills, then have another look around at http://careers.jpmorganchase.com Find us on campus this fall JPMC Technology - Penn State On-Campus Recruiting Dates Date Time Event Location Thurs, Sep 10 6-7pm JPMC Technology Information Session Willard Hall, Room 073 Fri, Sep 11 10-11:30am JPMC Tech  & PSU Student Organizations Breakfast HUB near fish tanks Tues, Sep 15 1-4pm Fall 2015 Engineering Reverse Career Fair Nittany Lion Inn Tues, Sep 15 6-8pm Fall 2015 Engineering Networking Reception Nittany Lion Inn Thurs, Sep 17 11am-4pm Fall 2015 Career Days – Technical Career Day Bryce Jordan Center (BJC) Fri, Sep 18 8am-4pm Full-time/Summer Analyst Interviews Bryce Jordan Center (BJC) Visit us at one of our sites JPMC Technology Events -       October 30-31 Code for Good Challenge, hosted at JPMC Delaware Technology Center, Wilmington, DE o    Over one weekend, teams of university students will participate in a coding competition and will be tasked with creatively using technology to address a social challenge for a leading non-profit organization. A Penn State student was on the winning team last year and now works for the firm - let’s aim to have more PSU winners! o    Application deadline is September 18. For more information on Code for Good, visit: http://techcareers.jpmorgan.com/techcareers/us/opportunities/codeforgood -       Early November Winning Women in Technology event, hosted at JPMC Delaware Technology Center, Wilmington, DE o    At these events, you’ll meet our female leaders ranging from Analysts to Senior Managers and learn about our Tech programs. You’ll participate in various session to gain insight into the work we do in Technology and the women who inspire us. o    For more information on Winning Women in Technology events, visit: http://techcareers.jpmorgan.com/techcareers/us/opportunities/winningwomen Questions? Contact Mike Janesch, Executive Director & Penn State Tech Recruiting Captain - mike.f.janesch@chase.com (Please send emails from your university .edu email address, as we cannot send email to personal accounts)

J.P. Morgan is a marketing name for JPMorgan Chase & Co., and its subsidiaries worldwide. © 2015 JPMorgan Chase & Co.  JPMorgan Chase is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer Disability/Veteran.

SRA Club update

The first - and very important - meeting of the SRA club will be this Thursday from 6-7:30.  Room 209 IST.  All interested students are welcome!

We need to fill these officer positions for the executive board:

• President
• Vice President
• Treasurer
• Secretary
• Marketing/web 

Other positions may be developed as we meet.

Before we can be reactivated as a club the President and Vice President will have to take training, possibly other officers too.  I am in contact with the Student Organizations office and have a schedule for these for next week.

The training is really not bad, and it will help you better understand the University rules on student clubs.

Then, once we get the administrivia out of the way, we can focus on the fun part.

BTW - I already have a speaker lined up for Oct 14 - one of the top people in security from IBM.

- gerry

Information Assurance Club Fa15

From IA Club Treasurer Sam Vigliotti:

Our first meeting is tonight (Sep 3) at 7:00 in 208 IST; we will be introducing the club, the board and give a semester overview. Because we have been lucky to set a few other opportunities there are additional meetings in September that don't align to our normal schedule. They are:

-The Boeing Company: September 10th at 7:30 in 202 IST

-NSA: September 14th at 7:00 in 206 IST 

-Guest speaker Bruce Potter: September 16th at 8:00 in 202 IST

After these events we'll get back to the normal 'every other week' schedule on October 1st. Just as a side note, we are trying to emphasize high attendance/member retention this year, so the 25% most attending members will have their names raffled off to win an Amazon Echo or two Penn State bluetooth speakers.

Our website is http://iaclubpsu.org and our Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/iaclub?fref=ts. Also, please feel free to give out my email (syv5090@psu.edu) should any students have questions.

Some important upcoming events

The College of IST provides a number of important events to help students investigate possible careers, best prepare to market themselves, and network with companies for internships and permanent jobs.  Here are some for next week:

• How to Navigate the Career Fair -  for younger students -  Tues. Sept 8, 6 pm in  IST 205.  Learn tips and tricks to navigating the career fair

• Resumania – Get your resume reviewed by a  company recruiter -  Wed, Sept 9 ,10 am to 3 pm -  IST  second floor.  You can  sign-up or a  time in  Compass or  just show up.

• Welcome Back IST Picnic – all faculty and students invited -  Sept 10 on the  lawn – 11:30 – 1 pm…or  until the food is gone.

• EY Cyber Information Session -  Thursday Sept 10 – cybertorium -  6 pm.

Penn State Competitive Cyber Security Club

Meetings are Thursdays from 6-7 pm in room 206 IST.

New members are welcome at any time.

SRA Club needs leadership

The Security and Risk Analysis club is temporarily in an inactive mode and needs some student leadership to continue.

Needed are:

• president
• vice president
• treasurer
• secretary

Also a minimum of 10 members.

This club has been very active in the past.  Many members (especially the leaders) have received internships and full-time jobs based on contacts made through the club.

Those who step up receive big rewards in the end.

If anyone is interested in working to re-activate the club - please contact me (gms@psu.edu).  If there is interest we can work to get it back together.  

Deloitte Cyber-Threat challenge

  Deloitte is once again holding their Cyber Threat Challenge, but they  have moved the event to the fall.

Please let students know they are encouraged to attend the kick-off on Tuesday, Sept 1 at 5 pm in the Smeal Business Building 124.  If they cannot  attend the kick-off, all of the detail can be found here http://bit.ly/1KgDs4o

As a quick reminder, this is a three round challenge.  Rounds one and two will be held online.  From those events, the top four students will for the Penn State team and will compete in the live Cyber War games at Deloitte University in Westlake, TX, Expenses paid by Deloitte.

Our PSU team last year was – Brady Ripka, Jared Rittle, John Kissell, and a Harrisburg student Jeremiah Haney.  They placed fourth.

Last year the winners were from Univ. Of Southern Cal.

Please feel free to send any questions my way.  SHARE WITH ANYONE WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED

IST Professional Expo

The IST Professional Expo is:

Monday, September 14, 2015, 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM
IST Building

This is THE professional networking event for IST students!  Be prepared to dress professionally, polish your resume, and start meeting representatives from dozens of companies and government agencies.

Our students are in demand!  The prize is the fun, well-paid, job that starts you on your way in your career.

This is your chance!  You will see more info on the Pro Expo in the coming days.  

Plan to be there! 

DHS is hiring more than 50 cybersecurity professionals

The Department of Homeland Security is hiring more than 50 cybersecurity professionals.

For more information see this document:

http://www.personal.psu.edu/gms/temp/Cybersecurity%20Jobs%20Flyer_FINAL.pdf

NSA Codebreaker Challenge

NSA Codebreaker Challenge

·         The challenge materials and instructions will be hosted at https://codebreaker.ltsnet.net/. 

·         The challenge will begin on Sept. 1st at midnight, and will end on Dec. 31st.

·         Prizes will be awarded to the first 50 students that complete the challenge nation-wide.  

·         Students should register for the site using their .edu email addresses.

·         Links to reverse engineering lectures and other learning materials can be found on the site

F    For more information see http://www.personal.psu.edu/gms/CodeBreaker%20Challenge%203_final.pdf

 

GE Security Day at Penn State

General Electric invites YOU to GE Security Day at Penn State on MONDAY AUGUST 31st from 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM in the IST Building. Come to learn about an introduction to cyber security at GE after graduation, hear from various security executives, get a chance to listen to women in GE discuss their career paths as women in the computing & security field AND get the opportunity to network with various General Electric recruiters and executives! We hope to see you there!

Agenda:

11:00-12:00: Introduction to Information Security @ GE – Second Floor Open Table

12:00-1:00: GE Security Panel – Open Q&A and Pizza Lunch – IST 209

1:00-2:00: Women in IST Panel Discussion – IST 209 – Teresa Zielinski, Sarah Gori, Cindy Hendrickson

1:00-3:00: 30-minute individual mentoring sessions (resume review, career discussions).  Students to sign up in advance – up to 5 slots available each half hour

Participants:
- Chris Catalano: Global Program Manager, GE ITLP (’04, IST)
- Teresa Zielinski: Executive Program Manager - Information Security, GE Power & Water
- Nate Arnold: CIO, Global Technology & Security, GE Transportation
- Chris Babie: IT Security Analyst, GE Power & Water
- John Yang: Information Security Lead Analyst (’13, MIS)
- Phil Trang: Lead Technical Project Manager - IT Risk & Cyber Security
-  Ulices Salazar: Event Analyst - Information Security
- Patrick Lunney: Project Manager - Product Development (’12, IST)
- Sarah Gori: Security Architect, Risk IT (’08, IST)
- Cindy Hendrickson: University Relationship Manager

Please reach out to either Lauren Zieziula (lez5038@psu.edu) or Jamie Dick (jmd6016@psu.edu) with any questions!

Research study looking for participants

Have you collected any kinds of personal health data either for yourself or for your loved ones? And have you shared the data with your clinicians? If so, we would like to invite you to participate in a Pennsylvania State University’s research study on Enhancing Patient-Clinician Communication through Self-Monitoring Data Sharing. We are recruiting patient participants for an interview study (in-person, Skype, or phone). Each participant will receive a $20 gift card.

To qualify,

- You should have experience in collecting personal health data outside clinic (e.g., sleep, diet, exercise) for yourself or for your loved ones (e.g., a parent tracking health data for his/her child) to manage a health condition;
- You should have experience in visiting the clinic to talk about the data to clinicians
- You should be able to share your self-tracking methods such as screenshots or photos of your tracking tools, collected data, or visualizations with us
- You do not have to be current patients.
- Age range between 18–65

If you meet the above criteria, and are interested in participating or want to learn more, please fill out the pre-study screener (https://docs.google.com/…/1E0Vn3g4FKa8ztT44QCtGRnN…/viewform). Should you have any questions, please contact Eun Kyoung Choe (echoe@ist.psu.edu). Thanks!

Last PSU Peace Corps Events of the Semester

     

The semester may be winding down, but there is still another chance to connect with a recruiter and Returned Volunteers before you leave campus. Join us at any of the events below to learn more about the Peace Corps and how it best fits into your life! Info Session – Life After THON! – Tuesday, 4/7, 5:30-6:30 pm 103 BOA Career Services Learn how you can make a difference on a global scale! Study Abroad to Work Abroad - Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Panel – Wednesday, 4/8, 5:30 pm 234 BOA Career Services Come speak with PSU RPCVs about their experiences studying and working abroad! PSU Education Abroad staff will be present to answer questions about study abroad opportunities - don't miss this event! Around the World Potluck – Tuesday, 4/14, 6-8 pm 103 BOA Career Services Don’t miss our annual ‘Send-off’ Party celebrating those who are heading off to service. Come enjoy host country dishes made by Returned Peace Corps Volunteers! Mark your calendar and take the first step in launching your international career!

IST Distinguished Lecture - April 10

Stephen José Hanson:
Brain Reading in the Human Visual Pathways: Why there is no FACE area in the brain


 Friday, April 10, 2015, 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. 113 IST Building (Cybertorium) 


In this talk, I will present some basics of fMRI methods, and provide a tutorial context for the acquisition of the MR signal which will allow us to critically examine the evidence for a FACE area in the brain. Using the new methods for "brain reading" developed jointly with the Haxby Lab (MPVA/PD), we will show that the so called FFA is not sensitive to faces, per se; Nor is it homogenous in its stimulus response properties (even at very high spatial resolution); Nor is it independent in its function relative to the other areas of the brain that comprise an identifiable network which appears to do something other than "FACE" identification. In fact, we will show that the highly distributed nature of the computation in temporal lobe and throughout cortex is unlikely to support anything like a local module for a specific concept or category. Nonetheless, once the distributed encoding is properly decoded, basic categorical distinctions in the temporal cortex, such as Animacy, can be revealed.

personal security seminar

Distinguished speaker - Capturing Meaning: Units, Space, and Time

Capturing Meaning: Units, Space, and Time

Dr. Curt Burgess, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology; Director,
Laboratory for Computational Cognition, Dept. of Psychology,
University of California, Riverside

Date: March 23, 2015
Time: 1.00 pm
Location: 202 IST

Abstract: The Hyperspace Analogue to Language (HAL) high-dimensional model of memory has a 20-year history of being used to learn word meaning from very large corpora of text. The KISS principle has motivated the development of the model from the beginning. The model moves a window along a corpus of text capturing co-occurrences one word at a time. The cooccurrence values are weighted provided a grammatical element. The resulting n x n matrix can be seen as a model of word similarity. From a computational perspective, the model is straightforward and does not have the computing overhead found in neural networks. Research will be presented that will compare the architecture of HAL and a simple neural network, how they learn and what is encoded in their respective “memories.” An overview of the range of
basic cognitive and psycholinguistic effects that have been mimicked by the HAL model will be
presented. The HAL model presents a computational approach based on large-scale corpus data
toward our understanding of semantic memory and language representation.

Biography: Dr. Curt Burgess is a Professor in Psychology and Neuroscience and the Director of the Psycholinguistics and Computational Cognition Laboratory and a founding member of the Center for
Computational and Cognitive Politics at the University of California, Riverside. His primary research interests include human semantic processing and cognitively plausible computational semantics, cognitive  neuroscience, animal cognition and computational politics. In 1994 his lab developed the Hyperspace Analogue to Language model of semantic representation. He is a former Associate Editor of Brain and Cognition. He was a recipient of the NSF and White House Presidential Faculty Fellow Award. His research has been funded by NSF, NIA, Digital Media Innovation Program and the Army Research Lab.

learn python for free

I am often asked by students how much, and what kind, of programming is needed for s security professional.  My stock answer is 'as much as possible.'

However this is not realistic for everyone.  So, in addition to markup such as HTML, and database query such as SQL, I also recommend scripting with Bash and Python.

So - in that spirit - here is a link to a free online python course:

http://learnpythonthehardway.org/book/

Hacking the System

This isn't strictly IT security, but the National Geographic Channel show 'Hacking the System" does provide some information of interest to security professionals. 

According to their Web page:

"For 15 years, Brian Brushwood has made a career out of social manipulation and thinking like a criminal and now he’s here to reveal how to avoid people who cheat the system and show you how to use the legal tips, tricks, and shortcuts to get ahead in life. One hack at a time."

Part of the series are available on Youtube - possibly Netflix or Hulu also have the series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS5gX4uRCgY