“Your support truly meant so much to me. Whether it was patience, early morning office hours, an email of concern about my grade, or even just letting me cry in your office at 8 am on a Tuesday morning, you helped more than you might realize. I remember you saying your office is a safe space for students where they don’t have to worry about anything–and you have done a great job at just that, if not more. Even if I walked into your office having zero confidence in myself, it felt great knowing I was walking into a room where someone did.
One of my American University ITEC-200 students (edited for brevity)
Especially at the end of the semester, your determination for me was so helpful. You knew that I knew what I was doing, but that I needed some extra confidence and to believe in myself a little more. It’s like the movie Dumbo, where Dumbo could always fly, he just needed a magic feather to help him realize.
It was never about just grades, it was about actually learning the skills and knowing I had it in me to succeed. I know your job is only to teach me about Excel equations and Bitcoin, but you truly taught me so much more. Thank you for believing in me when I didn’t even believe in myself. You are an extraordinary professor, and I am so thankful to have been taught by you.”
I am a mixed methods social scientist with expertise in information behavior, data analytics, sociotechnical cybersecurity, cognitive security, public administration, public policy, and technology policy.
Currently, I am a Professorial Lecturer at the Kogod School of Business in the Information Technology and Analytics Department at The American University (profile link). Additionally, I serve as the Kogod Course Coordinator for ITEC-200 (Edge of Information Technology) & KSB-113 (Navigating Business Technologies). As of Fall 2024, I will be the Associate Director of the MS Analytics degree program. Also at AU, I am Affiliated Faculty at The Shahal M. Khan Cyber and Economic Security Institute and member of the AU Cyber Community.
As of May 2024, my AU Rate My Professor score is 5/5 overall quality from 96 ratings where 100% would take me again. Previously, I was at the University of Maryland’s College of Information, where my UMD Rate My Professor score was 4.7 from 42 ratings. While at UMD College of Information, I received the 2018 & 2019 Students’ Choice Teaching Award.
Outside AU, I was a Research Fellow at the Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security (ARLIS). At ARLIS, I was Co-Principal Investigator (PI) research projects on global IT assessment and mission assurance related planning, as well as participated in research teams pertaining to mis-/disinformation, cognitive security, knowledge production, and insider threats on behalf of the US Department of Defense. Select other professional experiences include the U.S. Peace Corps, the European Parliament, and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. I also served on several nonprofit boards and consulted on organizational management, international affairs, and institutional sustainability. I regularly serve as a judge at various data challenge competitions.
My research interests span managerial information behaviors, particularly how senior leadership decision-making translates into organizational behaviors. I am also broadly interested in how individuals and organizations create, choose to share, and adopt information that becomes part of institutional knowledge, engagement, and administration. I focus these interests on issues related to disruptive and emerging technologies, cybersecurity, ethics, and public policy.
I am also interested in helping advance data analytics instructional content and tools to make the user experience more inclusive and accessible.
Some of my work appeared at the Academy of Management, the Association for Information Science and Technology, and the International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction.
When I’m off the clock, you’ll often find me playing with my dog, watching movies, and playing games like Wordle, Sudoku, and other tabletop games. I enjoy amateur photography, traveling, hiking, museums, and zoos. I’m a big Star Wars and Harry Potter nerd, and sci-fi & fantasy genre fan. I have a sizable kilt collection, but don’t play bag pipes. Although I lack musical talent, I enjoy traditional drums, playing a bit when nobody’s around.
Fun fact: My undergrad studies started in zoology with passion for evolutionary morphology — a topic that still fascinates me.