{"id":106927,"date":"2021-05-24T10:47:03","date_gmt":"2021-05-24T14:47:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=106927"},"modified":"2021-09-27T14:52:02","modified_gmt":"2021-09-27T18:52:02","slug":"cyber-force-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2021\/05\/24\/cyber-force-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Cyber force"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Michelle Massa, who graduated with a bachelor\u2019s degree in information technology and cybersecurity on May 1, works at Speedway after interning with the company.<\/p><\/div>\n

It was clear at an early age to see that technology would become a major influence in the life of Michelle Massa.<\/p>\n

Interest in long distance communication, Morse code and amateur radio paved a path that is leading the 2021 Wright State University graduate to a career in information technology and cybersecurity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was surrounded by my father\u2019s electronics hobby growing up and received my Amateur Radio Technician License at age 10,\u201d said Massa. \u201cAs I got older, I took an interest in computers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Massa was one of the first students to enroll in Wright State\u2019s Information Technology and Cybersecurity Program offered by the College of Engineering and Computer Science<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She graduated with her bachelor\u2019s degree in information technology and cybersecurity<\/a> on May 1 with a 3.7 grade point average, was the college\u2019s runner-up Intern of the Year and has started a full-time job with Speedway LLC after interning with the convenience store giant.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has become a very sought-out resource,\u201d said Lendon McKinney of Speedway. \u201cI have three separate teams wanting her to join them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Massa was born in Colorado. Her mother was diagnosed with cancer when Michelle was 7 and passed away five days before her 11th birthday. A year after her mother\u2019s death, Michelle and her father, a high-tech electronics manufacturing technician, moved to support Michelle\u2019s grandparents in Eaton, Ohio, where she has lived ever since.<\/p>\n

Massa was extremely active at National Trail High School, participating in Civil Air Patrol, Student Council, Honor Society and National Trail Students Working for the Advancement of Technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would disassemble and reassemble laptops and computers and troubleshoot our technology for students and teachers,\u201d she said. \u201cI really loved what I did, so I wanted to pursue a technical degree in computing.\u201d<\/p>\n

During her sophomore year, Massa attended the Dayton Hamvention with her father, picked up a brochure on the Civil Air Patrol and joined the patrol three months later. The Civil Air Patrol is an auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force that performs emergency services.<\/p>\n

When she was a junior in high school, Massa attended the patrol\u2019s Ohio Wing Encampment at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and Wright State, exposing her to the campus and residential housing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the look and feel of our campus, and everyone I spoke to during my application process was welcoming and helpful,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But just before Massa began classes at Wright State in 2018, tragedy struck. Her best friend died in a car crash on her way to start college in Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like life turned me around to face a wall and I couldn\u2019t go any further,\u201d Massa said. \u201cI knew I had an opportunity that my best friend didn\u2019t get to have, but now I felt like I didn\u2019t know what to do with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, at Wright State Massa made new friends and met professors who boosted her confidence. She also got her first job, as an IT project assistant for the Wright State Boonshoft School of Medicine, and two internships.<\/p>\n

\u201cWright State has been my stepping stone to the life I couldn\u2019t see when I first got here. All the nights staring at BART after a tough exam taught me that life has turning points,\u201d she said. \u201cWright State University helped me find direction when I needed it most, and for that, I am very grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Massa became one of the first students to enroll in the Information Technology and Cybersecurity Program, a mix of cybersecurity, computer science and computer engineering courses.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love to learn, and I felt like the IT\/cyber degree gave me exposure to a little bit of everything,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was the perfect fit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Massa said her professors were the highlight of her Wright State experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dedication and inspiration they provided me during a time of my life where I felt lost reinvigorated me to push harder and learn everything I could,\u201d she said. \u201cThey saw something in me when I couldn\u2019t see it in myself. They inspired me to learn and grow and made learning a fun and unforgettable experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Karen Meyer, senior lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering<\/a>, said she has had the pleasure of knowing Massa for four years.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is highly motivated, a team player and a wonderful, sincere person,\u201d said Meyer.<\/p>\n

Massa said her internship at Speedway, where she worked in IT development, enabled her to apply what she learned in the classroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy web development, SQL databases, web security, software testing and IT design courses have been vital to the work I do at Speedway,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd my background in security allows me to think of unique dilemmas and challenges in our development process.\u201d<\/p>\n

McKinney said Massa took the lead of the internship team and drove the development of Speedway\u2019s intern project.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intern project consisted of taking seven sources of disparate data, consolidating it, modeling the data, establishing relationships in the data and transforming it such that it could be used to create a configuration management database,\u201d said McKinney. \u201cWhat she helped develop and create by leading the intern team is nothing short of a tool that Speedway has needed for many years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Massa says that wherever life leads her, she will never give up pursuing her dreams.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will always be involved in something and will always search for my next goal. I am happiest when I am working on projects and helping others,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I hope to one day make a positive difference in the world through technology.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michelle Massa, who graduated from Wright State on May 1, was one of the first students to enroll in the Information Technology and Cybersecurity Program. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":106939,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,2034,4267,743,715,4298],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-career-services","category-computer-science-and-engineering","category-engineering-computer-science","category-news","category-student-profile"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106927"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106955,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106927\/revisions\/106955"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}