I realized that I wanted to be in the field of information technology when I was enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. I was a communications specialist, which gave me an opportunity to be exposed to many different technologies such as information security.

I am interested in studying information technology at the graduate level for two main reasons. First, earning a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Information Technology will enable me to acquire the theoretical and technical skills that will prepare me to become a high level executive in this field. Secondly, I am excited about the chance to participate in significant applied research in the area of information security, which is my proposed concentration area. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte will offer me the opportunity to obtain the best education in this area of expertise.

During the past two years, I have had the opportunity to be in the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration/Office of Naval Research (NOAA/ONR) group at Elizabeth City State University. This program gave me hands on experience in research and made me realize that I would not be satisfied with just a baccalaureate level of education and expertise. I am currently on the network research team, and our research is focusing on the security of user accounts.

Other areas of information technology also interest me. My minor is Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing. During the 2003-2004 academic year in the NOAA/ONR program, I was a member of the Remote Sensing Research Team. Our research project during that year was: Migratory Patterns of the Sea Turtle Using Remote Sensing Data. During the summer of 2004, I was an intern with the Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research in Beaufort, North Carolina. The title of that project was: Developing an Optical Model to Determine the Deep Edge of Seagrass Beds along the Southern Outer Banks Using ArcGIS. These projects were very interesting to me and they enlightened me to different applications of Information Technology. I would like to take course 5320 GEOG - Spatial Management as a part of my curriculum to broaden my knowledge in the area of GIS.

I have also gained experience this year while working as an assistant network administrator at the Center of Excellence in Remote Sensing and Education Research (CERSER). This position introduced me to Macintosh, UNIX and Microsoft Window servers. Some of my duties include creating user accounts, joining computers to the network, and to create personal security assessments of the CERSER lab.

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte is my number one choice because my academic interests are focused on information security, which is emphasized in the University's program. I attended the 2004 Security Symposium and was very impressed with the program. After visiting the Symposium, I am excited about furthering my education at UNCC. Dr. Gail-Joon Ahn is leading research projects that are relevant to my interests. I am particularly interested in the project titled: Scalable Token Based Authentication: Architecture and Mechanisms, which will make a significant contribution to the security of classified information.

Community events that I have been involved in include: citizen salt marsh monitoring, and guiding discussions at local junior high schools about college expectations. I am an active participant in the student ACM and IEEE society clubs. I am the recipient of the USA Achievement Award in Computer Science, and the National Deans List. I am also the recipient of a NOAA Educational Partnership Program Scholarship, and an ONR Scholarship.