NSU Horizons Spring 2016

32 NSU HORIZONS D istance education from Nova Southeastern University proved to be the perfect learning experience for Brenda Ellis (Ph.D., 2009). As an adult student, I felt my learning experience was a collaborative one,” said Ellis, who graduated from NSU’s College of Engineering and Computing with an emphasis in information security. “The NSU professors not only delivered the required theory, but since they had profes- sional work experience, they were able to incorporate their experiences into the learning environment and invited students to do the same,” she added. Ellis was promoted to agency program manager for the National Aeronautics and Space Administra- tion’s (NASA) Information Technology Security Awareness and Training Cen- ter in Cleveland, Ohio, three years after earning her Ph.D. at NSU. “You are not listening to professors espouse theory the whole time [at NSU]. It’s much more participatory, with plenty of sharing of knowledge and experience,” she said. And the sharing went both ways, with students bringing knowledge to the table. “I was impressed by the quality of students that NSU attracts,” Ellis said. “I studied with a number of CISOs (chief information and security officers) and cybersecurity professionals from both industry and government.” In addition to indepen- dent work, she and fellow students went to NSU’s Fort Lauderdale/Davie Campus twice a semester for long weekend sessions involving lectures, testing, project recaps, and presentations. The friendships she made then continue today. Word of mouth brought Ellis to NSU. A former adviser of Ellis’ had taken a class at NSU and “he just loved it,” she said. While the adviser ended up following a different academic path, he had explained the NSU learning format and encouraged her to try it. The format worked well for her. Ellis considers NSU a wise decision for both traditional and nontraditional students. “Classes and professors stim- ulate intellectual rigors,” she said. “I learned so much from Dr. [James D.] Cannady’s lectures and my academic growth accelerated greatly working with Dr. Cohen as my dissertation adviser. The adviser is your lifeline. Without that person, you don’t graduate,” Ellis joked. “Brenda was a conscientious student and took her work seriously,” recalled Maxine Cohen, Ph.D., a professor of human-computer interaction. “She took on the chal- lenges of being in a technical field, but also being sensitive to the human side of things important to her research.” Ellis’ dissertation was titled, “The human element of intrusion detection: A cognitive task model for interface design and implications.” “Her research continues to be important today since we live in the world of ‘big data,’ ” Cohen said. “Security analysts (and others) need to deal on a constant basis with From NSU to NASA BY SANDI DRAPER ALUMNI PROFILE