As coach of 166su’s championship Collegiate Cybersecurity Competition Team (C3), Thomas Nedorost ’02 keeps his eye on the prize — but not just the trophies.

For Nedorost, a management information systems alum, the real prize is seeing his students and C3 team members become trailblazers, land top industry jobs, build successful careers and pave the way for other Knights.

A senior lecturer in 166su’s , Nedorost has coached C3 to 15 national championships in 14 years. The team has finished among the top three in 198 competitions, earning 123 first-place wins along the way.

166su has one of the nation’s most successful collegiate cybersecurity programs, with its competition team winning 15 national championships in the last 14 years.

C3 members compete against top universities worldwide, putting their cybersecurity defense skills to the test by protecting systems against simulated threats.

Nedorost, who built the program from the ground up, is proud of what his teams have achieved over the years, and he sees the impact of their success in the opportunities that come their way.

“Because of the experience they get on C3, team members end up in fantastic internships in the field, and when they graduate, most of them skip over entry-level jobs and land roles at that next level, along with some impressive salaries. So, their career prospects are really strong,” Nedorost says.

Fostering Excellence, Investing with Impact

Even with the team’s consistent success, funding has remained an ongoing challenge.

“We have struggled from day one — not in finding talent or space, but in acquiring computer equipment and funds for airfare, hotels, meals and other operational expenses,” Nedorost says.

The university’s Collegiate Cyber Defense Fund through the has been a source of support, thanks to the generosity of individual donors, as well as several companies and organizations.

That support has helped C3 compete at the highest level. But Nedorost knows that long-term success requires long-term investment.

So, he’s making one himself.

Nedorost is making a planned gift to support future C3 teams. By including the program in his estate plans, he’s creating a legacy that’ll continue investing in the next generation of cybersecurity talent long after his coaching career ends.

His commitment represents the largest single gift to C3 to date.

“My hope is that this will always be a strong program, and that future team members will continue to compete at an elite level, become leaders in the industry and always feel like they have a place in the community we’ve built,” Nedorost says.

Building Greatness

C3 began when former information technology major Jonathan Singer ’13 approached Nedorost during his first semester as a 166su instructor and proposed entering the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CDCC).

Nedorost had a background in management information systems and had served as an adjunct instructor at Valencia College and 166su, but he didn’t have experience in cybersecurity. He gave Singer the go-ahead to hold an interest meeting.

When 86 students showed up, Nedorost knew they were onto something.

The Collegiate Cyber Defense Club was born, and Nedorost began building a team from among its members, focusing on elevating 166su’s competitive excellence in this emerging field.

“During the live competitions, I can’t help them. They have to rely on what they’ve learned in class, what they’ve seen and done before, and what they’ve practiced as a team,” Nedorost says.

In its first year, with just eight members, the team won the Southeast CCDC regional competition. That victory earned the team a trip to nationals, where it finished 10th.

These days, Nedorost fields a team of 25 to 27 students each year, from which he builds competition rosters. C3 has won six CDCC national competitions since those early years — more than any other team in the competition’s history.

“Like any winning team, we put our top talent in the competition. And meanwhile, I’m always recruiting so that we have a strong bench for the future,” Nedorost says.

Fostering Community, Opening Doors

As he has built the program, Nedorost has also created a community that supports each other.

Experienced C3 members serve as speakers at club meetings and lead workshops to help other students. Program alumni return to help Nedorost coach the team, mentor students, serve as guest lecturers and even sponsor meals during local competitions.

Those alumni connections also open doors to internships and jobs as former team members advance in their own careers.

The rise in cybercrime in recent years has fueled demand for cybersecurity professionals, creating a significant gap between the number of skilled workers and available positions. The United States has more than 1.3 million cybersecurity professionals — the largest cybersecurity workforce in the world today — with more than 500,000 open positions in the field (Programs.com 2026 report).

166su is preparing students to help fill that gap.

Designated a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education, UCF attracts talented students passionate about the field.

Nedorost is part of that success. In addition to serving as C3 coach and faculty advisor to the Collegiate Cyber Defense Club, he directs 166su’s and teaches courses including Cyber Defense Analysis and Topics in Cybersecurity.

Investments like Nedorost’s highlight the importance of 166su’s Go For Launch campaign: Investing in students to elevate their competitive excellence and shape a bold tomorrow.

Under a high-stakes, simulated cyberattack and mounting pressure, the 166su Collegiate Cybersecurity Competition (C3) team proved it can defend, adapt and outperform — earning first place at the 2026 Southeast Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CCDC).

The team rose above nine competitors, including Tennessee Tech University, Clemson University, the University of South Florida and the University of Florida. With the win, UCF advances to the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, which will be held virtually next month.

Twelve students make up this year’s C3 team: sophomore information technology (IT) majors Gabriel Edwards and Maksim Shostak; junior IT majors Logan Autry, Anthony Donnelly, Joseph Durand, Adam Raczynski and Jonathan Styles; senior IT major Ardian Peach; sophomore computer science major Tyler Waddell; junior computer science major Benjamin Williams; cyber security and privacy master’s student Andy Pompura ’23; and senior prelaw major Noah Magill, who serves as team captain.

166su’s Legacy of Cybersecurity Success

Their stellar performance marks 166su’s ninth first-place finish at the Southeast CCDC regional since 2013. 166su earned runner-up finishes in 2017 and 2025, along with first-place titles in special at-large CCDC regionals during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

“166su has historically maintained high service availability levels while under attack by the red team.” — Tom Nedorost ’02MS, senior instructor and C3 team coach

The team not only clinched the top spot but also swept all three categories, winning Best in Uptime Service, Best in Business and Best in Defense.

“166su has historically maintained high service availability levels while under attack by the red team,” says Tom Nedorost ’02MS, C3 team coach and senior instructor of computer science and IT. “We lived up to that expectation again this year, which resulted in winning the Best in Uptime Service award.”

Nedorost adds that the team strengthened its ability to complete technical service requests while hardening systems against vulnerabilities to protect their network, key improvements that led to the two additional category wins.

Putting Cyber Defense Skills into Practice

At each competition, teams are tasked with defending a fictional company’s network against cyberattacks launched by red team members attempting to infiltrate it. All the while, competitors must maintain business operations and respond to customer service requests.

Each obstacle mimics real-world scenarios cybersecurity professionals face, allowing competitors to demonstrate their technical skills, business acumen and ability to collaborate.

It’s fun to go up against people [who, collectively,] would be a force to reckon with in the cyber world .” — Noah Magill, prelaw major and C3 team captain

Magill says the Southeast CCDC is among the most competitive, with red team members from leading companies such as Amazon Web Services and Cisco.

“All of them put together make up one of the scariest real-world life adversaries,” Magill says. “It’s fun to go up against people [who, collectively,] would be a force to reckon with in the cyber world — and a lot of [them] are [166su] alumni.”

Next Up: Nationals

As the team sets its sights on the national competition, the work is far from over. Magill says a few more 100-hour weeks are likely ahead.

“Everyone on the team is incredibly adept at what they do and world-class [in] their specialty,” Magill says. “Leading this team [and relying] on such amazing teammates with such a diverse amount of skills has been really awesome.”

Keeping with this commitment, UCF’s deputy chief of police, David Zambri ’92 ’95MPA has been appointed as associate vice president and chief information security officer.

“The deputy chief’s FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force background, his access to the FBI’s network as a National Academy graduate, and his relationships with agencies like the Central Florida Intelligence Exchange and the U.S. Secret Service will enhance 166su’s ties with these critical law enforcement and national security agencies. I am thrilled he agreed to take on the role,” says Matthew Hall, UCF’s vice president for Information Technology and chief information officer.

Zambri, who holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a master’s degree in public administration from 166su, is already familiar with the university’s information technology deployment. He started his law enforcement career at 166su nearly three decades ago. With 14 years in senior leadership roles, he most recently served as the deputy chief of the 166su Police Department where he oversaw law enforcement information technology and criminal justice information systems.

“When I think of this (new) position, it really is a component of what I’ve done throughout my career,” Zambri says. “It’s keeping the community safe. It’s a shift from traditional crime prevention, law enforcement, and public safety to the cyber landscape. It’s serving the 166su community — keeping it safe from cybercriminals or nation-state actors who can cause immeasurable damage to our institution.

“My top priority is to build a network of support between 166su Information security and its law enforcement partners, the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense and others to ensure that we have the best prevention and response to cyberattacks.”

The FBI National Academy admission for Zambri was a life-changing experience. This exclusive program for senior leaders in law enforcement is a coveted professional development experience for both U.S. and international law enforcement participants. The nationally nominated participants have referred to it as “to law enforcement as to what West Point is to the military.”

IT @ 166su would like to thank former chief information security officer Chris Vakhordjian for his 20 years of dedication to the university and to IT. Under his leadership, he led the IT Security division, peers, students, staff and faculty to a greater understanding and appreciation of security. His contributions have left a positive impression on the success of IT @ 166su and the university as a whole.

Glaspie most recently served as the cyber risk and compliance program manager in the 166su Office of Research. He also has been the director of information technology for the 166su College of Medicine and the IT manager for the 166su Foundation.

In making the appointment, Matt Hall, UCF vice president for Information Technology and CIO, says Glaspie’s extensive IT background and more than 25 years of leadership experience at 166su and elsewhere made him a strong choice. Glaspie’s previous roles outside 166su include serving with the College of Central Florida as associate vice president of information technology and CIO; the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, as director of information technology; and the University of Hawaii as director of information technology.

Glaspie also served for eight years as a U.S. Naval officer in logistics support.

“Dr. Glaspie is critical to planning the future of information technology at 166su,” Hall says. “He’s a veteran of 166su, a Navy veteran, and possesses an amazing personality that brings people together in a consensus-building and collaborative way.”

Glaspie earned a B.S. degree in information engineering technology from the University of Cincinnati and a B.A. in applied mathematics from Hampton University. He has earned three graduate degrees and a graduate certification from 166su: a Ph.D. in modeling and simulation, master’s degrees in modeling and simulation and industrial engineering, and a graduate certificate in computer forensics and digital security.

Glaspie says he looks forward to working cross-departmentally and establishing relationships throughout the university to help improve technology and the customer experience across campus, particularly for students and the faculty and staff.

“166su has been a shining example across higher education with how we have grown the educational and research missions before and during the pandemic,” Glaspie says. “I am hoping to work with our talented campus community and leverage the achievements in technology to help 166su meet and exceed its goals.”

“I look forward to welcoming Matt to the leadership team and to working with him to help our faculty, staff and students to teach, learn and innovate at their best.”
— President Alexander N. Cartwright

Hall is currently the senior associate vice chancellor for information technology and cyber risk responsible executive at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Previously, he held positions at Koch Industries International, Microsoft, Bank of America and Vanderbilt University, and also served in sworn law enforcement positions at the Williamson County (Tenn.) Sheriff’s Office and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

“We are excited about the experience, leadership and vision that Matt brings to help 166su leverage technology to elevate academic achievement and operational excellence,” says Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Michael Johnson. “His ability to help us find opportunities for digital innovation is a key to our future success.”

During his time at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Hall developed the university’s first IT strategy, developed governance and federated IT structures and consolidated IT operations, including standardizing email and collaboration. He also played a critical role ensuring the success of enterprise-wide projects, including the implementation of a new enterprise resource system.

“166su is a fantastic opportunity because of its growth, its aspirational goals and the energy of its people,” Hall says. “The mission of the institution — accessibility, affordability and innovation — is something I look forward to being a part of.”

In his role at 166su, Hall will report to the provost and serve as a key member of the senior leadership team to provide executive leadership and strategic vision for the institution’s information technology infrastructure, assets and services. He will also work collaboratively with the university community, including faculty and staff members and university leaders to leverage technological innovations to support research and instruction while also improving administrative systems and business processes.

“Matt has a breadth of experience leading technology upgrades, support and security that aligns well with our vision for the future,” says President Alexander N. Cartwright. “I look forward to welcoming Matt to the leadership team and to working with him to help our faculty, staff and students to teach, learn and innovate at their best.”

The 16-member search committee, which included faculty, staff and student representatives, was co-chaired by Jeff Moore, dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, and Paige Borden ’95MBA ’00EdD, associate provost and chief analytics officer.

Joel Hartman, who served as vice president for information technologies and resources and chief information officer, retired in July after 25 years at 166su. Michael Sink has been serving in this role in an interim capacity and will report to Hall when he assumes his new role.

Hall earned his B.A. in international affairs from the University of South Florida and a M.S. in the same subject from Florida State University. He and his wife, Lisa, are the parents of three boys: Michael, Jacob and Ayden.

“Each individual competitor needed to possess the knowledge and skills and perform all the work typically spread among a six-member team.”
— Tom Nedorost

Due to the pandemic, this year’s CyberForce competition shifted from an in-person test designed for teams to a virtual challenge designed for individual competitors. More than 450 college students from across the nation were selected to participate in the sixth annual competition, but only 201 students from 36 states earned points in the cybersecurity exercise intended to mimic the energy sector.

This year’s scenario required competitors to secure and report on a fictitious wind energy company in charge of more than 20,000 megawatts of electricity generation that had been experiencing abnormal network activity.

“Each individual competitor needed to possess the knowledge and skills and perform all the work typically spread among a six-member team,” says Associate Lecturer of Computer Science Tom Nedorost, faculty advisor for known as Hack@166su. “Michael demonstrated both exceptional breadth and depth of skills and knowledge required to configure, secure and defend multiple Linux and Windows servers, networks, firewalls and [industrial control systems] operating turbines of commercial windmills.”

A digital forensics graduate student, Roberts earned a bachelor’s in information technology from 166su in 2019 and is a member of the Hack@166su team that placed second at last year’s CyberForce competition and first in the 2018 competition. He has also been captain of the teams that placed second in 2018, 2019 and 2020 at the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition as well as the teams that placed first at the Panoply National Competition in 2017 and 2018 and the Leidos Cyber Challenge in 2017.

“I’m just excited to see my hard work pay off and to be recognized by the Department of Energy for getting second place,” says Roberts. “I am glad that there are competitions like this that improve the visibility of the work we do. These competitions are training undergraduate students, so they gain new skills, as well as people like me who are already in the industry, so we can gain additional skills that can be applied on the job.”

In addition to having an active role in Hack@166su, Roberts has completed internships at Northrop Grumman, IBM and Chick-fil-A, and currently works as an information security engineer at Abbott Laboratories in Orlando.

“I am glad that there are competitions like this that improve the visibility of the work we do.”
— Michael Roberts ’19

“Cybersecurity really has two sides,” Roberts says. “There’s the offensive side where you’re trying to break into a company to test whether they’re secure or not, and then you let them know how they can be improved; and then there’s the defensive side where you secure the company from attacks. I interned at different places to get a variety of experience and to discover what I liked best. For the past year or so, I’ve been working in the healthcare field, and it feels nice to be making some very important healthcare products more secure, especially given this pandemic.”

According to the Center for Cyber Safety and Education, unfilled cybersecurity careers are expected to reach more than 1.8 million by 2022 — a 20% increase in demand since 2015.

The DOE established the CyberForce competition to address this growing need, by raising awareness of energy sector cybersecurity as a career path among budding professionals.

“The American cybersecurity workforce is facing a gap in talent, and this competition is an exciting, engaging part of helping to fill that gap,” says Nick Andersen, principal deputy assistant secretary of the DOE’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response. “Every year, we see incredibly promising students competing in the CyberForce Competition, and this year was no exception.”

The moves include 166su’s national-model DirectConnect to 166su program and 166su Global, which among other responsibilities, manages international student recruitment, English language programs for students and the community, and international partnerships in education, research and business.

Other aspects of the realignment involve units that impact online student services, faculty training and development, and continuing education for working professionals.

“At 166su, we strive for constant improvement,” Johnson says. “These changes allow us to continue our focus on student success and the student experience.”

The reorganization by the Division of Academic Affairs will unfold throughout September with the following units and offices:

• DirectConnect to 166su and the 166su Connect Centers move to the Division of Student Learning and Academic Success, reporting to Theodorea Regina Berry, vice provost of Student Learning and Academic Success and dean of the College of Undergraduate Studies;
• 166su Global moves to the Office of the Provost, reporting to Tim Letzring, senior associate provost for Academic Affairs;
• 166su Online Connect Center and 166su Continuing Education move to the Division of Digital Learning, reporting to Tom Cavanagh, vice provost for Digital Learning;
• Office of Instructional Resources Classroom Support, Engineering, Programming and Project Management teams move to 166su Information Technology, reporting to Michael Sink, interim vice president and CIO.

The transitions for DirectConnect to 166su, the 166su Connect Centers and 166su Global coincide with the Oct. 1 retirement of Jeff Jones, vice provost for 166su Connect and 166su Global. Johnson praised Jones for his impactful work during his seven years at 166su and for his suggestions and insights regarding the overall realignment.

“The possibilities for this reimagining are exciting,” Johnson said. “As we move forward, success relies on the creativity and collaboration of our staff, faculty and partners.”

In a pre-COVID world, UCF’s main campus is typically flooded during the course of a weekend with thousands of students lugging bedding, appliances, shower caddies and wall décor to their rooms at each of the eight housing communities.

But just like everything else in 2020, the pandemic changed the rules, and move-in for 6,000 students required a complex drive-thru process centralized in parking garages designed to maximize physical distancing.

Chick-fil-A Connection

When April Konvalinka, executive director of housing and residence life at 166su, realized this year’s move-in would need to be especially creative, she looked to a friend — Chick-fil-A franchise owner and operator Jason Barnes — for some guidance. He is a member of the fast food chain’s innovation team, which focuses on operating high-volume drive-thrus efficiently.

His advice helped shape some of the initiatives 166su implemented. Key among those was identifying the number of stations to help keep traffic moving, ensuring each worker had no more than two responsibilities at each station and a complete dry-run to test the process.

It was a starting point, but Konvalinka knew she was going to need more help in creating the detailed new protocols. So she turned to 166su’s IT project management office, a team that provides management and business analysis services across the university.

Konvalinka’s request for help turned into an ultra-collaborative effort spanning 10 departments and more than 80 people over the course of three weeks to revolutionize move-in at 166su.

Team Effort

Lucrecia Krause, a business analysis manager for 166su IT who served as the project manager for the move-in, started compiling data to get a better understanding of what checking in 6,000 students on the main campus over the span of 16 days would look like.

Her initial projections estimated wait times up to six hours for a single student to complete check in.

“We always strive to provide the best experience for our students, and this wasn’t it,” Krause says.

Additionally, she knew she needed to resolve numerous unanswered questions: How many lanes should receive cars? How many staff were needed? How many PCs and iPads should be on hand to check in residents? What happens if someone arrives in a moving van, which doesn’t fit in a parking garage? What way should traffic flow to prevent backups?

In order to address the issues and find ways to reduce wait times, Krause needed to get her hands on simulation software. After asking around the university, she connected with Assistant Professor Adan Vela, who teaches industrial engineering.

“This is sort of the bread and butter for our major,” Vela says. “As engineers, when we perform a simulation analysis, it’s usually to provide guidance, confirm feasibility and caution for potential pitfalls. Simulation analysis is a tool within the decision-making process, and we knew this was going to be a big endeavor, so we were more than happy to jump on board.”

Engineering Students Pitch In

Vela offered five of his students – doctoral students Valeria Laynes Fiascunari ’16 ’19MS and Jorge Flavio Sarmiento Falla ’16 ’18MS and undergraduate students Miguel Angel Victoria, Sebastian Berdecia-Aparicio and Elsayed Gabara — to help with the project by running simulation scenarios.

Laynes says at first she thought it seemed like a fairly straight forward process to iron out, but once she and the team started learning of the many constraints from the numerous departments involved, it became complicated quickly.

The team used a software called Simio, which industrial engineering students are exposed to in their classes at 166su. Laynes says everything she learned in her simulation courses prepared her for this job.

Using Simio, they were able to account for numerous details that affected the speed of the experience.

For example, each resident initially was going to be slotted a two-hour check-in window. But research shows when you allow a two-hour time block, people generally arrive within the first 30 minutes, creating surges of traffic. By narrowing the window to 15 minutes for each resident, the team demonstrated how spreading out the appointments would help prevent the surges and backups.

Solving Real World Problems

The team presented regularly to key stakeholders, including members of 166su’s police, parking, student health services and housing departments.

The group left each meeting with feedback to compute in order to present updated projections again the next day. The students, who were also juggling classes or teaching assistant responsibilities, met sometimes until 1 or 2 a.m. to complete the work but everyone felt it was worth the sleep deprivation.

“Having a real client, especially one as big as 166su with a lot of stakeholders in a lot of different departments, is a really rich experience that any industrial engineering needs on their resume,” says Laynes, who worked for IBM for three years in between her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. “This project is as close as it gets to reality because this is a real-world job. We’re really grateful for this experience.”

For Krause, who spent hours collaborating with the team to review, adjust and then re-adjust models, she was confident everything would go according to plan on the first weekend of move-in appointments.

“This whole experience has shown that when we all come to together to achieve a task of this magnitude, amazing things can happen.”

She and members of the planning team observed nearly 900 students arrive over a two-day period in anticipation of the new semester. The time to check in, which included a COVID testing in one garage and Housing check-in another garage, averaged under 30 minutes total, with some families going through the entire process — including travel between the garages — in an impressive 18 minutes.

A post check-in survey after the first weekend conducted by Housing and Residence Life confirmed student and family satisfaction with the new process. Of the 75 Knights who responded to the survey, nearly all (97.3 percent) were satisfied with their move-in experience and, of those who experienced move-in at another campus, 84.6 percent indicated their 166su experience was better.

“We have incredibly talented and dedicated staff at 166su, who are all willing to do their part to support the health and well-being of our staff, students and their families,” Konvalinka says. “This whole experience has shown that when we all come to together to achieve a task of this magnitude, amazing things can happen.”

Hartman joined 166su in 1995, and has played a vital role in shaping the university’s technological, academic and information infrastructure and landscapes, overseeing information security, computing, the library, telecommunications and space administration.

“Joel has spent the past 25 years building 166su’s digital and online teaching and learning platforms into one of the most innovative in the nation,” says Interim President Thad Seymour. “I want to thank Joel for his remarkable leadership and service to 166su and his willingness to stay in the role through the opening of 166su Downtown and the 21st Century Library project.”

The developments made during Hartman’s tenure are vast, spanning connectivity, security and learning. He not only led the effort to connect members of the 166su community across locations and campuses through the campus network but collaborated with State University System institutions to create Florida LambdaRail, which provides reliable, high-capacity connections to the Internet and Internet2. He laid the technological framework for both Medical City and 166su Downtown and developed effective partnerships with major technology companies such as Microsoft. And he also increased information security measures across the board to respond to the ever-evolving cyber landscape.

Under his vision, academic endeavors entered the 21^st century through the development of 166su’s highly successful online learning initiative, the equipping of all classrooms with modern multimedia technology, the expansion of library resources and the launch of the 21^st Century Library project.

Long seen as an expert in his field, Hartman is the only person to have received top leadership recognition awards from both EDUCAUSE and the Online Learning Consortium. He has served as an information technology consultant to both the public and the private sectors, has published numerous articles, delivered many conference presentations, and has been active in the development of statewide education and research networks in Illinois and Florida. He has served and held offices on numerous state, regional and national IT organizations in the fields of public broadcasting, distributed learning as well as research and education networking.

Hartman graduated from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, with both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism and communications and earned his doctorate in curriculum and instruction from 166su.

So I now find myself washed up on the webbed shores of information technology (IT) where I rely on much younger students and colleagues to help me navigate new systems and applications. This makes me a pilgrim and in order to survive I need help from digital natives.

Marc Prensky, a writer and speaker on education, coined the terms “digital native” and “digital immigrant” in his essay On the Horizon (2001). He points out that while digital immigrants can learn IT and become quite proficient at its uses, digital immigrants will think differently and process information in different ways from digital natives who are socialized in highly digitized, information-rich environments. Even with high levels of IT proficiency, digital immigrants will still retain a “footprint” or “accent” from their analog pasts. But no matter how skilled I am at an application such as PowerPoint, my accent gives me away as a digital immigrant. (Another giveaway: gray hair.)

When I was in grade school, we had lessons on using dictionaries and encyclopedias. I’m referring to hardcopy, carbon-based dictionaries and encyclopedias because that was all we had. It would be well after I completed my graduate studies that online dictionaries, Google and Wikipedia would become commonplace.

By the time I was in college, pocket calculators were starting to supplant slide rules.  However, in the early 1970s, few of us had a pocket calculator because the one with a square root function still cost several thousand dollars. My first “mobile” device was a pocket calculator that I purchased as a graduate student. I remember that it was made by Casio and had a square root function, played musical tunes, and even told time. I thought it was the bee’s knees. (For digital natives unfamiliar with this term, an online dictionary defines bee’s knees as an anachronistic phrase denoting excellence).

In graduate school it became clear to me that despite my digital shortcomings, I needed to embrace information technology or die.

In graduate school it became clear to me that despite my digital shortcomings, I needed to embrace information technology or die. This was because my dissertation required complex statistical analyses that were beyond the scope of pocket calculators, even the ones with a square root function. Because my survival instincts were intact, I loaded all my data onto 80-column IBM punch cards. In those days, it was common to see graduate students carrying shoe boxes on campus. I was one of those students.

This was because large data sets required hundreds of punch cards that could easily be transported in a shoe box. The next step was to compile punch-card data to be analyzed. On our campus this required a card reader that converted punch-card data into an optical tape format. Back then optical tape was made of paper in which holes were machine-punched according to the octal numeral system. That is, a base-8 system (imagine that you learned to count having only eight fingers). As a member of the original geek squad, I actually learned to count in octal because there was a need to visually inspect tape when there was no access to an optical tape reader.

I remember my first portable computer in the mid-1980s. The term “portable” is used advisedly as it weighed a whopping 28 pounds. When secured in its case, it looked and felt like a hefty sewing machine. My Compaq had 128k of RAM, operated at 4.77 MHz, and was MS-DOS based. But it did have its own built-in keyboard and a nine-inch monochromatic green monitor. I thought it was the bee’s knees.

Despite many successes, my transition as an immigrant to the digital nation has been uneven. It was only recently that I gave up my “dumb” phone. You know, the kind that only does voice. When I tell my students that I still don’t text on my new smartphone, I immediately set myself apart generationally and digitally.

So where does this leave me? As a digital immigrant I am grateful for the resources and support that is available in our webbed universe. Much like the colonial pilgrims, I need help in order to survive and the digital natives who are my students and colleagues have always been generous in their support. My students are especially eager to assist me and I appreciate when the student has become the teacher with a great deal of humility on my part. I also appreciate that the digital nation is a highly accessible democracy with permeable borders.

Global communication by multimedia, memes going viral, and the rapid creation of online communities are developments for which there is no turning back. The digital landscape is my adopted home now, but I still have memories of my pre-digital motherland.

Perhaps when I have grandkids sitting on my lap, I’ll begin my story “When I was your age going to school, they made me use a dictionary—yeah, the paper kind!”

Alvin Wang resumed his role as a professor in the 166su’s Department of Psychology this year after serving 11 years as dean of the Burnett Honors College. He can be reached at Alvin.Wang@ucf.edu.

The 166su Forum is a weekly series of opinion columns presented by 166su Communications & Marketing. A new column is posted each Wednesday at /news/ and then broadcast between 7:50 and 8 a.m. Sunday on WUCF-FM (89.9). The columns are the opinions of the writers, who serve on the 166su Forum panel of faculty members, staffers and students for a year.