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As a student worker in Marist's networking department, Ryan's on-the-job training includes all areas of keeping the campus network functioning. He enjoys every shift because: "We are like a family in our office," the part-time network technician said.

Exploring his curiosity for how our brains work, Ryan took an elective liberal arts course called Philosophy of Mind. The class captivated him, leading to his minor in cognitive science, and his dream of achieving a PhD in the field.  

"I discovered the topics and areas of my discipline I love the most by simply trying things out at every opportunity I was given," he said. 

One of his most influential faculty mentors was Computer Science Distinguished Professional Lecturer Robert Cannistra, who challenged his Internetworking class to create more and more complex Internet infrastructures. "It was through this class I became a network technician here at Marist," he said.

The other is Computing Technology Professional Lecturer Dominick Foti.  With Foti's support, Ryan helped research, present, and publish a paper on Bluetooth Low-Energy security. This greatly bolstered his resume and gave him confidence speaking in public. 

Throughout Ryan's four years at Marist, he's interned at aerospace and defense company Lockheed Martin, most recently in a hybrid software engineering and cybersecurity role. It's a company he could see himself landing at after completing his Marist degree. 

"Thinking about our brains, experiences, robotics, neural networks, and more ignites a spark in me that nothing else can," he said.

If undergraduates want to be as successful as Ryan has been, he said: "Let curiosity guide you [because] your professors and your peers at Marist are all rooting for your success!"