Research Scientist II – Cybersecurity Software Engineer II
Georgia Tech Research Institute, Atlanta, Georgia – November 2019 – Present
● Led Security Monitoring & Operations: Engineered and optimized advanced Splunk solutions for enterprise cloud logs, significantly improving data
ingestion, real-time monitoring, and correlation. Improved incident detection and enhanced daily log processing, directly contributing to continuous security monitoring and workflow automation
● Pioneered Secure Cloud Architecture & Operations: Engineered and secured robust AWS cloud architectures from design to deployment for high-impact government programs (e.g., Georgia Medicaid), integrating native and third-party security tools to ensure data integrity, secure operations, and compliance.
● Managed and secured cloud infrastructure components like EC2, S3, and RDS● Managed Vulnerability Management & Risk Mitigation: Drove comprehensive threat modeling, risk assessments, and vulnerability management processes,
ensuring stringent adherence to NIST 800-53 Rev 5 and HIPAA. Contributed a risk-based approach that reduced audit findings and resolved enterprise security design weaknesses.
● Enhanced Incident Response Capabilities: Fortified enterprise cloud logs and improved incident detection, laying foundational support for rapid response to security threats.
● Oversaw Security Tooling & Implementation: Integrated native and third-party security tools (e.g., GuardDuty, Config, Security Hub) into secure AWS cloud
architectures for data integrity and compliance.
● Automated Security Controls & DevSecOps: Embedded security controls (SonarQube, Terraform) into CI/CD pipelines, automating vulnerability detection and enforcing secure coding standards, contributing to improved security defenses.
● Managed Access Control & IAM: Enhanced ICAM frameworks by designing and enforcing secure access protocols (SAML, OAuth, OpenID Connect) and automating processes with Keycloak, RedHat SSO, and Okta APIs via custom scripting, improving access efficiency and security for hundreds of users.
● Collaborated on Security Strategy: Provided expert input on secure architecture proposals for U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) projects, specializing in cross-domain data protection and securing data transfer for 5 high-impact initiatives.
Middle School Teacher
Veterans Memorial Middle School, Covington, Georgia – July 2019 – November 2019
● Taught 6th grade mathematics
● Taught 6th – 8th grade Business & Computer Science