SEMO Cybersecurity Student Wins Hackathon

Williams, a St. Louis native studying cybersecurity, teamed with a Saint Louis University computer science student for the three-hour competition. Participants were given 18 programming challenges related to maritime geospatial systems and were evaluated on the quality of their solutions. The pair completed three challenges across eight hours.

For Williams, the in-person competition was an opportunity to apply skills he has developed through his coursework in a high-pressure setting.

"This is my second hackathon, but my first in-person one," Williams said. "I felt like being in person would allow me to show my full potential."

Williams said his team also discovered an issue involving Docker, a software platform commonly used by computer science and cybersecurity professionals. He has already incorporated what he learned into his coursework at SEMO.

"I'm actually using that bug that was found for one of my assignments," said Williams.

Williams credits the people he has met at SEMO with helping him build the confidence and skills to compete, including computer science instructors Waleed Amer and Ethan Chou with helping him find his direction within cybersecurity. He said his classmates and fellow members of SEMO's cybersecurity community have also encouraged him to get involved in competitions and hackathons.

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Williams expressed gratitude to his faculty, mentors and peers that have encouraged him.

"Thank you," Williams said. "Thank you for showing me how, no matter who you are, you can be successful in this."

Williams currently works for Ascent, a subsidiary of Wesco Data Center Solutions, where he works with data center operations. He said the hackathon has given him another avenue to explore as he considers his next steps in cybersecurity.

Students interested in building practical skills in cybersecurity and preparing for careers in a rapidly changing field can learn more at semo.edu/computer-science.

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