[gentle music] - We have to collaborate across the disciplines because cybersecurity is interdisciplinary.

CREO, the Center of Excellence for Cybersecurity Research, Education and Outreach, is missioned to be interdisciplinary and to be innovative in research, education, and outreach.

- The increase of cyber crime has created opportunities for computer science and criminal justice to collaborate on different projects, right?

And so we are realizing that there is an intersection between criminal justice and cybersecurity.

- So my research specifically is investigating the data that's collected through those, protecting them, and looking into users rights, and giving people those tools to make sure that their privacy is protected, and then also working to increase transparency, raise awareness, and hold companies accountable to how they deal with that data.

When I started my undergraduate degree, I went to school as a math education major because I was good at math, and I liked helping people.

And at the time that was the only option I thought I had.

So for me, what helped me transition was there was a teacher, a professor, she came to me and she said, "You're my best student, and you're not even a computer science major."

And I was like, "Thank you, um, nice to know."

She's like, "No, this isn't a compliment.

I actually think you need to change your major."

And I was like, "No, ma'am I'm graduating next year.

I'm not changing my major."

And she was so persistent.

She went as far as giving me a change of major form every time she saw me, and as she was just like, "There are so many opportunities for you, especially as a black woman in this field, you can do this."

I gave it a go, and my whole trajectory has changed since then.

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