Interviews with Potential Future Amazonians – Outstanding Current Embry-Riddle Students
—September 29, 2017— View the Related Video:
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Tim Christovich Junior / Computer Science (Cybersecurity) Jacksonville, Fla. Jeremiah Lantzer Junior / Software Engineering Port Orange, Fla. Winners of the global Thales Arduino competition.
Tim Christovich and Jeremiah Lantzer are still undergraduates at Embry-Riddle, yet they’ve already shown they have what it takes to succeed in industry. In addition to leading a statewide, 24-hour programming challenge called the “HackRiddle,” Lantzer and Christovich, with their colleague Kyle Cochran, recently took the worldwide prize in the Thales Arduino competition. Their winning entry – honored at an event in Paris, France – was a drone landing and charging station that featured a protective shell and used radio-frequency identification for signaling. Christovich, a junior whose major is computer science with a concentration in cybersecurity engineering, said he is passionate about developing his skills in three key areas: web-based software applications, mobile applications, and the Internet of Things. “My goal once I graduate from Embry-Riddle is to continue to make a difference in the Central Florida technology community and help it to grow with regard to the different industries that are becoming more and more prominent in the area every day,” Christovich said. “The University connects me to all these different companies … It’s amazing to see all the ways that companies will reach out to our University for our students and our candidates because they know that we have what it takes.” Christovich has so far completed two industry internships, working with a healthcare technology firm based in Jacksonville, Fla., and with Thales Engineering in Melbourne, Fla., developing Android applications for in-flight entertainment.
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Jeremiah Lantzer, a junior at Embry-Riddle and a back-end developer who recently completed an internship with Lockheed Martin, said he hopes to work with “either cloud- computing someday, or doing research and development with quantum computing.” *** Christovich and Lantzer are only two of the many exceptional students and future industry leaders at Embry-Riddle. ___________________________________________________________________________ Courtney Thurston Junior / Computer Science + Computational Mathematics (Physics) Des Moines, Ia. Former high-school valedictorian Courtney Thurston, a junior, Google CodeU scholar and three-time Microsoft software engineering intern, is currently double-majoring in computer science and computational mathematics (physics track) in Embry-Riddle’s Honors program. An undergraduate research assistant within the ASSURE Unmanned Aircraft Systems Center at Embry-Riddle, Thurston is a web developer in the Women’s Engineering Institute, a founding member of the on-campus Hacker Club, an Adobe Student Representative, a SpaceX University Ambassador, and a member of the Society of Women Engineers. In addition to her work with Microsoft, Thurston interned – beginning at age 15 – at Carnegie Mellon University on projects for NASA Langley, the Office of Naval Research, and Aurora Flight Sciences. Specifically, she said, “My team became the first to fly an autonomous helicopter through a canal. That was a really exciting accomplishment for me and that was when I really realized I wanted to be in software.” From there, Thurston worked with Northrop Grumman on systems engineering for the company’s high-altitude, long-endurance suite of unmanned systems. In particular, she implemented a new weather-tracking feature on the Global Hawk UAV. She then moved on to SpaceX, where she designed a mechanism for the Falcon 9 rocket. Now, she’s working with Microsoft on its big-data cloud platform, Azure. Her many awards and honors include being a two-time national finalist on the Pennsylvania team in the Real World Design Challenge. “Embry-Riddle has allowed me to get a lot of hands-on experience in my industry, which is computer software and software engineering,” Thurston said. “I’m looking to continue fostering new software engineering skills and getting experience relevant to big data and networking.” Anna Baron Garcia Graduate Student / Cybersecurity Barcelona, Spain Anna Baron Garcia’s ultimate career goal is to “reassure people that the Internet is safe, that we will protect it, and that at the end of the day, the technology is advancing very, very quickly, but so are our studies.” That’s why she’s pursuing a graduate degree in cybersecurity. Baron Garcia has so far applied her skills during internships with the European Space Agency and banks as well as a major telecommunications company. “Embry-Riddle does prepare you for work in industry,” she said, noting that the University includes faculty from industry as well as
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academia. “You can get both the theoretical part of education, and also the practical part, which is a great combination to succeed in industry.” Joshua Pevitz Senior / Aerospace Engineering Naperville, Ill. Joshua Pevitz’s grandfather inspired him to become an engineer. Now a senior aerospace engineering student, Pevitz said the slide ruler that he received from his grandfather long ago continues to remind him of the dedication required to succeed in industry. Pevitz completed three internships with GE during his tenure at Embry-Riddle, and now he will complete his Master’s degree through GE’s prestigious Edison program. “Being in industry as a college student is incredible,” said Pevitz. “Embry-Riddle has taught me things that I’ve used on a daily basis when I was at work, and I’m excited to continue to use those skills when I’m with a company.” Ahresh Aleshi Graduate Student / Cybersecurity Engineering San Jose, Calif. Ahrash Aleshi is pursuing a Master’s degree in cybersecurity engineering. He credits Embry- Riddle with making it possible for him to complete an internship with MUFG Union Bank in Los Angeles, Calif. “Embry-Riddle offers its students plenty of opportunities to work in industry,” he noted. The University “has given me the opportunities to define my skill set and to grow it, from learning the Java Hello, World! Program, to writing a full-fledged API for a major company.”
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