Alum Addresses Computer Convenience, Privacy, Secrecy Issues
Computers are connecting people in many more and exciting ways, but alumnus Brian N. Levine ’94, Ph.D., believes there’s a great challenge to offering pervasive computing while meeting privacy and security needs of users.
As an associate professor in the computer science department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, he works with graduate and undergraduate student-researchers in the Privacy, Internetworking, Security, and Mobile Systems (PRISMS) laboratory. He also directs the university’s Center for Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education, as designated by the National Security Agency.
Dr. Levine credits his UAlbany undergraduate work with giving him the necessary academic base for success. After receiving a combined B.S. in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science at UAlbany in 1994, he earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in computer engineering from UC Santa Cruz.
“Being an undergraduate at UAlbany provided me with a strong foundation for graduate study in computer engineering,” he said.
In particular, he said, an independent project in his senior year, which introduced him to working on problems without known solutions, “was invaluable to me, and the experience inspired me to work in research since that time.”
Synergy Enables Success
As one of the world’s first colleges of computing and information, CCI is a unique community of leading educators and researchers and talented students, positioned at the forefront of the information society. CCI’s three departments complement and reinforce each other to provide students with a comprehensive education in:
- How information is acquired, maintained and used
- What the capabilities of technology are
- How knowledge and skills are best applied to help organizations advance
The departments provide a focused integration of disciplines
- Department of Computer Science – Students here learn about algorithms (a set of rules for computations) and the problems they might solve. Computer Science leads to careers in programming, systems analysis, network administration, database development, security analysis, IT, software engineering, and more.
- Department of Informatics – Informatics is concerned with applying technology to specific disciplines, with targeted programs in government, education, business, sciences and the humanities. Informatics courses complement all disciplines at UAlbany by introducing an IT perspective (e.g., programming, online searching and database application) to any field. Affiliated Informatics faculty expand the reach of the Information Science Ph.D. program into new interdisciplinary academic and research programs with units all across the campus.
- Department of Information Studies – Students in this field learn how information is originated, represented, organized, retrieved and used. In preparing students to interact with the users of information, it educates them for careers such as information technology specialist, records manager, Web developer, database administrator, and others. Some students enter graduate programs in library science, information science, business, and others.
To understand how these three departments may help advance specific interests in the fields of computing and information visit the "Selecting a Program" page.
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