Summer 2015 turned out to be just as fun as I hoped it would. I started my co-op with the MITRE Corporation in early June and was quickly put to work on various projects that I passionately worked over the course of the summer. The work proved challenging and I often had to draw on my RIT academic knowledge and develop skills and fixes to issues on the fly. I found however that I had multiple eager mentors supporting me throughout every stage of my work who acted as sounding boards and additional sets of eyes for my work. While my projects absolutely kept me busy, I was happy to take part in various work sponsored trips to places like the FBI Academy and the National Cryptologic Museum. Learning more about parts of the information security field is always a goal of mine, and such visits helped expose me to new (and old) information, techniques, and technologies.
Hey there! I'm @phryanjr, a Computing Security student from @RITGolisanoCCIS at @RITtigers and I'm interning in the XBIS Lab this summer!
— MITRE Students (@MITREonCampus) July 16, 2015
XBIS stands for Cross Boundary Information Sharing and the lab specializes in enabling mission operations across security domains (1/2) — MITRE Students (@MITREonCampus) July 16, 2015
XBIS is within the National Security Engineering Center, 1 of 7 Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) at MITRE (2/2) — MITRE Students (@MITREonCampus) July 16, 2015
This is what the Cross Boundary Information Sharing (XBIS) lab looks like pic.twitter.com/uEboyczcwc — MITRE Students (@MITREonCampus) July 16, 2015
I was fortunate to live only about 15 minutes from work at MITRE in McLean, VA (not too bad for the area where the Beltway, I-66, and the Dulles Toll Road collide). I was even more lucky to live near a Metro station, making for quick and easy commutes into DC after work and on the weekends. Having spent the summer prior living and working in Herndon, VA at Symantec, I was generally familiar with the National Capital Region and again felt at home living so close to my favorite city. I put my time over the summer to use visiting friends, family, fraternity brothers, and my favorite sights whenever I had free time. I made sure to take part in brunch as often as I could and tried to round out each city visit with a trip to some of the monuments. I continued an annual tradition I started last summer with a trip to Charlotte, NC to visit brothers and have a fun day at the National Whitewater Center. I even played hooky and went into the city for a Nationals game with my coworkers.
Toward the end of the summer (and after a lot of thinking), I weighed all of my options and decided to return to MITRE for full-time employment once I graduate from RIT. I am very appreciative of the opportunity given to me by MITRE and I am excited to return. Overall the summer was enjoyable and served as validation for my decision to move to DC next year.
