UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Members of the Penn State community are invited to join the College of Information Sciences and Technology for “IST Identity Talks – Careers in Consulting,” to be held virtually from noon to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 16.

In the talk series, IST alumni from underrepresented backgrounds share the diverse experiences they’ve gained and challenges and opportunities they’ve faced through their educational and professional journeys.

Alumni panelists for the talk on Nov. 16 include:

• Navarro Chamberlain, a senior cloud architect with Booz Allen Hamilton who earned his bachelor’s degree in information sciences and technology from Penn State in 2009. Having worked in both public and private sectors, Chamberlain’s experiences span multiple areas of expertise including infrastructure planning and deployment, identity and access management, and security.
• Cassidy DiPaola, a first-generation college student who simultaneously earned a bachelor’s degree in security risk and analysis and a master’s degree in international security from Penn State in 2021. She is currently a cyber risk and regulatory experienced associate at PwC and is passionate about helping others through her continued involvement at the College of IST and her work with the PwC recruitment team.
• Meghan Swanton, a senior security intelligence and operations consultant at IBM who earned a bachelor’s degree in security risk and analysis from Penn State in 2019. Currently a MITRE team lead, Swanton specializes in MITRE alignment and proactive threat detection and response. She has mentored students during her time at Penn State and continues to support women in STEM through her participation in several panels.

“I hope to impart the value of diversity of experience to the students,” said Chamberlain. “I want them to take away the idea that there is no experience they are going through that can't be used to further themselves.”

The IST Identity Talks series aims to inspire an open dialogue for students and alumni and provide unique viewpoints to help all attendees be better prepared to thrive in diverse professional and personal communities. To date, more than 40 IST alumni have participated on panels in the series.

Members of the IST and Penn State community are invited and encouraged to attend the talks. Details of upcoming talks and recordings of past panels can be found at ist.psu.edu/identity-talks.