UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — For Sean Cicchiello, researching radical crimes in the U.S. and determining whether they are acts of terror is part of his job. Through an internship with the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terror (START), where he is assisting with expanding the nation’s terrorism database, Cicchiello applies the skills and education he’s gained at Penn State while blending his interests in national security and political science.

Established after 9/11, START is a university-based research and education center supported by the Department of Homeland Security and run by an international network of scholars studying the causes and human consequences of terrorism. One of START’s contributions is the development and management of large databases that include open-source data and information on terrorism and radicalization both internationally and domestically.

For the past year, Cicchiello — who is simultaneously pursuing a bachelor’s degree in security and risk analysis and a master’s degree in international affairs through an integrated undergraduate-graduate (IUG) program — has worked on a special project called the Profiles of Individual Radicalization in the United States (PIRUS). Cicchiello’s day-to-day responsibilities focused on adding new entries into the database and carrying out research related to domestic radicalization and terrorism.

“During my internship, I'd be given a list of individuals who had committed some radical crimes that could be anything from vandalism, such as desecrating a church or mosque to a natural act of terrorism, and I had to research the crime committed and determine if what they committed was an act of terror or not,” Cicchiello said. "And if it was an act of terror, then I would specifically research what they did — examining local documents, court documents and the people who committed the acts to piece together the story."

Cicchiello said the work and research he has done at START is especially significant because it’s available to anyone who needs it, including researchers, scientists and the government.

“That means when an individual or agency wants to use it, they don't have to go out and find the information themselves,” he said. “They can just take the large database and pull the information right from there and use it in their data sets,” he said.

During the internship, Cicchiello worked 10 hours a week for two consecutive semesters in addition to his Penn State courses. He was able to balance the workload by outlining his schedule ahead of time, which allowed him to accomplish several meaningful milestones.

"I personally have used search databases for research papers in the past and have benefitted from others' work to create and maintain those databases" Cicchiello said. "I thought it was really cool to be able to add to START's overall database of knowledge and information so that in the future other students or researchers will be able to access what I put into them."

To carry out his responsibilities at START, or to even have such a far-reaching internship in the first place, Cicchiello had to be well-prepared and qualified going into the job. He was able to secure and succeed in the internship, he says, thanks to the relevant coursework, meaningful relationships and valuable skills gained at the College of Information Sciences and Technology’s security and risk analysis program.

“A lot of what I learned in my SRA 211 course — Terrorism and Crime — was very relevant in the internship,” he said. “At START, we held weekly meetings to discuss different topics with supervisors and other interns — such as international and domestic terrorism, conspiracies, radicalization and audit information — which directly related to things I learned in SRA 211.”

Through his classes and experiences as a learning assistant in the College of IST, Cicchiello has created connections to help him navigate the next steps in his academic career.

“I feel that I have a close relationship with [my instructors] and they've been very helpful in guiding me along, giving me advice on the School of International Affairs [master’s degree program] and telling me about the classes that might interest me."

As a student in the integrated undergraduate-graduate program, which allows academically talented students to pursue bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the same time to earn both in five years, Cicchiello has benefitted financially and the program has made him more marketable for jobs, he said. While initially beginning his Penn State education studying political science, Cicchiello changed his major to security and risk analysis after learning more about the field. While SRA involves some of the political science aspects that interest him, it also has given him transferrable technical skills, such as coding, which he’s directly applied in his work at START and will benefit him in his future career.

“I feel that I’m going to be able to apply and show my ability to learn software to harder skills, to any job I have in the future. So, IST and SRA had been very helpful with that,” he said. “I’ve also had great experience with the professors and the staff as a whole. Overall, the College of IST has really helped me through my journey — and I’m where I am now because of them.”