UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Serving as a representative and advocate for her fellow Penn State students is a responsibility of which third-year College of Information Sciences and Technology student Nora O’Toole is extremely proud.
As speaker of the assembly in the University Park Undergraduate Association, O’Toole oversees the legislative branch of Penn State’s student government and facilitates project execution for its five committees as they work to make the Penn State experience positive for every student. Her job is to ensure everything runs smoothly throughout the year.
“The most rewarding thing about this role is seeing that the work that were doing is making a difference,” said O’Toole. “There are really long nights and tough decisions that have to be made. But at the end of the day, talking to students whose lives we have impacted is the most rewarding feeling and it makes the hard work worth it.”
O‘Toole, who is pursuing a degree in cybersecurity analytics and operations and a minor in international politics with a focus on national security, blends her academic interests to make a difference through UPUA. Prior to her current role, she has served UPUA as chair of the governmental affairs committee and as a university faculty senate senator. The experience she’s gaining through UPUA, combined with education and skills she’s gaining in the classroom, are preparing her for her career goal of working with the U.S. government.
“Cybersecurity analytics and operations checked all the boxes for me. I can work for any company in any capacity doing what I love,” O’Toole said. “It seemed like there were endless possibilities for me after graduation and I really liked the idea of not being boxed in to one thing and doing what I love. This major knows no borders.”
In addition to serving on UPUA, O’Toole is also a member of the Presidential Leadership Academy at Penn State, allowing her to enroll in academic courses taught by Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi and Patrick Mather, dean of Schreyer Honors College. She was selected as one of 30 students at University Park to develop leadership and critical thinking skills.
“The Presidential Leadership Academy has helped me grow not only as a person, but as a leader and I am so thankful for the experiences I’ve had within the program,” she said.
O’Toole further impacts students at Penn State and other Big Ten Conference schools through her work with the College of IST’s Human Language Technology’s Lab. There, she examined the differences between scams that students at those universities received and the resulting training materials each institution provided. She also worked in an investigation on a corpus of privacy laws and regulations with qualitative and quantitative examination of legal foci on privacy. She expanded on that work through a Research Experience for Undergraduates position in the summer of 2021.
”I have been super fortunate to be involved in undergraduate research for the past year and a half with the opportunity to co-author on a poster from my freshman year titled 'Comparing Scam Emails and Email User Education at Universities,'” O’Toole said.
“The work I’ve done in research and the people I’ve met along the way have really challenged me to grow confidently in my work and decisions as a woman in STEM,” she added.
In addition to building her research portfolio at the College of IST, O’Toole has benefited from being a student within the tight-knit environment and small-school feel the college provides.
“The community at the College of IST is so present and the resources are endless. I feel like everyone knows everyone, and I’ve had so many close connections with students and professors. I always know I can come back to the College of IST and have my community there.”
As a student building a resume of experiences as she maps her path for her future, O’Toole has worked to maintain a balance of schoolwork, extracurricular activities and wellbeing. She encourages fellow students to get involved in as much as possible and find activities that bring them joy and provide development opportunities, but to also recognize when they need to put their mental health first.
“College is there for you to make mistakes and find the things that make you happy,” she said. “I got to a point where I became involved in too many things and needed to re-evaluate what truly made me happy, so I decided to step down from some things and keep the things that I’m passionate about.”
With a healthy balance and focus on making an impact in areas that are the most meaningful to her, O’Toole looks forward to her final few semesters at Penn State and what will come after she graduates.
“There is an endless amount of resources and connections in IST to help me reach my future goals. I feel very grateful to have that within the college,” she said. “The alumni network that IST has is amazing so I know that I’ll always be in good hands.”