UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) honored three graduates at the college’s second annual Alumni Symposium. The award ceremony, held on Oct. 25 at the Eric J. Barron Innovation Hub in State College, Pennsylvania, was part of two event-filled days celebrating IST’s 25th anniversary.

IST Outstanding Alumni Award

“IST sweethearts” Alison Flanigan and Eric Flanigan each received an IST Outstanding Alumni Award, the highest honor bestowed by the college upon its graduates. The award recognizes IST alumni who have demonstrated a record of outstanding accomplishments and made significant contributions leveraging the expertise and knowledge gained through their degrees.

Alison Flanigan earned her bachelor’s degree in information sciences and technology in 2005. As a student, she was president of the Women in IST student organization and public relations chair for IST Student Government, and she helped develop what would become the first IST Career Fair. In 2010, Alison earned an MBA from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland – College Park, where her focus was on finance, organization and strategy. 

Eric Flanigan also earned his bachelor’s degree in information sciences and technology from Penn State in 2005. As an undergrad, he was vice-president of Student Government, co-founder of the Volunteers in IST organization and a mentor in the IST Mentor Program.  

“We both wanted to do consulting to help big companies like IBM solve complex problems,” Alison said. “Then we pivoted to defense and fell in love with national security and keeping our country safe.”

After careers with companies like Booz Allen Hamilton, Deloitte Digital, Microsoft and others, the couple launched Omega Minds LLC with Eric as founder and Alison as the chief executive officer. Omega Minds creates scalable solutions for the intelligence community.

“Individually, Alison and Eric epitomize what we recognize as outstanding alumni,” said Andrea Tapia, dean of the College of IST. “Together, they are an exceptional team, working to create a safer nation and representing the College of Information Sciences and Technology with passion and an innovative spirit. I am elated to honor them with award.”

IST Emerging Professional Award

CJ Smulligan, director of cybersecurity at Penn State's Applied Research Laboratory (ARL), received the College of IST’s Emerging Professional Award, which was created in 2023 to recognize recent alumni who are earning notable achievements by leveraging their IST knowledge to make a positive impact on the world.

“While CJ works to make our nation safe, he also serves as an advocate for diversity, mentoring IST students as they intern with and recruiting IST graduates to work on his team,” said Tapia. “As a recent and emerging professional, CJ is making a name for himself in the field of cybersecurity, and we’re excited to watch as his career continues to flourish.”

Smulligan graduated from Penn State in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in security and risk analysis and minors in IST and mathematics. In 2019, he earned a master of professional studies in information sciences – cybersecurity and information assurance and an enterprise architecture certificate through Penn State World Campus. 

As a student, he worked as a lab consultant and a service desk consultant for Penn State Information Technology Services before joining ARL to complete IST’s internship requirement. He took advantage of the college’s diverse curriculum to move across a range of disciplines — ultimately, to cybersecurity.

Following graduation, Smulligan joined ARL full time as a network and system security analyst and quickly rose through the ranks. Now, as ARL’s director of cybersecurity, he oversees the protection of critical infrastructure and sensitive data from emerging digital threats.

“I have reached a point in my career that I thought would take 20 years to achieve,” Smulligan said. “I credit that in large part to IST, which enabled me to grow technically but, more importantly, taught me how to network and create relationships.”

As he accepted his award, Smulligan encouraged IST students and alumni to lean into the personal and professional relationships that support career leaps of faith and to keep learning and growing, aiming to “never be the smartest person in the room.”