Editor's note: Penn State Abington students graduating this May are sharing their Abington Experience, the roadmap that is launching them from campus to career. Each vignette will focus on a pillar of the Abington Experience: Brief academic travel, internships, research with faculty and leadership development.
ABINGTON, Pa. — Two soon-to-be Penn State Abington graduates reflected on their research experiences as they prepare for careers and graduate study. Working closely with faculty and peers, they deepened their understanding of course material and applied their skills to real-world challenges while exploring future academic and professional pathways.
Mahir Khan
Major: Information technology with minors in Security Risk Analysis and Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
What’s next: He was hired as an associate application analyst at Universal Health Services, where he interned, and will pursue a master’s degree in enterprise architecture and business transformation at Penn State World Campus.
Khan, a first-generation college student, built career skills by completing two faculty-mentored research projects. A 2026 solo project followed a 2025 multicampus research project on nonprofit cybersecurity, funded by a Penn State Presidential Public Impact Research Award.
“It explores how nonprofits, often vulnerable due to limited resources, can strengthen their cybersecurity posture through strategic collaboration and research-driven innovation,” said Khan, who was selected to serve as a student marshal at commencement in recognition of his achievements at Abington.
Khan also enrolled in three faculty-led courses with brief travel, including a research-focused experience in Turkey. There, he collaborated with his Abington classmates and students from a Turkish university to develop a smart hospital bed and present the concept to a healthcare technology company based there.