UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Members of the Penn State community are invited to join alumni of the College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) for "IST Alumni Identity Talks – Celebrating Black History," to be held virtually from 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 8.
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 Celebrating Black History talk on Feb. 8 include:
- Kevin Afoakwah, a software engineer at Lockheed Martin supporting programs with cloud technology and application development who earned a bachelor’s degree in IST in 2020. He will also moderate the panel.
- Deon Butler, a network security engineer at Cox Communications, who earned a bachelor’s degree in criminalistics and criminal science/forensics in 2009 and a master of homeland security, computer and information systems security/information assurance in 2015. A former wide receiver for the Nittany Lions and the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks and San Diego Chargers, Butler is currently an IT professional with more than five years of experience in datacenter high-availability enterprise environments.
- Desmond Lamptey, a 2012 graduate of IST and current software engineering manager at Capital One focusing on tech learning in domains such as cloud computing, cyber and software engineering.
- Megan Tucker, an IT business partner for The Boeing Company who provides support in IT requirements gathering and implementation for one of the company’s defense programs. She has explored a variety of IT areas in previous jobs and internships including data science, cybersecurity and business analytics. She earned a bachelor’s degree in IST in 2018 and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in information systems engineering through The Johns Hopkins University.
- Korey Wallace, operational technology security lead for DuPont, where he works to defend global manufacturing internet of things (IoT) devices from ransomware. Wallace earned a bachelor’s degree in IST from Penn State in 2009, a master’s degree in engineering management from Stevens Institute of Technology in 2012, and a master of business administration from the Texas McCombs School of Business in 2020.
“I feel I represent a segment of Penn State’s population which has historically been underrepresented,” said Wallace. “I look forward to the opportunity to speak with more students like myself and inspire them on their journey at this stage in their careers.”
The IST Alumni 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. Members of the IST and Penn State community are invited and encouraged to attend the talks, which continue this spring semester with themes centered on Women in Tech (Feb. 28) and Strength in Diversity (April 5).
For more information on "IST Identity Talks – Celebrating Black History" and other panels this semester, visit ist.psu.edu/identity-talks.