Portfolio

Published: Nov 5, 2025 · Updated: Feb 2, 2026

This portfolio details my education and experience in the information security field. Examples of coursework, deliverables, and projects are included at the end.

Contact me if you have any questions or would like more information.

Education & Certifications

I graduated from Ferris State University in late 2025 with a Bachelor of Science in Information Security and Intelligence.

I carry CompTIA Security+ and AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner certifications and am currently preparing for the CompTIA Network+ exam.

Academic Honors

I graduated with honor and earned the Dean’s list for most full-time semesters of higher education:

The Ferris State University Dean’s list archive is available online, but the same is not true of Grand Rapids Community College. All certificates can be provided by me upon request.

Significant Courses

These are the courses that I consider as most important to my overall information security education up to now. Descriptions come from the official course catalog, syllabus handouts, and my personal experience.

Course Code Description
AI Concepts and Problem Solving / Machine Learning ARTI 300/350 Introduction to applying AI and machine learning concepts and techniques towards solving business problems.
Advanced Business Writing ENGL 325 Exploration of effective business writing and communication skills.
Secure Digital Technologies ISIN 200 Introduction to security-related digital technology concepts and terminology.
Network Security ISIN 209 Network security, management, maintenance, and governance procedures in secure organizational environments. Aligns with CompTIA Network+ knowledge domains.
Link and Visual Analysis ISIN 300 Transformation of raw data into visual information for analysis and presentation.
Security Informatics ISIN 306 Understanding concepts and applying skills related to scripting, web applications, data storage, and application architecture for security purposes.
Principles of Information Security ISIN 308 Exploration of foundational information security concepts that align with CompTIA Security+ knowledge domains.
Digital Forensics ISIN 310 Introduction to digital forensics and the application of forensic science concepts. Includes data recovery, forensic investigations, and discussions of historical cases and issues.
Applications of Information Security ISIN 312 Analysis and exploitation of common web application vulnerabilities using penetration testing and ethical hacking principles. Partially aligns with Certified Ethical Hacker knowledge domains.
Database Security ISIN 325 Database security and management concepts such as encryption, hashing, scripting, secure design, and forensics.
Pen Testing and Cloud Security ISIN 335 Examination of secure software applications and cloud computing architecture, including the use of security services to improve security posture. Aligns with AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner knowledge domains.
Risk Analysis and Strategy ISIN 360 Introduction to risk analysis concepts and the application of risk analysis tools and techniques for protecting information systems.
Network Forensics and Analysis ISIN 409 Examination of networking and application protocols and theory. Application of forensic analysis to understand packet captures, correlate logs, investigate events, and recover from intrusions.
Legal and Ethical Issues in Information Security ISIN 429 Investigation of legal and ethical issues in relation to PII. Includes discussions of ethical practices and privacy.
Capstone Experience ISIN 499 Demonstration of information security knowledge and skills by obtaining certifications and/or completing projects.
Project Management PROJ 320 Foundational skills for project communication and management.

Internships

I interned at National Heritage Academies (NHA) as an IT Security Analyst in 2025 from May until August. A presentation outlining some aspects of my internship experience can be viewed here.

I made valuable contributions and accomplishments during my time in the NHA IT security team:

Awards

I earned four awards during cyber competitions:

Competitions & Conferences

I participated in several team and individual competitions and attended multiple conferences during my time at Ferris State University and internship at National Heritage Academies:

CyberForce

CyberForce is an 8-hour full-stack competition and workforce development program organized by the U.S. Department of Energy. Competitors secure their technology against simulated cyber threats in a hands-on scenario related to the energy industry. Read this post for more details about the CyberForce experience.

Our team placed 31/94 in the 2024 competition and 28/93 in the 2025 competition. In both cases, we had extremely strong blue and green team scores. This means that we were successful in protecting the availability of our critical systems (blue team) while maintaining the integrity of the services they hosted for our end users (green team).

MWC3

The Midwest Collegiate Computing Conference (MWC3) is a two-day event hosted by Grand Valley State University. It aims to provide collegiate-level students with learning and networking opportunities through workshops and competitions. I attended twice with peers from Ferris State University and earned four awards.

Read this post for more details about the MWC3 experience. Results for the 2024 and 2025 competitions that I attended are viewable online, and related articles are also available for both years in news archives.

NCL

The National Cyber League (NCL) competition helps students gain cybersecurity experience by solving challenges related to security concepts such as cryptography, forensics, and log analysis.

I registered for the team competition in 2024 along with most of the members from our CyberForce team, but was unfortunately unable to compete due to unexpected conflicts. Instead, I worked through as many challenges as I could for the individual competition. The format felt reminiscent of ISIA CTF competitions.

ISIA

The Information Security and Intelligence Alliance (ISIA) is a registered student organization at Ferris State University. I was a due-paying member for at least a year, although I became less involved after moving off campus. To quote their page on the Ferris intranet, it intends to:

“…provide professional development and networking opportunities for student members through distinguished speakers, conferences, and other special events.”

Aside from attending various ISIA events and meetings during my time at Ferris, I participated in two CTF-style competitions (2023 and 2024). Read this post for more details about the ISIA competition experience.

As part of my ISIA membership, I had the unique opportunity to attend a guided tour of the Pyramid Campus Switch data center in Grand Rapids with other students and instructors. I live nearby, so it was interesting to get a behind-the-scenes look at what all of their construction has been for over recent years. Their operations were impressive, to put it bluntly. Photos were (unfortunately) not allowed.

CloudCon

I had the opportunity to attend the two-day CloudCon AI and cybersecurity conference in 2025 at the LMCU Ballpark with peers from my internship at National Heritage Academies. While there, I met up with some friends from Ferris who had also landed summer internships near Grand Rapids.

We got the chance to talk to most of the vendors for at least a few minutes (sometimes nearly half an hour), and there were a lot of interesting presentations and workshops. Besides a great talk with the Fortinet people, one of my favorite highlights involved an experimental LLM security testing tool developed by White Knight Labs. They mentioned that the code would eventually be open-source. True to their word, you can find it on GitHub.

GrrCon

I attended the GrrCON 2025 conference, but was only able to make it to the second day.

I ran into someone from the Fortinet booth at CloudCon (he still remembered me and our conversation!) and made a new connection with someone from a different university. They both let me know that the first day is the one that you don’t want to miss, so I won’t make that mistake again.

Unfortunately I didn’t run into any Ferris or NHA friends, but I did get to talk to some vendors and see a lot of interesting presentations!

Example Deliverables & Projects

See the table below for a list of page links, descriptions, and file downloads for all portfolio samples.

🔍 Important

Where applicable, a file preview is inserted on the webpage for each sample. I recommend using a PDF viewer to inspect any samples of interest so that you can use the embedded document bookmarks (e.g., Table of Contents, Figures, etc.).

Sample Description File
ANY.RUN Malware Investigation Group malware investigation project in the form of a blog post. pdf
Applied AI/ML Assignments that leverage AI and machine learning concepts. N/A
Capstone Project Final presentation slides for the capstone project of my degree. pdf
Cloud Pentesting Brief pentesting projects conducted in the AWS cloud. pdf
Cyber Event Investigation A high-level investigation of suspicious network traffic. pdf
Data Mining Associations Project Segment from a data mining group project. pdf
Digital Forensics Investigation Final investigation report from a digital forensics class. pdf
Fraud Case Discussion A short video discussion summarizing two payroll fraud cases. N/A
InsightConnect Workflow Automation for Slack and TeamDynamix using Rapid7 InsightConnect. N/A
IoC Observation Lab Observing endpoint IoCs for a network security and analysis class. pdf
Network Upgrade Project A personal project where I overhaul my home network. N/A
NHA Intern Presentation Slides and outline notes for my NHA intern presentation. pdf
NICE Challenge Labs Cybersecurity challenges in simulated business environments. pdf
Project Charter Charter completed for a project management class. pdf
SQL and Database Design Database designs, procedures, and SQL code samples. pdf
Wireshark Labs Various labs involving the Wireshark packet analyzer. pdf