Academics

Old Dominion University (ODU)

I began my academic career at ODU in August of 2022, moving from Hampton, Virginia to the main campus in Norfolk, Virginia. I decided to pursue cybersecurity, as it seemed like a good balance between traditional law enforcement curriculum, computers, and psychology– a few of my interests going into university. Most of my curriculum was online, and fit well with my changing lifestyle. I was also able to earn a minor in Biology, after pivoting from an attempted minor in Computer Science. During my time at ODU, I also participated in independent undergraduate research, and published a peer-reviewed academic research paper. I found this immensely helpful, and I credit this opportunity for shaping the writing style that I have today. In August 2023, I joined the D1 Rowing team at ODU, and raced alongside my fellow athletes in five long-distance races. This experience required me to develop time-management skills, balancing training with academic performance and part-time employment. I found the connections I made at ODU to be invaluable, whether it be other students, faculty or staff, and I would not find myself where I am today without them. 

Early Post-Secondary Education

It would not be honest for me to say that my post-secondary education began at ODU, as I began my first college course at the age of 17. My high school, Hampton Christian Academy (HCA), focused on college preparation and allowed students to complete college courses while fulfilling high school education requirements, known as Dual Enrollment (DE) (Hampton Christian Academy, n.d.). I took full advantage of this opportunity, not only taking DE courses offered by the HCA staff on-premise, but also commuting to the local community college to take additional prerequisite courses. By the end of my high school career, I graduated in May of 2022 with 44 college credits– I was the equivalent of a second semester sophomore, and would graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in 2.5 years. 

While I would like to say that all of my credits transferred flawlessly, that is not the case. Unfortunately, Old Dominion University did not accept all 44 of my credits, and I completed College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) tests to make up the classes. This small amount of extra studying and effort kept me on pace for graduation in 2.5 years– December of 2024. 

Moving Forward

Looking ahead at my career, I see a wide range of opportunity, research, and exploration. I plan to continue my post-secondary education and pursue a Master’s degree in a related field to cybersecurity, likely at a local college in the DC-Maryland-Virginia area. I eagerly anticipate starting full-time employment at MITRE, and look forward to the next two years of rotations in the Cyber New Professional program. After completing my time in the program, I hope to continue at MITRE and continue working on interdisciplinary projects with unclear problems, as it is incredibly rewarding. I may go on to pursue a Doctoral degree, but I do not see that in the near future, as I already have full-time employment commitments for the next couple of years. 

Grace Sandhofer-Adams

From a young age, I excelled in my academic studies, and had an innate interest in problem solving. This led me to attend various programs and clubs that catered to that interest, but in high school I was challenged with the idea of what to do with my career. Like many individuals, I looked to my parents for inspiration, and figured I may join law enforcement one day, as the career path would fulfill my desire of problem solving, if I decided to be a detective or similar. With this plan, I applied to Old Dominion University (ODU) as a Criminal Justice major, planning to double major in psychology as well (Old Dominion University, n.d.). After speaking with former Criminal Justice majors, as well as individuals in the police force, they suggested I diversify my learning, as many of the principles I would learn in criminal justice, I would also learn in the Police Academy. This is what led me to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity. 

Internship Experience

Frontier Technologies Inc.

In May of 2023, after applying to over 150 internships, I started my first day of my first internship in cybersecurity at Frontier Technologies Inc. (FTI) in Chesapeake, Virginia (Frontier Technologies Inc., n.d.). Even before accepting this offer, I knew this role would push me out of my comfort zone. This was a very technical internship, focusing on red teaming and penetration testing, but I knew I would receive valuable experience. In security, knowing the enemy is optimal, as it allows you to know where to place your defenses. This internship allowed me to grow outside of my comfort zone, and know the enemy by emulating them. I also gained experience with government contracting and security clearances, which would become even more important at my next internship, along with an interest in cyber resiliency. I continued to work part time at FTI until February of 2024. 

The MITRE Corporation  

In May of 2024, I began my internship at The MITRE Corporation in McLean, Virginia, nearly 200 miles from my hometown and ODU (Schnitzer, n.d.). Luckily, my partner already lived in northern Virginia, so the move was not stressful. As for my role at MITRE, I interned as a Cyber Resiliency Engineer, and worked on three projects over the summer. Each project had different objectives, and different sponsors, leading to a wide variety of work during my internship. My previous work with government contracting helped translate to this internship, as MITRE is an Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC). I thoroughly enjoyed my internship and began working part time at MITRE, and will continue until I begin my full-time position with them in March of 2025.