Sagar Raina

When Sagar Raina was searching for an advanced degree program in technology, Towson University’s master’s degree in applied information technology was his first choice. “The quality of this program is excellent,” says Raina. “Faculty members bring strong experience to the classroom, and they are able to guide you to answers for all of your questions.”

As a graduate student at Towson University, Raina maintained a computer security laboratory and broadcasted and monitored online lectures. After working as a junior software developer at a local company, he returned to TU to pursue his doctorate in information technology.

Raina defended his doctoral dissertation at Towson University on August 1, 2016, and began his new job as an assistant professor at Mt. St. Mary College in Newburgh, New York, a day later. “I knew I wanted to pursue a career in the academy,” explains Sagar. “Towson University groomed me to be a good teacher.”

“ Towson University groomed me to be a good teacher. ”

One of his biggest challenges in teaching the principles of cybersecurity is engaging students in course content.

“We need to create interest among students about cybersecurity, and one way is to use engaging learning materials,” he explains. “We have developed more than 40 segmented and interactive secure coding modules, and results have shown improvement in student engagement.”

He constantly studies the field and disseminates information with the ultimate goal to teach students to write code securely through interactive learning modules.

To reach that goal, Sagar is using an eye-tracking tool to further explore how students develop code and if they are following secure coding principles. “There are various ways to teach students in this field,” he says. “We want to use the most effective models to ultimately produce a well-skilled cybersecurity workforce.”