Lauren E. Provost

I would say my daughters, because when they were in their teenage years, as a single mom, their insights on my own work habits have been phenomenal. They really have been my inspiration to keep moving forward and to be that person that didn't give up under some tough circumstances. I wanted to continue and show them that you can be independent, you can choose the field that you want, and you can just keep working through different obstacles and have that persistence. They've had some great advice along the way, even simple things like suggesting I work in a different room or take better care of my back by using a different chair. They've really kept me grounded and focused on what matters.

The best advice I received was from another professor who happened to be female and also a mom. She basically said that your choices and what you accomplish is all about the type of person you want to be. At the time, it really didn't make a lot of sense to me, but every choice became about what kind of person I wanted to be. As a mom, it was a choice of do I want to be at home for certain events, or do I want less flexibility. It was about what type of teacher do I want to be, what type of colleague do I want to be, and really thinking about what I value as a person so that it aligns as much as possible. I think that's given me a lot of joy and really comfort and satisfaction in my career, because I stayed kind of true to who I am. I took jobs that were way out of bounds just to survive, but I always came back to what I thought aligned with who I wanted to be as a person and a colleague.

Persistence is everything. Failure does not matter in the grand scheme of things, it's the persistence. And it's not failure, it's just a new challenge. Everything is about persistence after you don't pass a test, after you don't get a job, after you don't get whatever it is that you had your eyes set on. It's about getting back up and doing it again. But also, balance that with not being too hard on yourself. Give yourself a little grace, and that can be a talent in itself. Being a part of Women in Cyber has been critical because they have a mentor system, and you'll definitely find support there for encouraging you to persist, encouraging you to take care of yourself, and all of the things we need to do.

Competitiveness right now has increased dramatically because there aren't as many jobs across the board in software engineering right now. People are choosing to go to graduate school, so there's just kind of a shift in the job market right now. We're also seeing more components of AI integrated into cybersecurity tools. Leaders in cybersecurity like Jen Easterly, who previously led CISA, are cautioning us about this. We already have a lot of other tools, and there can be missed oversight because the human mind is still more advanced. We need to use these AI tools for support with large amounts of data and network traffic, but we need to use them with our own mental complexity that we have to be able to solve problems. In the wrong hands, AI could be very dangerous.

Integrity and follow-through are first and foremost for me. Inclusiveness is also critical. I work from a perspective of care, really supporting students from a care perspective, meeting them where they're at as learners. Nel Noddings has a book called Care and Education that influences my approach. I think having a caring perspective and integrity are probably the ones that I focus on most. It's about supporting people where they are, regardless of what may be going on in their lives or what prerequisites they met or didn't meet for a course. I try to truly support people where they are.