Qian Wang, a recent graduate of the Whiting School of Engineering’s Information Security Institute’s Master of Science in Security Informatics program, attended the RSA Conference 2024 in San Francisco in early May. The conference focuses on cybersecurity and related topics.

Qian Wang at the RSA Conference. Photo courtesy of Qian Wang.

Wang was selected to attend the conference as an RSAC Security Scholar, a program that connects the “brightest up-and-coming cybersecurity students to thought leaders, industry luminaries, peers, and conference attendees,” according to the RSA website.

The conference featured talks and presentations from cybersecurity experts in industry, academia, and government.

This was Wang’s first conference. He attended several sessions specifically for students that offered opportunities for networking, learning from experts, and connecting with peers. During one evening of the conference, Wang participated in a dinner that connected RSA Conference Security Scholars with industry and military experts.

“Hearing from the experts about their experiences was very useful,” Wang said.

He said that he was most excited to attend the expo portion of the event, where companies and other groups displayed artificial intelligence products and demonstrated how they use AI in their work. Another opportunity that Wang described as exciting and valuable was the conference’s Innovation Sandbox, which featured 10 teams that presented their ideas and fielded questions from a panel of experts.

As an RSAC Security Scholar, Wang will receive a complementary pass to attend the conference for the next two years.