Ricardo Correa

Last summer Rick Correa was an intern at FBI. "It was a great opportunity. I got to meet a lot of interesting people, including the directors of CERT and SANS, and the CTO and CIO of the Bureau. Then there was the monthly seminar series hosted by the Attorney-General himself, and a luncheon with Robert Mueller, the FBI director."

Rick cannot talk about everything he did at the Bureau, but one job was working on the website for infragard.net. "I did some javascript for pdf form input verification and menu population. I'd never done any of that before, so I learned a lot."

Rick first became serious about computers after he broke one. His brother-in-law guided him through the repair process, and Rick was hooked. Originally a Business major, he switched from CIS to CS, and soon found himself programming in depth. "As I reflect upon my undergraduate journey at the University of Texas at El Paso, I am amazed on how far I have traveled since my first semester. This summer I had the opportunity to interact with some of the brightest students from some of the most prestigious private and public universities in the nation. I was amazed at how well my undergraduate curriculum had prepared me to collaborate with such individuals!"

Ric's still uncertain about his future plans. "One option is to make a career in Computer Security, probably working for the government. On the other hand, I'd like to learn more about Human-Computer Interaction, and go on for a Ph.D. and a research career."

Rick's word of advice: "I challenge any native El Pasoan who is thinking of going elsewhere to pursue a degree in Computer Science to consider UTEP for their undergraduate preparation. The skills obtained, personalized attention, low tuition rates, and the opportunities within the department to do undergraduate research alongside some very respected faculty make the UTEP CS department a great option. From personal experience I can tell you that the skills you learn here, such as team management, problem solving procedures, proper programming procedures, proper code documentation procedures and proper software engineering principles, enable you to be competitive with any computer science graduate in the nation."

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