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2019 Global Summit I2I Scholarship Awardees
Rachael Collard, Marketing & Publicity Coordinator at CEN
I would like to thank Internet2 and its members for the incredible amount of knowledge and support
that was extended to the Inclusivity Scholarship recipients during the 2019 Global Summit. The program
was well planned and executed from start to finish. From the second we arrived, until we departed, we
were welcomed, guided, mentored and encouraged by everyone we encountered. Our mentors were
genuinely interested in learning more about us individually, and they offered advice and guidance in our
professional development both educationally and in the workplace.
Personally, I was able to meet
professionals with a wide range of experience levels from similar Research and Education Networks,
share common issues, learn from their best practices, and gain insights to share with my organization. I
loved hearing from K-12 teachers directly on how they are using Advanced Computer Networking in the
classroom and how exited their students are when they interact with other students around the world
during the Community Anchor Program session. I am looking forward to sharing that knowledge with
CEN's K-12 members. The Keynote speakers were inspirational and entertaining. As organizer of the CEN
member conference, I found much value in seeing how the Internet2 Global Summit was executed. I
came away with new and exciting ideas for our conference that will enhance the experience for our
members. I arrived at the summit a little nervous and overwhelmed, and I left feeling nurtured,
confident, and eager to learn more. It truly was a wonderful experience and I look forward to the
possibility of returning as a mentor for next year’s inclusivity scholar recipients.
Kaitlin Helfter, Emerging IT Professional in ITaP Research Computing at Purdue University
I had such a wonderful experienceat the Internet2 Global Summit. The
scholarship allowed me truly invaluable networking opportunities, during which I got to
share in genuine connections with people I likely wouldn’t have met otherwise. The
Internet2 community is infectiouswith the passion for their work.
The lunches, breakfasts, and every opportunity in-between to interact with other
professional and find out how their careers have progressed were enriching. Then, on
top of meeting people within the community, it was such an honor to meet and
participate in the conference with my fellow awardees.
The panels and discussions helped me build a broader context for project that
are on-going within my own organization. I enjoyed learning how other teams have
accomplished their own two-factor and other authentication projects. The panel
discussion on diversity and inclusion was also very well conducted, which such a good
diversity of experience and background and among one of my favorite moments of the
conference.
As far as things that I would like to see improved, it would be helpful to see an
improvement in standards of behavior for vendors. There were a few moments of
inappropriate decorum on the part of vendors, that I feel were unprofessional. I would
say that as a more morning person, Idon’t mind early breakfasts, however, I do think it
would be helpful to have possibly shorter meals as the discussions did sometimes run
down about 20 mins to sometimes a full half an hour before the end of the lunch. The
accommodations and features of the conference were wonderful. I did love the talks and
had wonderful interactions with everyone within the internet2 community.
Erin Plese, Information Security Analyst at Int Northern Arizona University
Katelyn Russell, Systems Administrator II at University of Texas at Austin
Nuyun Zhang, Research Scientist at Georgia Institute of Technology