Charles Givre is an unapologetic data geek who is passionate about helping others learn about data science and become passionate about it themselves. He has worked at Booz Allen Hamilton for the last five years as a data scientist for various government clientsand done some really neat data science work along the way, which hopefully saves U.S. taxpayers some money. Most of his work has been in developing meaningful metrics to assess how well the workforce is performing. For the last two years, Charles has been part of the management team for one of the company's largest analytic contracts. His responsibility has been to increase the amount of data science on the contract, both in terms of tasks and people. Even more than the data science work, he loves learning about new technologies and techniques, and then teaching them. Charles has been instrumental in bringing Python scripting to his government clients, as well as to the analytic workforce. He has developed a 40-hour Introduction to Analytic Scripting class for that purpose. Additionally, he's developed and taught a 60-hour Fundamentals of Data Science class, which helps to put analysts on the data on-ramp. He's taught the class to Booz Allen staff, government civilians, and U.S. military personnel around the world. Charles has a Master's degree from Brandeis University, two Bachelor's degrees from the University of Arizona, and various IT security certifications. In his nonexistent spare time, he plays trombone, spends time with his family, and works on restoring British sports cars.
Austin Taylor (www.austintaylor.io) has an extensive background in Defensive and Offensive Cyber Operations and has performed incident response for some of the world's top Fortune companies. His expertise includes penetration testing, data science, threat hunting, User and Entity Behavioral Analytics (UEBA) and incident response. Austin has won numerous Capture the Flag (CTF) competitions, including SANS Netwars. In his off time, he teaches programming and conducts training at conferences. He currently serves as a Cyber Warfare Operator for the United States Air Force and works at IronNet Cybersecurity as a Senior Security Researcher. Austin holds multiple industry certifications including CISSP, GMON, GCCC, GCIA, GCIH, GCPM, GSEC, GPEN, CEH, VCP, CCNA:Security.
Dr. Melissa Kilby (www.melissackilby.com) is passionate about high-performance computing and mathematical modeling. As a Cyber Data Scientist and experienced trainer she enjoys teaching complex Machine Learning concepts in a comprehensive manner. She encourages her students to quickly solve seemingly difficult problems. Melissa has a multi-disciplinary background in academic research, statistics, computer science, cyber security and neuroscience which empowers her to solve tough unknowns in yet unknown ways. At Booz Allen Hamilton she applies her expertise to several cutting edge cyber challenges such as hunting Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) based on a Digital Forensics + Machine Learning blend and prototyping of novel cyber defense mechanisms to protect Industrial Control Systems (SCADA). Melissa holds a PhD in Biomechanics from the University of Georgia. Some fun facts about Melissa are that she had the privilege to perform research on real NASA space suits and knows that the Oktoberfest starts in September.
