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Pack the snacks and let’s hit the road! Join us for a virtual road trip across America to visit some of today’s STEM luminaries.
Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics affect every area of life, and we want to support and recognize those contributing their expertise, especially those influencing building automation systems in America.
Over the course of our trip, we will meet eight different innovators. Some may be familiar to you; others will be the names to look out for in the coming years. From cyber security specialists on the East Coast to BAS professionals in the West, these men and women represent KMC’s values of focus, dedication, and passion. We hope their stories inspire you to make your own contributions to STEM in America!
Our journey begins and ends in New Paris, Indiana. In the heart of the Midwest, New Paris is home to KMC Controls. On the weekends, the hardworking staff at KMC like to visit Elkhart County’s beautiful DeFries Gardens. When they feel a bit more adventurous, canoeing and kayaking at 80-acre Fidler Pond fits the bill.
As much as we love New Paris, though, it’s time to pack up and head to our road trip’s first destination: Cambridge, Massachusetts. Pringles are the snack of choice (because they are tasty AND you can reuse the cans to pass out other snacks). The kids are wearing homemade necklaces made of cheerios, fruit loops, pretzels, and lifesavers. We’ve got “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey on the radio for the start of our…journey, pun intended. Let’s head out!
Why drive fourteen hours along I-90 to Cambridge, you may ask. We are visiting Bruce Schneier, American cryptographer, computer security professional, privacy specialist, and writer.
Schneier makes our list of influential STEM professionals due to his work in cryptography. Not only has he had a hand in creating multiple cryptographic algorithms, but he wrote the book on applied cryptography. Literally. He is the author of Applied Cryptography and Cryptography Engineering, two of his many influential texts in the field. Schneier continues to be heavily invested in keeping people informed about security issues and writes two monthly newsletters, Crypto-Gram and Schneier on Security.
Cryptography is the “practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adversarial behavior.” In other words, cryptography is the process of making sure information is secure from bad guys. Generations ago, this involved ciphers and coded messages (think: the movie National Treasure). With the advent of computers, however, algorithms designed around “computational hardness assumptions” (how difficult it is for a computer to process the information) make infiltration less advantageous for hackers. Today, cryptography’s importance cannot be overstated; areas such as national security, healthcare, education, and more need to be secured from attack. Bruce Schneier is one of the loudest voices today for the practical use of cryptography.
Schneier grew up in Flatbush, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY, before becoming an internationally renowned security technologist. His extensive knowledge on issues of cybersecurity have led to appearances on television and radio and roles on various government committees. He is a lecturer at Harvard and serves on the boards of Electronic Frontier Foundation, Access Now, and The Tor Project. He’s not all business, though; everyone needs a hobby! Every Friday on his blog, Schneier posts interesting articles and videos for his fellow squid enthusiasts. Giant squids seem to feature heavily.
What we love about Schneier is his commitment to the profession and to the betterment of the world around him through cryptography. This is just the kind of passion that we here at KMC strive to have as well.
Visiting Bruce Schneier has been great, and now it’s on to see the local sights. We’ll take a tour of the MIT and Harvard University campuses, the latter of which is a KMC client, before continuing our journey. We hope you’ll join us next time, when we head down to the “Big Apple” to visit a building automation professional making huge strides in the industry.
KMC Controls is an independent and family-owned manufacturer of turn-key solutions based in New Paris, Indiana. For the last fifty years, KMC Controls has remained dedicated to the American ideals of quality and innovation, focusing on intuitive solutions created by responsive and supportive people.
Consider us your Building Geniuses® who are building geniuses, one blog post at a time! KMC is committed to inspiring interest in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Join us for the next ten weeks as we learn more about Inspiring STEM Across America.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Schneier
https://academicinfluence.com/people
https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/#innovators
https://www.tomsguide.com/news/future-tech-awards-2021-future-50
https://beautyharmonylife.com/prepare-road-trip/
https://www.cryptomuseum.com/crypto/usa/ccd/img/301058/000/full.jpg
https://www.schneier.com/blog/about/
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2024/06/friday-squid-blogging-squid-cartoon-2.html
https://www.gocomics.com/nonsequitur/2004/07/24
https://allabtuniversity.blogspot.com/2016/06/harvard-university.html