From DNA to DNS: My Academic Journey to Cybersecurity
About the author: Frances Schroeder ’22 is a Young Global Professional Intern at the Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative. She is currently a rising senior studying Symbolic Systems and International Relations at Stanford University.
Like many incoming frosh, I arrived at Stanford as a pre-med student planning to major in chemistry because, to me, a medical career was the most direct path to helping others. However, it did not take long for the introductory chemistry course to knock me back down to reality. After countless late nights in Green Library yielded subpar midterm grades, a typical frosh-year identity crisis spurred further academic exploration. I spent the rest of the year and the majority of my sophomore year bouncing around from major to major, dipping my toes in many worlds, but struggling to find my true academic interest. Courses such as International Security in a Changing World sparked an interest in national security and international relations, but I struggled to settle on just one major.
After the world came to a halt halfway through my sophomore year due to the pandemic, an abundance of time in isolation provided me the opportunity to re-evaluate. Earlier in the year, I had taken the introductory computer science course, and I loved how coding was so straightforward — if a program wasn’t working as intended, there was a bug somewhere in the code, and I could identify and solve the issue.
Growing up in a small town in East Texas, I had little exposure to the tech world before coming to Stanford. Unlike many of my classmates, I had not learned my first coding language in middle school or already developed my own app, so I felt unprepared to pursue a technical degree. However, during the pandemic, I had time to focus more clearly on my academics and tackle challenging CS core classes.
Realizing that I could actually pursue and excel in technical courses, I eventually found my way to the Symbolic Systems department, an interdisciplinary major that combines computer science, linguistics, philosophy, and psychology. For me, SymSys provides a perfect mix of technical and non-technical courses and also the flexibility to pursue coursework in other departments.
Combining my SymSys major with an International Relations minor allowed me to focus on the intersection of tech and national security. Specifically, I developed an interest in cybersecurity through courses such as Cyber Policy & Security with Professor Grotto and Hack Lab with Professor Stamos. My passion for cybersecurity was further validated during my junior year spring quarter when I was selected to participate in Hacking 4 Defense. Sponsored by the Cybersecurity Directorate at the National Security Agency, I worked with a team of GSB students to tackle a real-world cybersecurity problem for the NSA. The exposure to the Intelligence Community and specifically cybersecurity experts within that world confirmed my desire to pursue such a career.
As a Young Global Professional Intern at the Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative this summer, I have been exposed to the think tank world in Washington and learned how influential the sector is in the development of policy. This position has sparked a deep dive into specific technical details of cybersecurity and the many challenges to enacting effective cyber policy. From private roundtable discussions with public and private sector leaders to professional development through the Atlantic Council network, the experience so far has been phenomenal.
After graduating from Stanford, I plan to put my interdisciplinary, technical and non-technical skills to use for the betterment of our national security. As our world increasingly becomes interconnected, the need to defend our national critical infrastructure from malicious cyber actors only increases, and I plan to dedicate my career to that mission.
