Female students are informed about job opportunities in career paths they are often discouraged from choosing, such as cybersecurity, an English professor and the director of the Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies program said during the Alys Smith Symposium on Women Professionals.

“It’s an event that is supposed to be geared towards students coming in to be able to learn about what it’s really like to work in that field regardless of your gender, but especially if you are a woman and if it’s a career path that is more traditionally male dominated like cybersecurity,” said Hilary Brewster, English professor and the director of the Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies Program at Marshall.

“Each Alys Smith Symposium is focused on a different professional discipline, and Alys wanted to focus on cybersecurity this time,” she said.

The cybersecurity field tends to be predominantly male focused.

“We sit down with a number of panelists who are asked questions about how they got into their field, what they do and their thoughts on being in a male dominated field because we try to highlight careers that are typically male dominated,” she said.

For those who want to go into the job field, making connections is a good start.

“In previous versions of this, it has led to internships, jobs, other connections and meeting people in the field,” Brewster said. “It’s really meant to be a learning and networking opportunity for Marshall students.

Most of the panelists that attended are women in supervisor and director positions in the forensic and cybersecurity fields working in West Virginia, with some being Marshall graduates. Some of their jobs include focusing on toxicology, forensics, protecting people’s information from hackers and teaching these subjects.

“We try to invite a variety of panelists in the field who range in age and level of experience just to hear about the range of experiences that different people bring to the table,” Brewster said.

There was also a panelist who’s a senior at Marshall.

“I think it’s really cool to bring women with different perspectives on a similar topic and hearing what they have to say is insightful,” said Bella Thompson, panelist,  senior cyber forensics and security major, and the president of Women’s Cyber.

Most of the panelists started out in a different major before realizing it was the career path they wanted to take.

“It doesn’t really matter how you get there, but you have to trust that you’ll find where you’re supposed to be,” Thompson said. “When you find it, you’ll know it.”