Hi everyone! My name is Katie Fitzpatrick, and I am a rising Senior in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and the Frederick Honors College. At Pitt, I am majoring in Political Science and Psychology, with a minor in Chemistry and a certificate in Conceptual Foundations in Medicine. I’m originally from Philadelphia and enjoy gardening, crocheting, and art. Outside of class, I’m involved in tutoring refugees with FORGE at Pitt, volunteering locally, and working to create equity for students with disabilities.

This summer, I have the honor of participating in the SHURE-Grid Summer Fellowship, or the Summer Honors Undergraduate Research Experience in Electric Grid. It is supported by the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) in collaboration with Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering, David C. Frederick Honors College, the Dietrich School Film & Media Studies and Broadcast Department, and the University of Pittsburgh Office of Research. SHURE-Grid provides 16 students across four teams with experience solving real-world problems while engaging with one of the 17 national U.S. Department of Energy labs.  

Today, more than ever, technology is relied upon in our everyday lives. There are a wide variety of tools at our disposal, but utilizing them effectively is vital. Consideration for cyber-informed engineering (CIE) principles employs a holistic approach, ensuring our standards are consistent and help to provide effective security. As part of the SHURE-Grid program, I work with students who have experience in fields such as engineering, computer science, policy, and communication. Each of our teams is analyzing real-world examples of security threats to the electric grid. My team, “The Operators”, is currently focusing on the Ukraine Power Grid Attack of 2015. This was the first acknowledged power grid cyber attack that caused power outages and was performed remotely to affect hundreds of thousands of people.  We are focusing on analyzing the causes of the attack and possible vulnerabilities to prevent an attack like this in the future. As the policy and culture team member, I have the opportunity to consider how the private and public sectors overlap in collaboration, efforts, and investment in cyber security and the laws and policies that influence them. It is important that policy keeps up with technology and security and that the two fields support one another. 

I decided to apply to this program because I am very interested in the interdisciplinary aspects of policy and human behavior. While I ultimately hope to go into medicine, each person has their own experiences that influence why they behaves in the manner they do. Both internal and external forces affect them, such as how national policies affect someone’s day-to-day life, which informs their behavior. In medicine, effective treatment for an individual goes beyond science and the medical field; it takes into account social determinants of health for a positive medical outcome. My experience with SHURE-Grid will help inform my understanding of technology and security in the healthcare field, such as medical devices and hospital treatment, and beyond, giving me a well-rounded approach to ways to work in healthcare. I look forward to continued mentorship with faculty and the rest of my experience with this program!