“Fiona’s list of accomplishments is so long, and stretches back so far, that it makes me question how I spent my time in high school and college,” says Professor and Director of the BS in Cybersecurity program, Christo Wilson. In addition to having a 3.975 GPA, Fiona McCrae has made herself an invaluable asset to the Northeastern community and will undoubtedly do the same in her post-graduate endeavors.
For Fiona, choosing Northeastern was an easy decision, as she wanted a school with a rigorous cybersecurity program. Shortly after beginning her freshman year, Fiona secured a spot on the highly competitive Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CCDC) team. In 2019, her team was a local winner in the DOE CyberForce competition; Fiona individually ranked 20th out of 400 competitors. She has also been on the e-board of the NU Security Club and a member of the Khoury Student Advisory Board. In all her activities, Fiona says, “Having the chance to interact with younger cybersecurity students to help from a community within the major has been something I am so proud to have contributed to, even if there is no concrete landmark event for that.”
She also brilliantly worked two competitive co-ops in cyber resiliency at MITRE in Bedford, MA. During her time there, she helped develop pen test software and payloads for satellites and attended testing for Satellite Penetration Evaluation and Environment Demonstration (SPEED).
Fiona’s contributions to NU extend beyond cybersecurity. She was the events coordinator for CoSMO, the computer science mentoring organization that works to connect students across the discipline. She was also a teaching assistant for Discrete Structures, Foundations of Cybersecurity, and Object-Oriented Design. Professor Jason Hemann worked with Fiona in 2020 and says, “She went out of her way to create detailed guides and documentation to help students learn better in this new modality. When there’s a problem lurking, or a solution that needs to be implemented, Fiona steps up.”
After graduation, Fiona will work as a cybersecurity engineer at MITRE. Newly engaged, she is excited to celebrate with friends and family. “She’s warm, outgoing, witty, strong, personable, dependable, and honest,” Professor Hemann says. “She’s the kind of person that other people want to be around.”
Compass AWARD RECIPIENT
Khoury College of Computer Sciences
View all 2022 awards
Fiona’s list of accomplishments is so long, and stretches back so far, that it makes me question how I spent my time in high school and college,”
Professor and Director of the BS in Cybersecurity program, Christo Wilson