The path to becoming a doctor is littered with distractions. I’d like to thank those distractions for making me the person I am

I would like to thank many people who have helped me through the completion of this dissertation. The first is my advisor, Steve Harrison, who is captivating, honest, and the true embodiment of a mentor. In combination with the mentorship of my advisor, I am blessed to work with dynamic and intelligent committee members Dr. Dennis Kafura, Dr. D. Scott McCrickard, Dr. Enid Montague, and Dr. Deborah Tatar. I would also like to thank the Computer Science Department at Virginia Tech and ADVANCE NSF for funding my time at Virginia Tech. Peggy Layne, who worked with me at ADVANCE was a brilliant and insightful mentor Additionally the mentorship of Victoria Bellotti, Oliver Brdiczka, Tara Matthews, and Tom Moran was instrumental to me during my internships, and their continued advice is invaluable.

This work was not completed in a vacuum. I worked with many brilliant students who broadened the value of the work: Laura Agnich, Monika Akbar, Aubrey Baker, Stacy Branham, Tom Dehart, Zalia Shams, and Edgardo Vega. Working with each of these students has been a gift that went much further than just completing work that needed to be done. Working with them expanded the value of the work. I appreciated each and every minute they spent with the data and (more important) with me.

I am thankful for and would like to acknowledge many others who helped me along the way: my father, Richard Hobby, who proofed many of my papers; my friends and family for late night phone calls; and my colleagues for bouncing ideas with me. This includes, but is not limited to Julia Hobby, Rich Hobby, Laura Harty, Elaine Hobby, Jason Lee, Shahtab Wahid, Tejinder Judge, Rishi Pande, Ross Goddard, Bobby Beaton, Sarah Peck, Kim Gausepohl, Kelly Meredith, Michael Evans, Jamika Burge, Manas Tungare, Ben Congleton, Pardha Pyla, Manuel Perez, Megan Beavers, Jocelyn Casto, Uma Murthy, Mara de Silva, Jon Howarth, Theresa Blanchard-Klunk, Sirong Lin, Joon Lee, Susan Wyche, Promita Chakraborty, Michael Stewart, the Garcoskis, Ben Hanrahan, Yeong-Tay Sun, Caitlin Sadowski, Alexandra Holloway, and Rex Hartson.

I am beyond grateful to all of my participants who were not paid to participate in the project. The people who participated in my study were generous with their time in a way that I can never repay.

Cameron Vega, my son, thank you for reorienting my life.

There are many neglected people and groups that are involved in the completion of a Ph.D. that I would like to acknowledge. I would like to thank Meg Kurdziolek for starting a dissertation writing group. I would like to thank all the amazing women in the front office in the Computer Science Department who calm me down when I express a complete lack of knowledge about paperwork, protocol, and procedures. I would like to thank my music library for the writing trances that helped complete each chapter. The group Horse Feathers has been specifically amazing. I would like to thank my university library for access to the many books and articles that influences how I think. The also sometimes purchased books that were relevant to my dissertation. I’d like to thank all the people who provided feedback when I presented posters and talked about my research at conferences. I’ve also received numerous scholarships, which have allowed me to travel to said conferences. Thanks for supporting a poor graduate student.

Being a woman in computer science has, in part, made me the woman I am. I’d like to thank the Anita Borg Institute and all the women who have been, and will continue to be, in the Virginia Tech Association for Women in Computing for the continual support. To complement that last comment, last, thanks to all the men in computer science who gave me explicit and implicit warnings that, as a woman, I couldn’t cut it. You enrage my inner feminist (read: “bitch”). Thanks for making me push myself harder.

The path to becoming a doctor is littered with distractions. I’d like to thank those distractions for making me the person I am.

Contributor: @LadyLaurian

Source: Vega, L (2011) Security in Practice: Examining the Collaborative Management of Sensitive Information in Childcare Centers and Physicians’ Offices. PhD, Virginia Tech, Computer Science.