Shameer Rao '24 made the most of the opportunities afforded him through the LEAD (Learning through Experiential and Applied Discovery) initiative in his time at St. Mary's College of Maryland.

With the assistance of alum David Hickman '07 of Resource Management Concepts, a leading information technology, network engineering, cybersecurity and cloud computing provider in nearby Lexington Park, Rao was able to earn the industry-standard CompTIA Security+ and CompTIA Linux+ certifications.

Shameer also took advantage of SMCM's partnership with the Defense Acquisition University, whose Mid-Atlantic Regional Headquarters is also near the SMCM campus. Under the guidance of faculty mentor Simon Read, associate professor of computer science at SMCM, Rao completed a number of DAU courses, including Cyber Training Range, Cyber Attack Kill Chain, Engineering Management, and Cyber Table Top.

Rao translated these acquired skills to student competitions. Partnering with fellow computer science major Alex Stoyanov-Roberts '24, they placed first in the Velocity X: AI Hackathon hosted by the College of Southern Maryland and sponsored by the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division in March 2024. In April, Rao served as team leader for SMCM in the 2024 MorganHacks Hackathon, finishing in the top 6 out of 39 teams.

Rao has now embarked on a PhD program in pursuit of his career in cybersecurity.