Computer Science
Cybersecurity student from Japan finds leadership, scholarship and internship opportunities at Tennessee Tech
Rumi Ujiie’s educational story has many chapters.
The Tennessee Tech graduate student, who hails from Japan, received a bachelor’s degree in media from Komazawa University in Tokyo. However, after being introduced to web application development during her sophomore year, she grew interested in computer science. Her story as a Golden Eagle started in 2018, when she came to the university her junior year as an exchange student.
“I feel like Tennessee Tech is so diverse,” she said. “It feels comfortable being here. The people are so nice, and there’s always help available when you need it.”
Since returning to Tech to pursue her computer science graduate studies in the spring of 2021, Ujiie has served as a teaching assistant, researcher for the university’s Cybersecurity Education, Research and Outreach Center and president of the Computer Science Graduate Student Club. In early 2022, she was the recipient of the Kandy Thevar International Graduate Student Scholarship, which is awarded annually to an international student in Tech’s College of Engineering.
A new chapter in Ujiie’s story was written this past summer – one that involved an internship at AllianceBernstein in Nashville. It started with a visit to the university’s Center for Career Development, where she discovered AllianceBernstein’s initiative to hire and offer internships to a growing number of international students.
“I subscribed to their notifications on Handshake,” Ujiie said, referring to Tech’s job gateway for students in all majors. “I got a notification that AllianceBernstein had joined the university’s career fair, so my purpose at the career fair was to talk with them directly.”
And that’s exactly what she did.
“I walked up to the booth and said, ‘I am interested in working with you’... and they were also interested in my work and what I was doing,” Ujiie said. “I think, because of the career development center, I knew about the company and had a good approach from the beginning because I was already interested in working with them.”
She related her perspective on an internship in the U.S. versus internships in Japan, of which she had completed two before her opportunity at AllianceBernstein.
“The process (in Japan) was different, and it was easier because I was a citizen in the country,” she said. “I didn’t need to think about CPT (Curricular Practical Training), OPT (Optional Practical Training) or (the challenges of a company) allowing internationals to work with them. There are so many companies that don’t hire internationals, so it’s hard to find one that does. It takes more time to even find one.”
Since AllianceBernstein was Ujiie’s first experience working with an American company, the potential language barrier was one of her chief concerns.
“English is not my native language, so I was worried about that part probably the most,” she said.
Her fears proved unfounded as she discovered that she was among a welcoming team of co- workers and interns – the latter of which, she observed, were often as nervous as she had been. Gradually, she found common ground and made connections with coworkers and fellow interns alike.
“Many employees had either worked in Japan, lived in Japan or were interested in Japan,” Ujiie said. “It was easy to talk with them, so it felt more welcoming to be there.”
She ended up gaining different skills from what she had expected.
“I was thinking it would be a cybersecurity-related internship, but it was actually not that much related… but still I could learn C# for the first time and how to apply object-oriented programming in a real-world setting,” she said. “So, the projects themselves were so interesting.”
The most rewarding aspects of the internship, she said, were the opportunities for networking, honing her skills and building a future for her career.
Ujiie anticipates a December graduation, where she will have earned a master’s in computer science with a concentration in cybersecurity.
Until then, she hopes to see more international students author their own stories and find ways to take advantage of resources offered by Tennessee Tech to grow their skills and connect with companies for career opportunities.
