Professor Snyder

Professor Snyder is not to be thought of as a normal teacher. Other professors dress formally and are very strict on all the rules they set. Professor Snyder is like no other. He is a laid-back teacher and always willing to communicate with us, even if it doesn’t involve the lesson plan. 

He's an older gentlemen with a grey beard and has a look on his face where you can tell he has a lot of experience in this field as a professor in digital forensics. He is always in the front of the class by his computer as he teaches and always has a projecting voice. His voice is deep but sharp and is able to get your attention. 

With his classroom, he teaches in a stop sign shaped room in the Bakeless Center, with six rows of computers all facing towards the front of the class. As class begins, every student is logging into their computers and taking out their notes. Snyder begins on asking how everybody's day was or how their weekend went. After finishing a little discussion, we go straight into the days work. He takes us through the process and always double checking that we understand.

As a professor, he's very straightforward with the way he teaches. He teaches only the information that's needed in the field of study. He's not one to go off a textbook; he's more of a hands-on professor. Whenever he is teaching us something new, he will always show us step-by-step how to complete it. He will make the students do it repeatedly until it becomes second nature. Whenever we get lost in what were trying to do for his class, he will always go back and walk the students through what to do, trying to find what we did wrong and how we can learn from it. 

Snyder shared why he likes teaching: “I have been teaching for 20 years and just enjoy my job even though it can be tough sometimes. It has its ups and downs.” 

Professor Snyder has been a professor for about 20 years now. Before he became a professor, he was a cybersecurity manager for online banking. In that job, he oversaw protecting the online banking systems from cyber threats and attacks. This role is crucial in ensuring the confidentiality and availability of financial and personal information of customers. He worked in this type of position for around 20 years. He then went on to be a director of a division in computer science, criminal justice, and digital forensics.

Snyder explains why digital forensics is important: "Because that's how people connect nowadays. They're very few crimes that don't give digital footprints. Even in big organizations, there is always a need for this skill in any situation, especially cyber security."

To be a digital forensics professor, it takes a lot of work to keep up with all the changes that have been made to technology. In this major, you're constantly learning something new and it’s hard to keep up with all the constant changes. However, that’s what Professor Snyder loves about it. There’s never a dull day in the world of I.T. and you’ll always have something to learn about, no matter what.