The Youth STEM Conference at Highline College
Event 2022 Keynote: Dr. Amelia Phillips
“The STEM / STEAM fields are important for developing critical thinking. For the world to change and grow we need more innovators – people who can think “out of the box” and “under pressure”. It has always amazed me how many attorneys have their bachelors in Physics. Music and Mathematics are twins, they work together with patterns and harmony. By studying in these fields, students can build their own dreams and be a force in a thriving community.”
Dr. Amelia Phillips
About this year’s keynote…
Dr. Amelia Phillips is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a BS degree in Astronautical Engineering and a BS in Archaeology along with an MBA in Technology Management from University of Phoenix. She completed her PhD at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Computer Security: Interdisciplinary – one of the first awarded in the nation in this field.
After working as an engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and TRW, Amelia worked with e-commerce sites and began her training in computer forensics and investigations during the dot-com boom as credit card numbers were being stolen from website databases. She has also managed rock bands, worked on an assembly line; has been a real estate broker, computer consultant and hard money lender. She has designed certificate, AAS and BAS programs for community colleges in e-commerce, network security, digital forensics and cybersecurity. Dr. Phillips served as Chair of the Pure and Applied Science Division at Highline College for 6 years.
Amelia co-authored the textbook Guide to Computer Forensics and Investigations – now in its 6th edition. She is the program lead for Digital Forensics & Investigations AAS programs and the Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Cybersecurity and Forensics. She serves as the Regional Director of the Pacific Rim Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (PRCCDC) and created the International Collegiate Cyber Defense Invitational (ICCDI).
She was a Fulbright Scholar at the Polytechnic of Namibia and returned there over the course of more than a decade as they grew to become the Namibia University of Science and Technology. She has since gone on to be a Fulbright Ambassador and a Fulbright Specialist.
In 2019. Dr. Phillips received the 2019 William H. Meardy Faculty Member Award from the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT). This is a National award selected from the 1100 community colleges in the USA. She had already earned the Pacific Region award which made her eligible to be considered for the national award.