About Lina

Hi, I'm Lina Kaval, a graduate of the University of Cincinnati, with a B.S. in Computer Science (through the College of Engineering and Applied Science) and a certificate in Business Analytics. I am currently an Infrastructure Developer at Prudential Financial, based in Newark, NJ.

Through my various co-op experiences, I have worked as a Security Operations Center analyst, web developer, and data engineer. Now I am focusing on learning cloud technologies like AWS to support my work in the Identity and Access Management space.

My interest in computer science was fostered with the help of many educators. I'd like to give them a shoutout here, as one day I would also like to become an educator.

Mr. McKain - the person who taught me all the fundamentals of programming and computer science. Although some concepts took me a while to grasp, Mr. McKain's steady mentorship encouraged me to continue working towards understanding computer science and realizing that it was the field I wanted to pursue.

Dr. Montjoy - despite only being in his class for one semester, he made a big impact on my freshman year. With his help, I was able to attend a workshop at Cornell University, which exposed me to research and fueled my goal of one day working towards a Ph.D.

Dr. McFall - funny enough, I never took Dr. McFall's class. I worked as his TA for four semesters. During this time, Dr. McFall was my greatest mentor, encouraging me to grow both in my studies and as a person.

Badri - an unlikely ally, Badri had a significant impact on my senior year of studies. While his class may have been the most challenging computer science class I took, the concepts we learned were strangely fun. Understanding finite state machines and Turing machines made me feel like I understood how we progressed from primitive machines to modern-day computers.

Outside of tech, my interests include traveling, music, and bringing joy to the people around me.