Andrew Su

When Andrew Su thinks of leadership, the finale of "Avengers: Endgame" comes to mind. Captain America encourages his teammates to move forward with him in the fight, as Thanos sends his allies ahead while hanging back.

"One is helping others tackle the problem and taking initiative, while the other sits back and lets others do the dirty work for him," said Su, a Suwanee, Georgia, native pursuing a degree in cybersecurity.

Even before Su officially started his college career, the University of North Georgia (UNG) provided him with the soft skills and knowledge to be the kind of leader who tackles challenges with a collaborative approach.

Su attended a Federal Service Language Academy on UNG's Dahlonega Campus in summer 2015 and was back on campus in summer 2016 as part of UNG's inaugural GenCyber Warrior Academy. Funded by the National Security Agency and National Science Foundation, the GenCyber Warrior Academy provides cyber instruction for 40 high school students each summer at UNG. Su credits the cyber academy for his choice to attend UNG.

The CyberHawks student club, classes, networking, a summer job with Amazon, and a summer internship with Country Financial have benefited Su, who said faculty members Dr. Bryson Payne and Dr. Tamirat Abegaz have served as cyber role models for him. Payne is a professor of computer science and director of UNG's Center for Cyber Operations Education. Abegaz is an assistant professor of cybersecurity.

"UNG has offered me opportunities to showcase my ideas, plans, personality, and well-roundedness," Su said. "I have been able to gain valuable soft skills through connections, experience and social events. This has allowed me to gain a broader perspective on the world around me and has helped me hone those skills in real-world environments."

Su completed four of seven tasks in the NSA Codebreaker Challenge that wrapped up in January 2020, in which UNG tallied four times as many points as second-place Georgia Tech.

"Andrew was a participant in our first high school NSA-NSF GenCyber summer camp, and we were thrilled to see him graduate and come to college at UNG to major in cybersecurity," Payne said. "He is one of our best and brightest cyber competition team members, mentoring and sharing his experience with his peers, and he's a great example of a cyber leader."