4 The Hampton Roads Messenger Editorial Puerto Rico Is Still Beautiful


Volume 13 Number 8


May 2019


Waterfall in El Yunque National Forest BY ANGELA JONES


I finally made it to Puerto Rico.


It is a place that I have wanted to visit for years. At the beginning of every year for at least the last five years, I would make the statement, 'This is the year that I am going to Puerto Rico' but something always got in the way. In 2017, that something was Hurricane Maria. The category 5 hurricane left more than $91 billion worth of damage in its path, most of which was on the island of Puerto Rico. Since the storm completely


destroyed the island's


power grid, all of its 3.4 million residents were left without electricity. The latest figures report that 3,057 people lost their lives as a result of the storm.


All things considered, the island has mostly recovered. Some residences seemed to be abandoned in the northern part of the island where I visited but for the most part, businesses seem to have bounced back from the storm quite well. I also noticed a stop light that may have been non-operational since Maria hit. When people speak about the storm, I could see a terror in their eyes that made it appear as if the hurricane had it just hit the island. Most of the people I spoke with had their own original hurricane Maria story about their


experience during the storm.


Fortunately, none of the stories I heard ended in tragedy. Although the people still on the island seem resilient, I have met Puerto Ricans in mainland U.S., who came here after the hurricane -- they said that do not plan to move back to Puerto Rico. During my time spent in Puerto


Puerto Rico Open Winner Martin Trainer


Rico, I visited the areas of San Juan, Fajardo and Rio Grande. I was in Rio Grande to write about the Puerto Rico Open golf tournament for the Hampton Roads Golf Guide. Tiger Woods did not play in this particular PGA tournament because he was at the WGC-Mexico Championship, which took place on the same weekend. I did see Martin Trainer, an up and coming professional golfer who was partnered with Steph Curry during the Ellie Mae Classic golf tournament on the Web.com Tour. Trainer, as well as many other professional golfers, are beginning to recognize me from covering the tournaments. After all, I walked with Trainer and Steph Curry during most of the Ellie Mae Classic. Trainer won the Puerto Rico Open this year and I was able to ask him questions during an interview (read the article at hrgolfguide.com) after the tournament. The Puerto Rico Open is played


on one of the most picturesque golf courses that I have ever seen. Even the parking lot for the tournament was along one of the most beautiful stretches of beach property in the world at the Coco Beach Golf Club. The weather was absolutely


perfect during my visit which took place in February 2019. Very little rain, warm temperatures and just the right amount of a breeze kept the warm air comfortable.


Although I saw several beaches


from a distance while I was on the island, my schedule did not permit me to spend much time at the beach. I wanted to see as much of the island as PUERTO RICO PAGE 13


Hole 13 at Coco Beach Golf Club


Damage from Hurricane Maria


Vegan Meal at Wyndham Rio Grande Mar Virgin Margarita at Wyndham Rio Grande Mar on Margarita Appreciation Day


Cyber Security FROM PAGE 1 Mr. Harris also served as the


Defense Intelligence Agency Chief Technology Officer and Chief, CTO Division, Chief Information Office, Office of the Deputy Director, DIA. He has also been a contractor and government electronics engineer in the Naval Air Systems Command Community and in the Army’s Communications Command.


and Electronics


Established 2006 A. J. Jones, Publisher Chris Parks, Editor


Sarah Parks, Graphic Designer Ida Davis, Contributing Writer Sales and Information: info@hamptonroadsmessenger.com Copyright pertaining to contents of this edition. All rights reserved.


Mr. Harris spoke on global trends in technology, advanced cyber threats and the need for educated individuals in the cyber security industry. “Cyber is such a broad field. It touches everything, but the emerging areas that are growing is Artificial Intelligence. AI, like every new area in computers, doesn’t come out with cyber security. It’s an afterthought. We are taught in the field to build security in, so we need more people in the research phase, and the development phase, that are there to build security. Machine learning is going to saturate everything; it’s in every single field, every discipline, and every one of them need cyber security,” said Harris.


The Symposium


government career career


panel The Government


and student panel


panel, industry panel.


consisted


of Cristina M. Stone, Air Combat Command;


Dr. Scott Batson,


Naval Information Warfare Center; Maurice Civers, Naval Information Warfare Center; Tammy Morrison, NSWC Dam Neck Activity; Alveta Washington, NSWC Dahlgren; Tiffany Owens, NSWC Dahlgren; and Joycelyn Josey-Harris, NSWC Dahlgren.


The industry career panel included Antonina McAvoy, Cyber


Security Director at PBMares; Peter DeFreece, President at FW Grey Consulting; Kevin Jennings, Millennium Antonio


Johnson, President


Corp; at


GlobalKynect Solutions; and Paul Davis, Managing Director at CDP & Associates.


One major question that


came up quite a bit during the discussions was what are the benefits of government work versus private industry? “I was interested in the fact that you can earn advanced degrees and the government will pay for it. You can even get time working on the clock to work on that advanced degree. There are not a lot of companies that will pay you to sit there and earn your advanced degree,” said Ms.


Alveta


Washington, NSWC Dam Neck Activity.


The industry professionals stated that salary was often a driving force for working for private often


times included a experience.


companies. the


prefer employees a


considerable Also, amount


companies who have of


“One of the reasons why I


invite so many government people to our Cyber Security Symposium is because they will take you with your degree and some experience. The government will


train you


and get you ready to go out to the industry. I’ve worked with the government, the military and in industry, so you don’t have to limit yourselves to one entity, do it all,” said Dr. Danny Barnes, assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science, and organizer of the Cyber Security Symposium.


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