: So, do they actually move around to different campuses?

D’Ovidio: We haven’t really talked about that, but we’re going to utilize to the fullest extent distance learning technology. Ryder has a faculty member who left Duquesne to come to Ryder. One of his responsibilities at Duquesne was distance-learning programs. So, he has a track record in that area in recognizing that there are certain limitations in distance learning; he’s aware of those, but also the capabilities and how to put together proper programs. It’s more than just utilizing Web CT or Blackboard to the fullest extent. There are certain types of content that are suitable for distance learning; there are other types of content that are not. So, in that process of developing that program, the first step will be identifying what’s necessary for the degree program, then move to figure out what type of content can be delivered online, because those are the courses that can be set up in the manner where we don’t have to offer them at each campus because we can use distance learning. Then there are laboratory classes where it’s not going to be feasible to have it hosted at East Stroudsburg, even with teleconferencing, because you need an instructor in the classroom to look over the students’ backs.

I would say the downside to the multi-university program is that the program is going to have to be passed by each university body. You’re going to have three people looking at it. If there’s a change on one campus, this will have to be addressed at the governing level at each university. We envision it being a very, very cumbersome task. Our initial market research shows that there is interest in a need for continuing education formal degree programs by those that are currently working in the field. But their more immediate need is training, so they can do their day-to-day jobs. As new operating systems come out, as new methodologies come out for fraud, for instance, where are these law enforcement agencies learning how to investigate these types of crimes? And our training curriculum will be definitely a partnership with law enforcement. We’re going to work with some law enforcement folks and get them involved in the institute as consultants—not only to train instructors, but also to help evolve the curriculum.

: You said that Drexel is an NSA designated Center for Excellence? I haven’t heard about that until now.

D’Ovidio: You really should speak to the engineers about that because a lot of it deals with the research work they’re doing through engineering. My area of interest and experience in terms of research on computer crime tends to be more looking at criminal methodologies, looking at offenders, looking at policy oriented weaknesses and best practices in terms of securing against threats. Whereas I’m not a computer scientist—I don’t develop tools, that’s not really what my background is about—I know enough about and keep current with the literature of computer science to be able to work side by side with those people that are developing the tools. But if you were to ask me to dissect it, to look at the source code for a particular tool that’s being used, I’m not going to be able to understand it at the level that a computer scientist will.

: Is there anything else that you’re doing outside of Drexel that you want to talk about?

D’Ovidio: I’m raising a two year old. My daughter’s going to be two next month. My wife and I are enjoying that. Your priorities change in life when you have a child. Outside of Drexel, for the second year in a row, I’m president of Philadelphia High Tech Crime Investigation Association. That’s sort of a service, and the group is composed of mainly law enforcement that worked in the field of computer crime investigations and forensics. And I would say it’s about 75 percent law enforcement, 20 percent industry people that work in corporate America. And then the rest are a few academics. I’m currently president of the Philadelphia Delaware Valley chapter.

: What exactly does that organization do? And what do you do as president?

D’Ovidio: Unofficially, the function of that group is to help with networking and bring together folks who have an interest in computer crime investigations, whether it’s at the corporate level or the law enforcement level, to bring resources together. So, for instance, if the Philadelphia police have a specific case that they’re working on and they maybe are unfamiliar with the particular type of fraud that they’re investigating, networking helps with access to specific resources in terms of human resources like subject area experts.

We have meetings every other month. We have our general business meeting in terms of the chapter—we have chapter business to take care of, but the majority of the meeting time is slotted toward training and education, so we’ll bring in speakers. At our last meeting we co-hosted the meeting with the FBI New Jersey Regional Forensics Laboratory. So, the meeting dealt with identity theft and identity theft from the perspective of public access databases.