Built to Serve: My Research at USF

About me

I’m Ryan Powers. My path has moved through military service, technical operations, leadership, recovery, and graduate study, but the thread connecting every chapter has stayed the same: I want my work to be useful to other people.

I enlisted in the United States Marine Corps at 18 without knowing which specialty I would receive. The Corps assigned me to become a cyber network operator. At first, operating systems, networks, and routers were unfamiliar territory. I responded by studying relentlessly until I could contribute at the level my team required. That commitment took me from the bottom of my training roster to the top, earned recognition and a meritorious promotion, and established a standard I still carry: prepare until you can be an asset to the people counting on you.

Learning to build under pressure

Across a six-year Marine Corps career and multiple overseas deployments, I learned that technical skill matters most when it works in the real world. I participated in training in Morocco and helped lead the implementation of mobile command centers throughout the Middle East. Those systems brought together hundreds of computers, routers, and miles of cable so coalition forces could establish command-and-control capabilities wherever the mission demanded.

The work required more than connecting equipment. It demanded judgment, adaptability, and care for the Marines doing the job. I was promoted to corporal after my second deployment, but leadership was never just a rank. It meant balancing technical requirements with the well-being of the team and the needs of the people around us.

Service also extended beyond the formal mission. While assigned in Africa, my team supported a local orphanage. We asked family, friends, and businesses in the United States to send shoes and clothing, and I used my deployment pay to help cover shipping. Over time, that effort delivered thousands of items to orphanages in Kenya and Djibouti. It clarified something important for me: technical achievement is meaningful, but helping people is the outcome that gives the work purpose.

A new mission at USF

After leaving the Marine Corps, I worked as a systems analyst and cloud engineer for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory on Plum Island, supporting systems connected to the nation’s animal health mission.

Then a motorcycle crash changed the trajectory of my life. The injuries were severe, recovery was long, and the accident disrupted my health, finances, and career. Rebuilding required the same discipline I had learned in the Marines: focus on the next action, keep learning, and move forward with purpose.

When I learned that the University of South Florida was launching the Bellini College of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Computing, its mission aligned with where I wanted my career to go. I entered the master’s program in cybersecurity to strengthen my command of security, artificial intelligence, data networks, and advanced computing—and to better understand both AI’s extraordinary potential and its risks.

USF’s 2025 profile of my journey captures the experiences that brought me to this point. Graduate study and applied research now give me a disciplined environment to ask better questions, test assumptions, and turn technical evidence into decisions that matter.

Research with a purpose

At USF, I approach research with an operator’s mindset. Rigor and relevance belong together. A strong question should withstand scrutiny, but its value should extend beyond the page.

That means defining the problem clearly, understanding the people and systems around it, examining the evidence honestly, and communicating the result so others can use it. I am especially interested in the intersection of cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and national defense—areas where technical choices carry operational, policy, and human consequences.

My goal is to help align strategy, policy, and operations. Organizations need people who can understand emerging technology, evaluate risk, communicate with leaders, and remain grounded in what is right. That is the kind of professional I am continuing to become.

Leadership means communicating clearly

Research and technical work matter only if they can be shared. Presenting to leaders, colleagues, and stakeholders requires preparation, clarity, judgment, and respect for the audience.

Speaking at the podium reminds me that communication is part of the work, not an addition after the work is complete. Whether I am presenting a recommendation, explaining what the evidence shows, or helping a group move toward a decision, my responsibility is to make the substance clear without losing its nuance. Good leadership also means listening closely, responding directly, and understanding what people need to act with confidence.

The standard I carry forward

My time in the Marine Corps is the foundation beneath how I approach responsibility, teamwork, preparation, and service.

I carry that standard into my work at USF and every room where I am asked to contribute. The setting may change—from a deployed command center, to a research environment, to a boardroom—but the commitment does not.

Built to serve.