Academics

Homeland Security degree prepares Lieutenant Miller for private sector career

Lieutenant Chris Miller (right), an active Naval ROTC officer currently pursuing a Master of Professional Studies (MPS) degree in Homeland Security through the College of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State’s World Campus, will transition out of active duty and move to Texas with his family to begin a consulting career at an engineering firm following graduation this month.   Credit: Penn StateCreative Commons

Lieutenant Chris Miller, an active Naval ROTC officer currently pursuing a master of professional studies (MPS) degree in homeland security through the College of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State’s World Campus, knows how to balance a very busy schedule and still keep his eye on the future.

Miller believes that pursuing an advanced degree in homeland security, unrelated to his engineering background, enables him to be competitive in a future where employees will need an awareness of their company’s information technology. It’s why he often works 12-hour days as a Penn State MPS student and ROTC officer.

As a Naval instructor for Penn State’s NROTC program, Miller instructs and advises approximately 40 students a year in their degree pursuit and commission in the United States Navy, including management of students’ individual academic and professional challenges. Add the challenges of teaching to the already demanding schedule of a naval officer enrolled in a master’s degree program -- who is also a husband and a father -- and things can get precariously stressful. 

But Miller takes it all in stride -- and excels -- in the face of pressure. And he says it’s all because he enjoys discipline, hard work and the feeling of accomplishment. In fact, those traits are what attracted Miller to the military in 2004, when he enrolled at Texas A&M with a Navy ROTC scholarship and earned a bachelor of science in nuclear engineering.

Miller says that being in the military showed him the difficulties that the United States has had securing its “digital borders.” This awareness encouraged him choose the MPS degree in homeland security, he said, which gave him “the level of care and detail required in the analytical and procedural nature of information security.”

These days, after five years in the Navy as a submarine officer who served on the Nimitz-class nuclear-powered carrier USS Ronald Reagan, Miller can be found teaching NAVSCI 322 and NAVSCI 323, conducting leadership training, and performing other administrative duties as part of his Penn State NROTC duties. And, of course, he is writing and studying his own coursework in preparation for his graduation this spring.

“Attending the MPS program took my fleet experience and engineering background and applied it to a very different but equally dynamic and challenging world,” said Miller. “I can say that it helped me tremendously in my technical writing ability.  Writing several pages a week in my coursework has made me more confident in my ability to relay technically complex information to peers, coworkers and supervisors.”  

This month, Miller will transition out of active duty and move to Texas with his family to begin a consulting career at an engineering firm. He may not be certain where he’ll be in 10 years, but thanks to excellent planning and dedication, Miller is well prepared for the future -- whatever it may hold.

Last Updated April 9, 2015