While working on his doctorate, he came to a crossroads: an opportunity arose for a visiting professor to teach at St. Thomas University, and suddenly Antoniou found himself traveling between New York and Florida to teach graduate school on weekends.
“It changed the trajectory of my life,” Antoniou said. “I loved research and teaching and knew I wanted to contribute to society in a different way.”
When the full-time associate professor position opened up at Lynn, just as undergraduate programs in cybersecurity management and data analytics were beginning, Antoniou jumped at the chance. He remembers when he and Ingles had five students to teach. Today, after nearly five years, Lynn’s cybersecurity and data analytics classes have between 80 and 100 students.
“I want to leave my mark and expose students to everything I’ve learned,” Antoniou said. “I teach my students in a vast majority of cybersecurity areas, from policy development, standards, regulations, digital forensics, governance risk compliance, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things , networking, cloud computing and the dark web – all the underground things going on, from human trafficking and cryptocurrency to phishing, viruses and how to understand reality versus deepfakes. . We want well-rounded students. Lynn’s unique program gives them these skills.
At a time when cybersecurity is more in demand than ever and AI is booming, Antoniou recognizes his unique position by tapping powerful industry leaders to deliver classroom presentations and taking students to Cybersecurity conferences and competitions throughout Florida.
In addition to being a full-time cybersecurity program coordinator at Lynn, Antoniou is working on a patent that will help identify and manage access for higher encryption standards. Additionally, Antoniou was selected as Fulbright Scholar for 2024-2025 for Albania. The Fulbright Scholar Awards are highly competitive fellowships that enable scholars to teach and conduct research in other countries, helping to establish international collaborations, conduct research, and improve global understanding.