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Unbeknownst Innovation

When I graduated grade school, I decided to join the military to not only make life better for me at the time, but for my current and future family. Upon joining the military, I gained various different experiences that allowed me to grow into a now flourishing career. Subsequent to my military career, I joined the Department of Defense contracting workforce. I am currently on my 3^rd and what I anticipate being my lifelong Department of Defense contractor. That said, I have come to find that there are various different innovations that have been fostered and pioneered by the engineers of the Department of Defense contractor workforce. As part of this assignment, I have found that even microwave ovens were invented by an engineer who was a DOD contractor.

In 1945, Percy Spencer, a self-taught engineer, who was employed by the defense contractor Raytheon, was working on magnetrons (the high-powered vacuum tubes inside of radars); of which time he realized that a peanut butter candy bar in his pocket had begun to melt (Tweedie, 2015). Thanks to this oversight and accidental invention, there have been numerous ideas that have been created with this technology. This is not something that is often realized by the everyday microwave oven user. How the technology was made and was it accidental is not typically at the forefront of someone’s mind when they buy or use a microwave oven. As a result of noticing this candy bar anomaly, this has opened the door for technologies like the tools used to monitor and predict weather conditions as well as the speeding tools used by police officers (Tweedie, 2015). Unfortunately for Raytheon, they did not realize the potential market for this newfound innovation, thus missed the opportunity to capitalize on the untouched market (Tweedie, 2015). However, as a result of the contributions he has made to the overall development of the microwave, spencer was inducted into the National Inventers Hall of Fame

            I do appreciate the innovation of the microwave. It has enabled quicker meal preparation times in a lot of use cases. It is much more empowering understanding that this technological advancement was made due to innovating something else in the industry of which I am a part of. The Department of Defense ultimately creates a lot of innovative solutions, this being another one of them ultimately. While there are a lot of use cases and innovations that the Department of Defense can claim, there are some lesser known accidental inventions as well that the Department of Defense can’t claim and wouldn’t want to claim.

            I have always found the medical industry to be rather intriguing. Particularly seeing the effects that some of the medicines and vaccines that we are subjected to can have on the overall wellbeing of a person. This is really brought into perspective when we reference the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. While there is a definite and apparent rush to derive a medical solution to the pandemic, there is a need to understand the potential for unintended outcomes. While a vaccine may address COVID-19, it may cause other life-threatening issues. This brings me to Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman.

            Albert is known for his contributions to the recreational use of lysergic acid diethylamine or LSD. In 1943, Albert was testing was conducting research experiments and chemical studies (ACS, 2017). He accidentally exposed himself to lysergic acid diethylamine causing him to hallucinate (ACS, 2017). While this was an accident, he later intentionally took the drug again to ascertain that this is what cause his hallucinations. His assistant had to assist him home as the hallucinations were severe. Over the years, understanding the affects that LSD can have yielded the drug illegal and is a direct example of unintended medical use cases. This could be the same result of a COVID-19 vaccine that may have been rushed!

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My name is Casey Mayfield, and this is my first time creating blog. This is most certainly exciting as I get to share some of my experiences with my fellow doctoral classmates! I am currently a Sr. Cybersecurity Manager for a fortune 200 company. I have been in the information technology and cybersecurity industry for just over 10 years. I have enjoyed information technology and the policing associated with cybersecurity and I foresee doing this well into retirement age. Speaking of age, I am still in my 20's and I consider this to be a significant accomplishment as those at my company in the same position as me have 20+ years of experience. This is a testament to the hard work and dedication that I have put into not only my academics, but my professional career as well. I have amassed several information technology certifications in my 10 years, coupled with an undergraduate degree in information technology with a focus in advanced networking along with an MBA and a Masters of Science in Information Systems Management. These accolades have most certainly propelled my career to where it is today.  I look forward to completing my doctorate degree as this is the highest academic distinction that can be bestowed on a student. I believe that this blog will be about the future of information technology and getting a better understanding of how these emerging technologies can be leveraged from an information security perspective.