Cybersecurity · Software Engineering · AI
CS student building systems, cybersecurity, and local-first AI tools.
// 01 — About
I’m a Computer Science student at the University of Rhode Island, a Schilling Scholar, an Honors College student, and Technical Content Lead for the URI Cyber Club. My work focuses on systems programming, cybersecurity, networking, and local-first AI tools.
I’m most interested in projects that force me to understand what is happening below the abstraction layer: memory, processes, sockets, operating systems, infrastructure, and tool-using agents.
Outside of class, I work in campus IT, compete in cybersecurity events, and build projects including Mind, Sentinel, an 8-bit emulator, a C++ HTTP server, and Unix-style systems tools.
// 02 — Projects
A local-first personal AI assistant built in Python with workspace-aware context, persistent memory experiments, and a bounded tool-using agent loop. Designed to read project files, inspect its environment, and gradually support safer automation workflows while remaining understandable and hackable.
A lightweight self-hosted IDS prototype focused on agent/collector architecture, structured event output, heartbeat monitoring, and JSONL/TCP-based telemetry. Built to explore practical detection pipelines, host visibility, and blue-team infrastructure design.
An 8-bit computer emulator written in C that models registers, memory, a program counter, status flags, and a custom instruction execution loop. Implements core instructions such as LOAD, STORE, ADD, SUB, and HALT, with memory safety checks to prevent program code from being overwritten during execution.
A lightweight HTTP/1.1 server built over raw POSIX sockets. It handles request parsing, static file serving, MIME detection, thread-per-connection concurrency, timeouts, request size limits, and directory traversal protection without relying on a framework.
A minimal Unix shell in C with command parsing, external execution through fork/execvp, built-in commands, and signal handling that correctly targets child processes on interrupt.
A multithreaded TCP port scanner in C using Winsock2 and pthreads. It uses a queue-based worker model and supports banner grabbing, service detection, configurable timeouts, and per-scan timing stats.
A self-hosted Ubuntu server with approximately 3 TB of storage used for remote development, experimentation, and personal infrastructure. Configured secure private access through Tailscale and maintained as a practical environment for Linux, networking, and systems work.
A password management web application built with Flask, SQLite, and Fernet encryption. Implements user authentication, encrypted credential storage, SQL CRUD operations, password search, and a Bootstrap-based interface. Built as my CS50 final project.
// 03 — Experience
Student Information Technologist
URI Memorial Union IT
Troubleshoot hardware, software, operating system, and connectivity issues for students and staff in a live campus IT environment. Support Memorial Union technology operations by resolving user issues, maintaining website accessibility standards, and assisting with routine technical and security procedures.
// 04 — Organizations & Competitions
Technical Content Lead
URI Cyber Club
Work with practical security labs, Linux infrastructure, networking tools, and club exercises focused on hands-on cybersecurity fundamentals.
Competitor — Scored Top 12.5% nationally
National Cyber League Individual Game
Competed individually across cryptography, network analysis, forensics, log analysis, and exploitation challenges.
2nd Place
Hack@URI Mini Hackathon
Placed 2nd in a team hackathon by building an AI-powered multi-tool for tutoring, practice, and interactive learning workflows under a limited development timeline.
Competitor
NCAE Cyber Games
Collaborated on team defense, service hardening, infrastructure monitoring, and incident-response tasks in a practical cyber competition environment.
// 05 — Skills
Languages
Systems & Networking
Security
AI & Developer Tools
// 06 — Contact
Open to technical internships.
I'm currently looking for internships, research opportunities, and technical roles in cybersecurity, systems, software engineering, AI, and fintech.
ddipietro8227@gmail.com