Samuel Schwertfeger

Education

• Ph.D., Computer and Cyber Sciences
  Augusta University
  2026 – present
• B.S., Information Technology, minor in Military Science
  Georgia Southern University · Magna cum laude
  2026
• Cyber Security Certificate
  Georgia Southern University
  2026

Research

Machine-Aware Local Language Models: Separating User Changes from Attacker Persistence on Linux

Host-based intrusion detectionLocal language models for securityLinux persistenceExplainable AIDefensive cyber operations

Experience

• Commissioned Officer, Cyber Branch
  U.S. Army National Guard
  2026 – present
• Research Assistant (Internship)
  Georgia Southern University, School of Engineering and Computing
  Designed, built, and documented a SIEM/IDS lab aligned to NIST SP 800-53.
  2026

Honors and Awards

• Magna Cum Laude
  Georgia Southern University
  2026
• Military Order of the World Wars Bronze Medal of Merit
  Army ROTC, Georgia Southern University
  2023
• Cone Scholarship
  Georgia Southern University
  2023
• HOPE Scholarship
  State of Georgia
  2022 – 2026
• President's List and Dean's List
  Georgia Southern University
  2023 – 2025

Conferences Attended

• IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (IEEE VR)
  2026
• Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS)
  2026
• AFCEA TechNet Augusta (volunteer)
  2025

Skills

• Languages
  Python, Bash
• ML / XAI
  scikit-learn, pandas, NumPy, SHAP, LIME
• Security
  Splunk, Snort, Wireshark, Nmap, Kali Linux, Metasploit, Autopsy, pfSense
• Infrastructure
  VMware, Linux (Ubuntu, Fedora), Windows Server, Cisco networking