Rick Cassoni photo

Rick Cassoni grew up in the Dayton, OH area. Growing up in the area of one of the U.S’s largest Air Force bases, Wright Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB), Rick was drawn to the military. After graduating high school, Rick enlisted in the US Navy’s Nuclear Power Program as a Reactor Operator starting out as an Electronics Technician.Rick spent 1.5 yrs of Electronics Technician training in Great Lakes, IL before arriving to Orlando, FL to start Nuclear Power Training. Rick was offered an opportunity to be a temporary instructor at the pre-opening of the new Nuclear Field A School in the Digital Microprocessor division.This was a historic event for the US Navy Nuclear Power community in that it was the first time that digital microprocessors were being used in Navy Reactor Safety and Control Systems.Rick was responsible for developing curriculum and training including classroom instruction and labs.After finishing his temporary assignment, Rick started Nuclear Power School (NPS) training and was pleasantly surprised to be awarded an ROTC Scholarship.

He was commissioned as an Ensign after completing his BS in Applied Physics and minor in Naval Science from the University of Utah.He then returned to Orlando, FL to complete six (6) months at NPS.Following completion of NPS, Rick completed Nuclear Prototype Training in Idaho Falls, ID and arrived in San Diego, CA on USS Topeka (SSN-754), an Improved Los Angeles Class submarine with vertical launch and under ice capability.Rick started off as the Reactor Controls Assistant and Electrical Officer, completed his qualifications receiving his dolphins, and was then assigned the position of Assistant Combat Systems Officer.He also completed the training and qualified as a Naval Nuclear Engineer.After USS Topeka, Rick served on USS Dolphin (AGSS-555), the World’s Deepest Diving Self Sustaining submarine – now part of the San Diego Maritime Museum and was the Submarine Liaison Officer for Sea-Based Weapons Advanced Tactical School (SWATS).

Following SWATS, Rick transitioned to Active Reserve status and started his formal Information Technology career at SAIC as a Principal Systems Engineer.Rick primarily support SPAWAR projects as either a team member of project lead in an Agile Scrum Development environment.After six years, Rick became a US Navy Civil Servant as the Assistant Program Manager (APM) for the Nuclear Command Control, and Communications (NC3) system used to manage, control, and launch strategic nuclear weapons.After three years, Rick rejoined SAIC as the Program Manager for SAIC’s Defense Solutions Group Research & Development Enterprise Services Integration and Interoperability Lab (ESIIL) that had 9 interconnected nodes across the US.This was one of SAIC’s primarily R&D labs for developing cutting edge technology for customers and proposals.During this same time, Rick served in six US Navy Reserve Units, four of which he was the Commanding Officer including the Deep Submergence Unit (DSU) dedicated to worldwide submarine rescues.He retired in September 2012 as a Commander (O-5).Following active duty, he also completed a dual major MS Business Administrations – Information Systems (MSBA-IS) at San Diego State University (SDSU) January 2005.

In 2012, Rick accepted a position at IBM to be a Senior Cloud Architect for the US Federal Division where he specialized in Cloud, Big Data, and Cyber Security.Rick enjoyed these three technology areas and continues to specialize and teach in these areas today.He decided to pursue being an associate faculty in January 2013 teaching at MiraCosta and Palomar College’s Computer Science and Computer Studies and Information Technologies (CSIT) Departments and continuing to work with IBM via their largest Federal Business Partner, Jeskell Systems.One of his proudest accomplishments was being selected as the Palomar College Distinguished Faculty Awardee.

Being a lifelong learner himself, Rick holds the following certifications: Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Project Management Professional (PMP), PM III: DoD DAWIA Acquisition Professional Community, DAWIA Level 3, LPIC-1 - Linux Professional Institute Certification Level 1, VMWare Sales Professional (VSP), Tech Sales Pro (VTSP), Infrastructure Virtualization, CWTS: Certified Wireless Technology Specialist, LSS: Lean Six Sigma Trained Green Belt, ZapThink: Certified SOA Architect.

Rick accepted a full time position at San Diego Mesa College starting fall 2014 and then accepted a full time position to return to MiraCosta College fall 2015.Rick plans to focus his MiraCosta curriculum and research efforts in his passion areas of Cloud, Big Data, Cyber Security, and Business Process Reengineering (BPR) / Change Management (CM) / Lean and Six Sigma (LSS) as well as teaching courses including CSIT 110 Computer Applications, CSIT 120 Fundamentals of Computer Information Systems, and CSIT 137 Google Apps for Business as well as completing the rigorous tenure process.