{"id":6883,"date":"2018-02-28T12:06:32","date_gmt":"2018-02-28T17:06:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/news\/?p=6883"},"modified":"2018-03-28T10:57:01","modified_gmt":"2018-03-28T14:57:01","slug":"cryptology-and-you-the-average-persons-experience-using-modern-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/2018\/02\/28\/cryptology-and-you-the-average-persons-experience-using-modern-technology\/","title":{"rendered":"Cryptology and you – the average person\u2019s experience using modern technology"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A math-phobic audience posed a challenge for a math-loving presenter.<\/p>\n

They moaned at the terms \u201cstatistics,\u201d \u201cliner algebra\u201d and \u201ccalculus .\u201d Nonetheless, the presenter persevered by engaging and encouraging his audience to share an appreciation for the math behind the technology the average person uses every day.<\/p>\n

As Timothy McDevitt introduced a topic unfamiliar to most of the community, in his lecture \u201cAn Introduction to Cryptology,\u201d presented earlier this month at Elizabethtown College, the professor of mathematics was a comedian and a mathematician, all at once.<\/p>\n

\n

Who uses cryptology?\u201d<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

McDevitt\u2019s lecture was featured as part of the College\u2019s Presidential Community Enrichment Series and explored how cryptology and encryption are commonly used in practical applications such as opening a garage door, unlocking a car with a key fob and purchasing an item on the Internet.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou use [encryption] every day,\u201d McDevitt said. \u201cYou just don\u2019t know it, because your devices do it for you. Everything is encrypted.\u201d<\/p>\n

McDevitt, a math-lover by nature, explained the math and methods behind cryptology, diving into the two main types of cryptosystems most commonly used in technology today: private key and public key encryptions.<\/p>\n

McDevitt asked the audience. \u201cYou do. I do. We all do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Using friendly analogies, familiar characters and constant math jokes to reiterate his main talking points, McDevitt presented online encryption in an easy way for the average audience member to understand.<\/p>\n

\u201cTim is a fantastic professor who brings enthusiasm for all his disciplines into the classroom,\u201d said junior mathematics education major Angela Wesneski. \u201cThe result is often a class that doesn\u2019t just teach students the subject of the course, but piques their interests in other areas as well. Students leave his classroom more well-rounded and eager to continue learning than when they entered.\u201d<\/p>\n

The question-and-answer session, following the lecture, showcased the audience as engaged and eager. Several audience members asked clarifying questions throughout the luncheon, and even more presented follow-up questions and comments after the presentation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really enjoyed the lecture,\u201d said E-town\u2019s Annual Giving Assistant Melissa Bittinger. \u201cI had a lot of people come up to me after the lecture expressing their interest and the popularity of the subject. Even though the mathematical aspects of the presentation were a little confusing at times, it was still really interesting to see how cryptology fits into our daily lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c[Cryptology] is just going to get more important,\u201d McDevitt said. \u201cYou couldn\u2019t have the Internet or many of the technologies we use today without it.\u201d<\/p>\n

McDevitt teaches mathematics and computer science courses at the College. As an undergraduate student, he studied mathematics and physics at James Madison University and he holds master\u2019s and doctoral degrees in applied mathematics from the University of Virginia. Prior to teaching at the College, McDevitt worked at the National Security Agency (NSA) for more than two years. Some of his research interests include cryptology, statistics and the use of mathematical software.<\/p>\n

McDevitt\u2019s lecture was the first in the 2018 Presidential Community Enrichment Series. As a continuing series at the College, these two-hour luncheon sessions offer engaging learning opportunities in a conversational setting.<\/p>\n

Professor of Music E. Douglas Bomberger presents his lecture, \u201cAmerican Music and the First World War,\u201d at the next luncheon on Tuesday, March 13.<\/p>\n

Following Bomberger, Associate Professor of History of Art and Director of the Fine Arts Division Patricia Likos Ricci presents \u201cEnvisioning a Better World: The Art of Violet Oakley,\u201d on Monday, April 23.<\/p>\n

The Presidential Community Enrichment Series luncheons are open to the public, with a $17 admissions fee. For more information or to register for an upcoming lecture, please contact Melissa Bittinger at bittingerm@etown.edu<\/a> or at 717-361-1489.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Melissa Spencer Bio
\n<\/strong>Melissa Spencer is a junior English-Professional Writing major at\u00a0Elizabethtown College. She also minors in mathematics and data analytics. Spencer is the News Editor for the College\u2019s student newspaper,\u00a0\u201cThe Etownian.\u201d\u00a0Her work has also been featured in the College\u2019s literary magazine,\u00a0\u201cFine Print.\u201d She hopes to become a writer who can combine her passions for English, mathematics and big data.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A math-phobic audience posed a challenge for a math-loving presenter. They moaned at the terms \u201cstatistics,\u201d \u201cliner algebra\u201d and \u201ccalculus .\u201d Nonetheless, the presenter persevered by engaging and encouraging his audience to share an appreciation for the math behind the technology the average person uses every day. As Timothy McDevitt introduced a topic unfamiliar to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":6884,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[775,7],"tags":[490,1128,444],"class_list":["post-6883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus","category-campus-community","tag-achievements-2","tag-feature","tag-math","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6883"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6998,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6883\/revisions\/6998"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}