Bellevue University Program Director Appreciates 'Power of Computer Science'
Robert Flowers, Ph.D., Sc.D., recently started working as the Director and Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Bellevue University. We recently caught up with Dr. Flowers to get to know him a little better.
What College do you teach in?
I teach for the College of Science and Technology.
What programs/classes do you teach?
I teach for and head the Computer Science program. Prior to that, I taught graduate Cybersecurity courses here at Bellevue University for the last 10 years.
Degrees/awards/certifications?
I earned my BS and MS in Information Technology from American Military University in Charleston, West Virginia. I received a Doctor of Science (Sc.D.) in Cybersecurity in 2016 and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Cyber Leadership in 2023: both from Capitol Technology University in Laurel, Maryland.
What career did you dream of when you were a child?
My childhood dream was to become a police officer. Fortunately, I was able to realize that dream. I served as a police cadet for the Howard County, Maryland Police Department and as a sworn police officer for the Fort Lauderdale, Florida Police Department.
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. I could hear the sounds from the Pimlico Preakness horse races from my bedroom window.
Tell us about your previous work/schools?
I worked for 26 years at Navy Federal Credit Union. I started as a TCP/IP Network Engineer, and I retired on February 1, 2024 as a risk management Assistant Vice President. Since 2014, I have been an adjunct here at Bellevue University teaching in the Cybersecurity graduate program under Doug Rausch.
What experiences or people had the most influence on you?
One of the most influential people in my professional growth has been Dr. Mary Dobransky, Dean of the College of Science and Technology. Mary took a chance on me while I was still studying for my first doctorate. I had a fair amount of experience creating university courses at the time, but not as much teaching them. Since then, she has been an amazing supporter of my education as well as my research. Without that, I would not have been able to obtain my Ph.D. or publish two articles in the journal of the world’s largest technical professional engineering society: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Most importantly, with her sponsorship, I was able to achieve my dream job as Assistant Professor of Computer Science. The experience that had the biggest impact on me was actually a failure. I was asked to write a program that could determine whether a member of our military was logging in from an active war zone (i.e., Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.). Due to many gigabytes of input data, the program I wrote was taking too long to run, so I studied the Art of Computer Programming: Sorting and Searching by Dr. Donald Knuth, Professor Emeritus at Stanford University. As a result, my program went from taking more than two days to execute to less than 30 minutes. That experience taught me the power of computer science and how it can have a huge impact if we know when to apply it.
What do you love most about working at Bellevue University?
I have taught at a wide variety of universities and professional development institutions. I can say with absolute certainty that Bellevue University is the most collegial organization for which I have ever worked. I have yet to meet anyone who places anything above ensuring our students have the best learning experience possible. Everyone tries to achieve that goal collaboratively.
What motivates or inspires you?
I am motivated and inspired when I can transform complexity into simplicity. I enjoy making hard things easy whether it is designing a graphical user interface for the software that I write or taking an arcane but seminal textbook and turning it into course material that any student can understand.
What interests you outside of work? What are you passionate about?
Outside of work I am a geek, so I like to code. I also like to spend time with my family hanging out and cooking Indian and soul food. Most of the time, however, my wife and I are sitting on the side of a volleyball court watching our youngest daughter play. My eldest played Division 1 volleyball at Delaware State, so we have lots of courtside experience! As far as passion goes, I am committed to reducing poverty. For the last 15 years, I have been providing microloans to entrepreneurs in developing nations. According to the World Bank, half of the world lives on less than $5.50 a day, so a cup of gourmet coffee for us is a day’s wages for a lot of people around the world.
What is the most important piece of advice you can give to someone
The advice I give my students is to do hands-on learning as much as possible. I encourage them to acquire good books, used hardware, and free software to apply the concepts they learn in class. Applying knowledge transforms it into skill which can help with landing a job or getting a promotion. The formula worked for me, so I now pass that advice on to them.
Goals moving forward that you would like to share.
My goal is to continue my research into preventing data theft. In addition to my 2017 data theft assessment patent (US9626522B1), I hope to generate new patents for future inventions.