SLU to Host a Symposium to Explore Social Media and National Intelligence

by Maggie Rotermund

Maggie Rotermund
Senior Media Relations Specialist
maggie.rotermund@slu.edu
314-977-8018

Reserved for members of the media.

ST. LOUIS – How safe is social media? In 2022, over 58.4% of the world’s population used social media and the details shared by social media users provides analysts and scammers alike with vast amounts of data in real-time.

An upcoming symposium at Saint Louis University seeks to bring together students with government and industry leaders to explore how various disciplines can be applied to analyzing open-source software, social media and national security.

The symposium will be held Thursday, March 30, at SLU.

The event will feature keynote presentations from Jay Greenberg, special agent in charge of the St. Louis FBI field office; Patti O’Neill-Brown, Ph.D., Open Source Intelligence Integration Center (OSIC) at the Defense Intelligence Agency; and Liz Chiarello, Ph.D., associate professor of sociology at SLU and a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University.

The symposium is sponsored by the Midwest Intelligence Community Center for Academic Excellence (MW-IC CAE) at Saint Louis University.

Panel topics include:

Open Source and Social Media Intelligence – Panelists will include representatives from the FBI, DIA and NCTC.
Open Source GEOINT – Moderated by Ness Sandoval, Ph.D., acting associate director for
diversity, education, and training at Taylor Geospatial Institute and professor of sociology at Saint Louis University, this panel will include representatives from NGA and ESRI.
Students and Social Media – Moderated by Darius Watson, Ph.D., executive director of strategic initiatives at Lincoln University, and featuring students from SLU, Harris Stowe State University and Lincoln University.
OPSEC for OSINT – Moderated by Randy Silva, this panel will feature representatives from DCSA, NGA, AFOSI and ODNI.

The event will feature a student mentoring lunch, as well as opportunities to learn about career pathways in the intelligence community for open source and social media analysis.

The conference is free and open to the public. Advance registration is required.

Register for Symposium

MW-IC CAE was formed in 2022 with a grant from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. It is dedicated to preparing students for professional positions in the 18 U.S. intelligence agencies. The Center supports the design and development of intelligence-related STEM curricula and programmatic training opportunities to prepare students for careers in the field of intelligence.

Symposium Details

When: 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 30. Lunch will be provided.
Where: Saint Louis University’s Busch Student Center, 20 North Grand Boulevard, St. Louis, Mo., 63103.

The event is sponsored by SLU, the Intelligence Community Centers for Academic Excellence and the Taylor Geospatial Institute.

Saint Louis University

Founded in 1818, Saint Louis University is one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious Catholic institutions. Rooted in Jesuit values and its pioneering history as the first university west of the Mississippi River, SLU offers more than 15,200 students a rigorous, transformative education of the whole person. At the core of the University’s diverse community of scholars is SLU’s service-focused mission, which challenges and prepares students to make the world a better, more just place.