MONACA, Pa. — For Penn State Beaver alumna Ava-Li Baker, a small campus, big opportunities and real connections with professors helped transform her choice to stay close to home into a rewarding cybersecurity career. Baker, who graduated in 2022 with a degree in information technology, is a cybersecurity analyst for the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. The Hopewell Area High School graduate said she wanted to stay close to home, and when she took a tour of the Beaver campus, she liked the more intimate feel of a small campus and knew that “Penn State had a great IT program.” “My experience there was great,” she said, adding that even through the COVID-19 lockdown, she didn’t feel like the pivot to online learning affected her education. “It was interesting to transition to virtual classes, and when we came back, I was still connected to my classmates and remembered people from Zoom classes.” Baker said she was trying to decide between information technology or studying drafting at a technical school. She said her mom always thought she was good with computers, so she decided to go that route. “I like to work with computers and figure out how to do things with computers. What can I do? What can I make? she said. “The degree in information technology appealed to me because it was broad. The world was my oyster. I could do anything with it.” Baker added a minor in security and risk analysis and applied for an information technology internship with the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory a year in advance because of the clearance process necessary to work there. “I did my internship during the summer of 2021, and then they offered me a chance to return for the next summer in cybersecurity,” she said. “My manager from the previous