Externship Bootcamps
Externship Bootcamps The Rutgers Externship Bootcamps offer students valuable hands-on work experience through 100% online, project-based learning. Our Externship Bootcamps are more structured, continuing projects, run by our internal mentors semester after semester....
Christie Nelson, Ph.D.
Dr. Christie Nelson is the founder and director of the MBS Externship Exchange and is an assistant research professor and executive committee member for the CCIADA (Command, Control, and Interoperability Center for Advanced Data Analysis) Center, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Emeritus Center of Excellence. The projects she has worked on for CCIADA include: Customs and Border Patrol, Office of SAFETY Act Implementation, US Coast Guard, NJ State Police, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC), Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, the NFL, Special Olympics, Federal Transit Administration, and more.
She also serves as curriculum coordinator for MBS’s Analytics and Cybersecurity concentration areas within the Computer & Information Sciences track, where she’s created and developed 5 pathways in analytics (Health Informatics, Finance Analytics, Business Intelligence, AI, and Technical Analytics) and 5 in cybersecurity (Digital Forensics, Cybersecurity Management & Policy, Computer Forensics & Big Data, Cybersecurity Management, and Technical Cybersecurity).
Karen Bemis, PhD
Dr. Karen Bemis is a scientist and research faculty member with more than three decades of expertise in three fields: marine science, volcanology, and data visualization—a discipline that has become increasingly critical in all professions as a means to visually summarize massive amounts of data to convey meaning, make points, evaluate trends, and drive better decision-making. An active Rutgers faculty member and researcher, Dr. Bemis is part of Rutgers Professional Science Master’s (PSM) program’s leadership team as well as the assistant director of the MBS Externship Exchange.
Rupa Misra, EdD
Rupananda Misra, Ed.D., is a faculty member and director of MBS’s User Experience Design (UXD) concentration. A skilled educator with special expertise in health informatics and educational technology, Dr. Misra shapes curriculum and advises students within in MBS’s Computer & Information Sciences track, particularly within User Experience Design, Information Technology, and the Social Media & Networking concentrations.
Dr. Misra holds a doctorate in Communications, Media, and Learning Technologies Design from Teachers College, Columbia University, where he also completed a post-doctoral fellowship for the world’s largest biomedical library—the National Library of Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health. Focusing on health informatics, Dr. Misra applied his extensive experience with web/mobile technologies, human-computer-interaction, and design thinking in healthcare to examine the use of participatory and user-centered interaction design methods when creating effective health care tools and when generating and evaluating the viability of alternative designs.
During his 20+ years as an educator, Dr. Misra has provided research consulting to doctoral students at Columbia University, served as the education director at the Sustainable Methods Institute (an international health, economic, and societal think tank), and is a certified Quality Matters Peer Reviewer. Additionally, Dr. Misra holds leadership roles in Columbia University’s Philadelphia Alumni chapter, serves as co-organizer of the Central NJ Design Meetup group, is an associate editor of the Journal of Information Architecture, and is a global committee member of World IA Day—an annual conference centered around information architecture (IA) and a global understanding of how information is structured and interpreted.
Dr. Misra’s passion is providing innovative design solutions to complex healthcare challenges. The focus of his research is understanding how patients, healthcare providers, and the public interact with health information and use healthcare tools. For his doctoral research, Dr. Misra critically evaluated government and non-government healthcare websites to improve the user experience—making complex information understandable and aligned with the organization’s goals. His work focused on identifying participants’ needs, requirements, and expectations.
Dr. Misra is the author of Digital Games for Minority Student Engagement (IGI Global, 2018). Additionally, he has published eight papers, three book chapters, and has given presentations at numerous conferences.
Lori B. Dars, MBA
Lori has been a Senior Advisor in the MBS program since 2019. In this role, she manages projects, co-instructs classes, and recruits organizational partners. Her other roles include Assoc. Director, Economic Development & Innovation at Rutgers NJAES, where she provides leadership for programs that facilitate collaborations between the university, industry, and government; and Lead Instructor and Trainer, Northeast Region I-Corps Hub. Lori was the former Director of the Rutgers I-Corps Site Program where she co-developed the I-Corps Fellowship to provide an opportunity for underrepresented students to learn about innovation & gain skills as part of an I-Corps team. She is an active member of the New Jersey Big Data Alliance and is the founder of the Rutgers-wide Entrepreneurship Coalition, created to foster a community of innovation and grow the entrepreneurship ecosystem at the university. Previously, Lori worked in the New Ventures & Entrepreneurship group, assisting Rutgers start-ups. Prior to coming to Rutgers, Lori held numerous positions in business development and marketing. She has a bachelor’s degree in Communication from the University of Delaware and a Master of Business Administration degree from Rutgers.
Brian Petrus, PHR, MBA
Brian Petrus is an Adviser for the Masters in Business and Science Externship Program, assisting student project teams and co-instructing leadership labs. Brian is an Associate Professor of Business Administration at Westminster College where he teaches a variety of business, marketing, human resource, strategy, and project management courses. Additionally, he is a Notary Public, a licensed tax return preparer, and the President of PHRST and Company, Inc., an a la carte human resource management outsourcing firm working nationally and internationally. Prior to serving in an instructional capacity, Brian worked in various industry positions in hospitality, financial services, consulting, and human resources. Brian holds a BS in Business Administration from Westminster College, an MBA from Youngstown State University, and is a certified Professional in Human Resources through the Human Resource Certification Institute.
Ivan Mera, MBS
Alissa Bookwalter, MEd
Alissa Bookwalter currently serves as a Chief of Staff for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). NNSA is a semi-autonomous agency within the Department of Energy and the Department of the Navy, that is responsible for enhancing national security through the military application of nuclear science and managing the Navy Nuclear Propulsion Program through NNSA’s Naval Reactors program. Alissa has spent the majority of her career supporting the federal government, including serving as the Deputy Director of Talent Management at the United States Digital Service at the White House, a Chief of Staff at Kessel Run (the Department of Defense’s first Software factory), serving as an Executive Board Member of the Interagency Veterans Advisory Council and Federal Military Family Workforce Network, and supporting various military health human subjects research programs. Alissa resides in Washington, DC.
