Launching Your Career - Advice from Doers, Makers, and Innovators of the Future

Dr. Babak Beheshti
Dean, College of Engineering and Computing Sciences
New York Institute of Technology

Babak D. Beheshti is professor and dean of the College of Engineering and Computing Sciences at New York Institute of Technology. The School has approximately 3000 students, including undergraduate and graduate programs in two New York campuses, as well as in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Babak has been a full-time faculty member at New York Tech for more than 30 years.

Over the last 20+ years, Beheshti has worked in R&D with companies in the embedded systems and wireless technology industry. He has successfully managed joint R&D programs with Asian, European, and U.S. companies, including Siemens Mobile, Nokia, Samsung, KDDI, and LG.

An active member of IEEE since 1991, Beheshti is currently a member of the IEEE Board of Directors, having held positions at section, region, and major board levels. He has been a member of the IEEE’s Publication Services & Products Board (PSPB), as well as the Member and Geographic Activities (MGA) Board.

Beheshti is a recipient of the IEEE MGA Leadership Award; the IEEE Millennium Medal; the IEEE Long Island Section Athanasios Papoulis Outstanding Educator Award, given for noteworthy contributions to engineering education; and three IEEE Region 1 Awards, including a 2008 IEEE Northeastern Region Technical Innovation Award "For Providing Technical Leadership in the Development of State-of-the Art Reconfigurable Wireless Technologies."

Beheshti received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth and master's and bachelor’s degrees at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Dr. Michael Nizich
Director, Entrepreneurship and Technology Innovation Center (ETIC)
New York Institute of Technology

Michael Nizich is the director of the Entrepreneurship and Technology Innovation Center (ETIC) and an adjunct assistant professor of computer science at New York Institute of Technology. He has more than 25 years of professional experience in information technology in a variety of industries, including aviation, education, law enforcement, biotechnology, and cybersecurity. Nizich has held IT leadership positions in both private and publicly held companies.

With more than 10 years of college-level teaching experience, Nizich holds a Ph.D. in Information Studies from Long Island University, a master’s degree in Technology Systems Management from Stony Brook University, and a bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems from Dowling College.

Through ETIC programs, Nizich regularly connects both domestic and international students with internships and full-time positions in cybersecurity. He also directs New York Tech’s Center of Academic Excellence for Cybersecurity Education, designated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency, and serves as a member of the CTEA committee for cybersecurity for Suffolk County Community College.

Michael Lantier (B.S. ECE ’04)
Assistant Vice President, Senior Discipline Engineer
H2M architects + engineers

Michael Lantier's 15 year career at H2M started within the Electrical Engineering Department and has progressed to a leading role providing support to numerous school districts and higher education clients throughout the tri-state area. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of New York and is U.S. Green Building Council LEED accredited. His responsibilities include client management and full-service project management including pre-bond support services, financial review, feasibility reports, design services, and construction administration services. In the Electrical Engineering Department, his experience includes the design and construction management of complex power distribution, emergency distribution, and fully integrated life safety systems.

Mr. Lantier is the primary client contact and manages numerous K–12 school districts. Although he holds a degree is in electrical and computer engineering from New York Institute of Technology, his years of experience have provided knowledge on many aspects of school construction. He has extensive experience in evaluating existing facilities, developing capital plans, evaluating energy performance contracts, and participating in pre-bond efforts. His experience within H2M has provided him with long standing relationships across all service markets, resulting in efficient project management and expedited decision making, which ultimately saves his clients time and money while resulting in successful construction completion. His outreach includes positions on numerous not-for-profit boards and industrial advisory boards. Mr. Lantier rounds out his education with an M.B.A. in Finance from Stony Brook University.

Mitchell Maiman
President / Co-Founder
Intelligent Product Solutions (IPS)

Mitchell Maiman, President of IPS, has more than 40 years of experience in successful product development. As President and co-founder of IPS, Mitch along with his partner, Paul Severino, have built a large, multi-functional product development team serving many tier one clients including Motorola, Google, Verizon, Tyco, Leviton, Anheuser Busch, L3 Communications, Pepsi, Steinway and several divisions of Danaher Corporation as well as numerous smaller clients. Mitch's present role followed a long, successful career at Symbol Technologies where Mitch served as Vice President of Engineering running engineering for a large, highly profitable business unit as well as an Advanced Development organization.

Prior to Symbol Technologies, Mitch spent his career in commercial, industrial, consumer and defense product manufacturing companies including NCR and United Technologies. He has a plethora of US and international patents around his innovative work over his career. Mitch holds a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Columbia University in NY as well as an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University in NJ. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering Science from Hofstra University. Currently, Mitch is active in helping develop the local economy through roles with Stony Brook University, Launchpad, New York Institute of Technology, the Long Island High Tech Incubator and the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce.

Barbara Porter (B.S. CS '00)
Chief Operating Officer / Chief Technology Officer
Fragrancenet.com Inc.

Barbara Porter joined FragranceNet.com in January 2010 as the Chief Technology Officer and in April 2021 was also made the company’s Chief Operating Officer. She oversees all operations and technology within the organization, including warehouse management, order management, shipping and logistics, retail operations, application development, hardware, handheld, network, telephony, and virtual and cloud environments. She also oversees the business intelligence, data engineering (machine learning) and PMO functions.

Prior to joining FragranceNet.com she worked for 1800flowers.com for 10 years, initially as the Manager of Web Development, then as the Director of Customer Application Development (managing 13 ecommerce websites, a retail point of sale application, and a multi-brand call center application) before transitioning to the operations side of the organization as the Director of Enterprise Initiatives—chartered with identifying and sponsoring projects for operational improvements throughout the organization that would reduce costs and/or increase customer satisfaction.

Prior to 1800flowers she worked in the petroleum industry for 11 years in various roles including accounting, purchasing, marketing and administration.

Barbara has a Bachelor of Science in computer science with a minor in electrical engineering from New York Tech, and an M.B.A. from the University of Massachusetts–Amherst. She is currently enrolled in the Cyber Fellows program at New York University, pursuing a Master of Science in Cybersecurity. She is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified Scrum Master (CSM), and is Six Sigma Black Belt trained. She is an active volunteer for PMI (as a board advisor) and with IEEE's Long Island New York section as the Chair of the Computer Society, Vice Chair of the Technology and Engineering Management Society, and Vice Chair of the Women in Engineering affinity group.