BioBuzz’s Buzzin’ Brood Student Spotlight series celebrates the next generation of life sciences talent — and the programs, institutions, and organizations investing in them.
Name: Emmelyne Diep
Hometown: Clarksburg, MD
Institution: University of Maryland, College Park (College Park, MD)
Role: Student Ambassador, BioBuzz Networks (Summer 2026)
By the time she started high school, Emmelyne Diep was already troubleshooting real infrastructure in a college cybersecurity lab — the kind of experience most students don’t get until their first internship. Through Montgomery College’s dual-enrollment program, she earned her Associate of Applied Science in Cybersecurity while working hands-on as a student assistant in the college’s Cyberlab.
Now an Information Science student at the University of Maryland (Class of 2027), Emmelyne is balancing Treasurer roles for Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS) and InfoSci Fi, as well as serving as Data Archivist for the UMD Coffee Club. This fall she’s joining the UMD Fellows Program, pairing her technical background with public service leadership training.
This summer, she’s expanding her curiosity in the life sciences as a Student Ambassador within BioBuzz’s BioCatalyst program, made possible through TEDCO’s Equitech Growth Fund.
We sat down with Emmelyne to talk about her path into cybersecurity, what’s exciting her right now, and where she sees herself headed next.
How did you get here?
My journey into tech and data started early in high school, where I immersed myself in the dual-enrollment program at Montgomery College. Through that program, I earned my Associate of Applied Science in Cybersecurity while working as a student assistant at Montgomery College’s Cyberlab — troubleshooting technical infrastructure hands-on. That experience solidified my passion for computing, data structuring, and ethical security frameworks.
I’m motivated to connect technical frameworks with human-centric systems, which is why I chose to pursue my Bachelor’s in Information Science at the University of Maryland, College Park. I’ve always been intrigued by how data is structured, secured, and scaled. Along the way, I stepped into leadership roles — serving as Treasurer for InfoSci Fi and joining the BioCatalyst program as a Student Ambassador — which let me merge my technical foundation with community engagement and pointed me toward a career focused on building secure, robust information ecosystems.
What is currently blowing your mind right now?
Currently, I’m captivated by the power of relational database design to solve complex structural challenges in the life sciences and healthcare sectors. Recently, I led a university project to develop a Comprehensive Patient Management and Epidemiological relational database, which opened my eyes to the critical role data infrastructure plays in healthcare tracking.
It’s mind-blowing to see how a thoroughly mapped-out Entity-Relationship Diagram and highly optimized SQL queries can transform fragmented, chaotic medical data into clean, actionable insights. Understanding that the data architecture we build directly impacts the speed and reliability of critical decision-making in biotech and healthcare is incredibly exciting to me.
If you could explain yourself right now in only emojis…
☕️ 🧶 🤔
These emojis capture the essence of my daily routine, creative outlets, and mindset. The coffee cup is part of my daily routine — I need a cup of coffee to keep me awake and energized for long days of working. The yarn emoji represents my hobby in knitting and crocheting; I like to practice complex filet crochet patterns in my free time, which reminds me of nested loops and conditional logic statements in programming. It’s all about pattern recognition, precision, and creating a large structure out of smaller components. Finally, the pondering emoji represents my deep curiosity about information architecture and security frameworks — I love diving into the “why” behind questions, whether I’m managing data for a university project or thinking through a response to a hypothetical question.
If you could travel into the future, what does your LinkedIn headline say?
Information Architect & Digital Health Strategy Leader
My aspiration is to lead at the intersection of information architecture, data privacy, and life science innovation. I want to connect with industry professionals, researchers, and regional leaders who are passionate about secure cloud infrastructure (AWS) and the design of data systems that support ethical health solutions. I plan to get there by enhancing my background in cybersecurity to ensure that the future of bio-data infrastructure is resilient, clear, and optimized for public impact.
If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
I would choose invisibility, because as someone who works with data and cybersecurity, I see it as the ultimate tool. Being invisible would let me quietly observe how complex technical systems and human networks interact in their natural state, without accidentally changing the dynamic just by being present.
Additionally, from a security standpoint, it’s the best cloaking mechanism there is — it would be pretty cool to be completely hidden from external bugs and system vulnerabilities while keeping everything running smoothly in the background.
