When then-sophomore and mechanical engineering major Paul Rispoli walked through USF鈥檚 College of Engineering鈥檚 Hall of Flags one afternoon, a flyer caught his eye.
鈥淚t was about a new major dedicated to cybersecurity,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 had always been good at computers.鈥�
That flyer changed the direction of his collegiate career. He had always enjoyed math and science, and liked programming, but he didn鈥檛 love his major as much as he thought he would.
So, he explored and soon switched majors. And he found his fit.
鈥淚 started doing all the classes, databases, some actual programming, networking, information technology type stuff and realizing, 鈥楬ey, I kind of get this stuff,鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淎nd then you鈥檙e realizing how much there is to learn. That's a trend that continues today. There's a lot to learn.鈥�
Now, looking back at his college career, that feeling that made him question his choice of a major made sense. His father was a police officer. So was his grandfather, uncle and cousin.
鈥淚n my head (with cybersecurity), I saw that I would be doing something that is a bit more fulfilling and something that I wanted to do,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 wanted to serve the community, serve people, and use the skills in a way that protects people.鈥�
An internship that launches careers
Rispoli was enjoying his cybersecurity classes but struggled to see the full potential of his major and how he would turn that into a career.
鈥淚 remember sitting in those classes, super engaged and then trying to think about how this translates to what my job is actually going to be,鈥� he said. 鈥淎t that time, I didn鈥檛 know.鈥�
Then came his senior class project.
鈥淥ne of my like teammates was interning with ReliaQuest, and he talked about the program that we do with USF,鈥� Rispoli said. ReliaQuest is a global cybersecurity firm headquartered in Tampa.
鈥淗e was just like, 鈥楬ey, do you have a job lined up?鈥� I had no idea what I was going to be doing, and I was graduating in six months."
Once Rispoli learned of the ReliaQuest opportunity, he put in his application. Little did he know that when he sat down for his interview, he was meeting with one of the company鈥檚 vice presidents.
鈥淚 just thought he was another recruiter,鈥� he said. Shortly after, he learned that he was accepted.
Since 2018, more than 300 USF students have graduated from the ReliaQuest Labs program, which was created as an answer to address the need for talent in the cybersecurity field. The four-week, free, on-site learning program gives students a chance to apply their coursework to real-world scenarios and to get hands-on, real-time experience with the workplace tools. Each week, students work through online, module-based assignments and then meet with professionals at ReliaQuest to review the work.
鈥淲e like to marry up what students are learning in school and what we're seeing in the real world, and then show them what that looks like,鈥� he said. 鈥淟ike, (in a simulation) this situation is bad. Here's what it like looks like in the real world. Our whole goal is to give them that experience, that exposure.鈥�
Career opportunities in a new field
Rispoli, who graduated from USF in 2020, is now five years into his career, and he鈥檚 worked his way up to be the senior manager of GreyMatter Operations at ReliaQuest in Tampa. GreyMatter is the firm鈥檚 agentic AI security operations platform that is used by enterprise customers worldwide.
He has quickly climbed the ranks at ReliaQuest: security analyst associate, security analyst, incident response shift lead, incident response manager and now a senior manager. He鈥檚 led teams in Tampa, Las Vegas, Dublin, Ireland and Pune, India.
But it was a winding road to get where he is today.
Making up for collegiate regrets
While Rispoli was engaged with his classes as a student, he wasn鈥檛 when it came to taking advantage of the resources that were in front of him while he was a student. It鈥檚 a regret of sorts for him, one that he tries to help the up-and-coming students he mentors.
鈥淚 got lucky that the right people were around me, to teach me, and help mentor me,鈥� he said. 鈥淪omebody invested in me, and I want to be able to train some people. It's like a fantastic, ambitious cycle of, 鈥業 got invested into it, and now I want to invest into six people,鈥� and then those six people want to invest in the next six people.鈥�
Applications are open
It鈥檚 also partly why the program has become so popular. Students know that they get more than the on-site lessons. They make connections and can find mentors, even if they don鈥檛 land the post-lab internship opportunity.
An is scheduled from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Nov. 18 for USF students. Already, more than 150 applications have been submitted for the 2026 opportunity, which will take place on four Fridays in February.
鈥淲e're going to have a lot of resumes to go through, but I've also got more mentors to be able to handle more students.鈥�
鈥淭he staff that's helping with the new Bellini College is unreal,鈥� he added. 鈥淚 know we're going have a lot more students, and it's going to be very, very successful with the new college.鈥�