{"591411":{"#nid":"591411","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Graduate Spotlight: Ryan Pickren","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIt\u0026rsquo;s no secret that one of the most important funding channels for universities is alumni giving back to their alma mater with a financial gift. Computer Engineering graduate Ryan Pickren got a head start before graduating.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAfter helping United Airlines secure its website by uncovering numerous \u0026ldquo;bugs,\u0026rdquo; he contributed 5 million miles from United to Georgia Tech for use by students and organizations participating in charity work around the world.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We couldn\u0026rsquo;t be prouder of Ryan,\u0026rdquo; said Steven W. McLaughlin, Steve W. Chaddick School Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech, at the time the gift was announced. \u0026ldquo;We always enjoy seeing how our students apply the knowledge they gain in class to real-world challenges. Not only is he applying that in an incredibly creative way, but he is also sharing his success with current and future Georgia Tech students. It is a generous, inspired and impressive legacy \u0026mdash; all while he is still a student. Wow!\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EUnited\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Bug Bounty\u0026rdquo; program wasn\u0026rsquo;t Pickren\u0026rsquo;s first foray into exploiting vulnerabilities in websites. In 2014 he was arrested for inserting onto the University of Georgia\u0026rsquo;s online event calendar that Georgia Tech would beat them in the annual rivalry football game.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;It launched my career into doing bug bounty programs, which led to other things, and ultimately, I\u0026rsquo;m really excited about going to work for Amazon,\u0026rdquo; Pickren said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EUsing his hacking skills to benefit United Airlines,\u0026nbsp;Ryan Pickren earned airline miles and gave five million of them to the Institute.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Pickren turns de-bugging into gift of airline miles for Georgia Tech."}],"uid":"28797","created_gmt":"2017-05-05 12:30:38","changed_gmt":"2017-05-05 15:46:17","author":"Lance Wallace","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2017-05-05T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2017-05-05T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"578151":{"id":"578151","type":"image","title":"Ryan Pickren Outside the Van Leer Building","body":null,"created":"1474036335","gmt_created":"2016-09-16 14:32:15","changed":"1475895388","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:56:28","alt":"Ryan Pickren Outside the Van Leer Building","file":{"fid":"207287","name":"dscn1182sm.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dscn1182sm.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dscn1182sm.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":259412,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/dscn1182sm.jpg?itok=qVrvvx6e"}}},"media_ids":["578151"],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"133","name":"Special Events and Guest Speakers"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"174361","name":"Ryan Pickren"},{"id":"174235","name":"2017 Spring Commencement"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003Elance.wallace@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["lance.wallace@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}