MS Program Goes Beyond Academics
Before Robert Reimann had a chance to find the CADS Professional Studies MS Program with RIT, it found him.
“I was on a bicycling weekend at West Point, and I met one of the senior fellows [of the Center for Advanced Defense Studies] at the Hotel Thayer,” recalls Robert Reimann, a current student in the CADS Professional Studies MS Program with RIT. “We got into a conversation, and I was already applying to other programs, but he really talked up the program and impressed me.” Already a successful businessman, one of the factors that captured Reimann’s interest was the counterterrorism program’s pragmatism. “I wanted an application-based program, rather than something that was purely academic and theoretical,” he explains. “I like that the professors actually work in the field.”
“Terrorism is kind of a business, and so is counterterrorism,” Reimann says. “You have to look at it as a business model and understand the efficiencies of how it works.”
Reimann is maximizing effiency when it comes to the accelerated pace of the CADS Professional Studies MS Program with RIT, which is offered by the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (CADS) and the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). By going to school full-time since he enrolled in September, he will earn his second master’s degree in just nine months.
“There’s so much room for making what you want of it,” Reimann says of the program. He cites the flexibility of the program’s design and faculty as particular assets. “This is going to sound corny or cheesy, but the people here really listen to the students,” he says. He notes that the program’s attention to cultural studies was among the bigger surprises from which he has benefited.
Reimann’s interests range from intelligence to helping companies manage political and terrorism risks both domestically and internationally. The latter led to an internship this semester with the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, a U.S. government agency that assists businesses with investments and political risk management abroad. An opportunity that arose for Reimann directly from attending the CADS Professional Studies MS Program with RIT is writing for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, following a class he took that was taught by a professor who works for the broadcasting service.
The financial landscape may not be what drives many people to pursue a career in national security and defense, but Reimann’s thinking is integral to successfully fighting terrorism. When it comes to business, his personal success speaks for itself.
Before joining the CADS Professional Studies MS Program with RIT, Reimann worked as a business consultant dealing with nanotechnology issues for a New York investment banking firm. He had already earned a master’s degree in international business administration from the University of Denver, and he received his undergraduate degree from Syracuse University in international relations. Calling terrorism “the pressing issue of our time,” he decided to consolidate his academic and business background with his international security interests.
After graduation, Reimann looks forward to using the CADS Professional Studies MS Program with RIT as a springboard to pursuing a career in international risk management.
