This Cybersecurity Student Went from Military Linguist to Working in Cyber Threat Intelligence at TEP
Adrian Martinez ‘22 Cybersecurity grew up learning about various unique perspectives, so it only makes sense that his life has led him down a diverse path.
“I’ve always been around different cultures, different students, and different ways of life,” says Martinez.
Born in San Luis Obispo, his father worked at Cal Poly and his mother worked at a local community college. The family later moved to Utah, where Martinez’s parents worked at Utah State University, and finally to Yuma, where they secured jobs at Arizona Western College.
Martinez took honors classes throughout high school, but after graduating and then earning his associate’s degree, he knew it was time for a change.
“I had a sense of wanderlust,” he says.
Noting he had always been interested in the military, Martinez decided to join the U.S. Army, where he took a linguist slot. Training at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, he was tasked with learning a new language: Persian-Farsi. While the first week of classes was taught in English and Persian-Farsi, after that, all classes were solely in Persian-Farsi. After one year of learning, Martinez took the Army’s competency test and passed, scoring above the required college reading and listening levels and the high school speaking level.
After a few years, he reclassified and moved to a new role in the Army: all-source intelligence analyst. In the position, Martinez’s duty was focused on bringing together information from multiple classified and open sources to develop a clear understanding of complex threats and adversary activity. Martinez would then translate that analysis into reports and briefings that helped military leaders and multinational partners make informed operational decisions.
Martinez met his wife while they were both enlisted in the Army. The couple eventually decided to leave the military and return to school.
For Martinez, that meant pursuing his bachelor’s in cyber operations from the University of Arizona’s College of Information Science. After earning his degree, he began working at Tucson Electric Power as a cyber analyst and now develops and operationalizes the Cyber Threat Intelligence program.
The biggest learning curve has been converting his military knowledge to corporate knowledge at TEP.
“The skills are there. You just have to apply them in a different way,” he says.
One of those skills is collaborating with others and bringing people together, which he is striving to do at TEP. While driving to work at the Irvington TEP location one day, he wondered if it would be possible to tour the inside of the power station and reflected on how valuable that experience would have been while he was enrolled in the University of Arizona’s cyber operations program. As a founding member of Cybersaguaros, the university’s cybersecurity club, he saw an opportunity to create that experience for current members and worked with colleagues across TEP to organize a tour for the club. He’s also been instrumental in planning a cyber capture the flag event between TEP, the University of Arizona and Pima Community College.
Martinez is also pursuing collaborative efforts outside the workplace. This spring, he was a judge for the College of Information Science’s iShowcase, and he is a speaker for the College of Information Science: Speaker Series this fall. He has also secured a volunteer role as chairperson of the Independent Audit and Performance Commission for the City of Tucson, an independent municipal commission providing oversight and advisory support to the mayor and the city council.
His educational journey isn’t over yet, either. He’s currently pursuing his MS in Cybersecurity from the Eller College of Management, with plans to graduate this fall. While his favorite class was the project management course, he also enjoyed classes centered around risk management and machine learning, where he learned to use R.
“Using R and the data analytics and machine learning class was a game changer for me at work and here at home,” Martinez says.
In fact, he has applied these skills in project management and data management to his own personal projects. Martinez created a backyard aquaponics system that raises fish and plants in a self-sustaining ecosystem, where the plants help filter the water and fish waste provides nutrients for plant growth. What began as a small Rubbermaid container has grown into a 1,200-gallon, solar-powered system that uses automation, environmental sensors and data analytics to monitor water quality, track system performance and support more efficient operation.
It’s projects like this that remind Martinez that curiosity must be actively maintained and nurtured. Taking a chance on something unfamiliar, asking questions and continuing to explore can lead to skills and opportunities that might otherwise never develop, especially for current students.
“For students, start with anything. Start with a Raspberry Pi and a webcam, put it in front of your front door and now you’ve got a home security system,” he says. “Instead of waiting for things to happen to you, reach out and grab them.”
And why not get a tattoo while you’re at it? Martinez, a tattoo aficionado, heads to El Paso, Texas, every year with a group of friends to visit their go-to tattoo shop. For him, tattoos can be symbolic and mark key memories or moments in life.