Engineering Team Lead · Computing & Cybersecurity Educator

Meg Fryling, Ph.D.

Delivery-focused technical leader with 20+ years of experience turning user and stakeholder needs into working software, with a second career teaching computing, information systems, and cybersecurity in higher education.

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Portrait of Meg Fryling

AboutA career split between industry and academia

Currently leads Agile delivery of a multi-tenant SaaS transformation as Engineering Team Lead at the Center for Internet Security, working daily with Product, QA, and Engineering to refine the backlog, write acceptance criteria, estimate work, and collaborate directly with customers.

Teaching has run alongside that industry work throughout her career. She currently teaches in the Department of Cybersecurity at the University at Albany, bringing current, hands-on industry practice into the classroom. Before that, she spent over a decade as a tenured professor in Siena University’s Computer Science / Information Systems department, teaching software engineering, mobile app development, and web design, and chaired the department. Earlier in her career, she led enterprise ERP implementations and legacy data conversions at the University at Albany, balancing competing priorities across many stakeholders as a technical team lead.

She holds a Ph.D. in Informatics, an MBA in Management Information Systems, a Graduate Certificate in Cybersecurity, and a B.S. in Computer Science, and is a Certified Scrum Master and AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner.

20+Years combined industry & academic experience
$687,876NSF grant led as Principal Investigator
18Peer-reviewed journal publications
7Professional & security certifications

ExperienceIndustry & academic leadership

Both careers, year by year.

  1. Industry

    Engineering Team Lead

    Center for Internet Security

    2024 – Present

    • Lead a high-performing engineering team of interns, senior, and principal engineers delivering SecureSuite and other cybersecurity products for “cyber underserved” organizations, using Java/Groovy, Grails, Gradle, and Spring Framework.
    • Leading architecture of a cloud-native, multi-tenant SaaS version of the CIS SecureSuite platform (MariaDB, Keycloak, Auth0, Liquibase, Docker, Kubernetes).
    • Drive Agile execution and team growth; champion secure coding, test coverage, and CI/CD practices (CircleCI), including AI-assisted development with Claude Code.
  2. Academic

    Lecturer, Department of Cybersecurity

    University at Albany

    2024 – Present

    • Instruct the undergraduate course “Web Technologies Essentials,” covering HTML, CSS, and JavaScript fundamentals.
    • Develop curriculum that bridges theoretical concepts with industry-aligned practice; mentor students on cybersecurity career paths.
  3. Industry

    Senior Software Engineer

    Center for Internet Security

    2022 – 2024

    • Developed clean, reusable code for CIS’s enterprise security application suite; led refactoring, QA processes, and defect resolution across multiple product lines.
    • Architected and maintained CI/CD pipelines; mentored junior engineers, conducted code reviews, and participated in on-call support rotation.
  4. Academic

    Computer Science / Information Systems Department Chair

    Siena University

    2021 – 2022

    • Led curriculum assessment, faculty recruitment and evaluation, budget, and course scheduling for the CS/IS department; chaired tenure-track faculty searches.
    • Implemented student recruitment and retention strategies, achieving measurable enrollment growth; represented the department in university governance.
  5. Academic

    Associate Professor of Computer Science

    Siena University (Assistant Professor, 2011–17)

    2011 – 2022

    • Taught object-oriented programming, software engineering, database design/development, mobile app development, and web design (Java, Python, PHP, JavaScript).
    • Redesigned four core courses using the flipped-classroom model, producing a library of 100+ original lecture videos.
    • Principal Investigator on a $687,876 NSF grant to increase enrollment and diversity in Computer Science; conducted and published peer-reviewed research in information systems.
  6. Academic

    Instructor

    Zhejiang Institute of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering (ZIME), Hangzhou, China

    2015 – 2020 (Summers)

    • Taught Database Concepts to undergraduates, in person (2015) and online (2016–2020), in a cross-cultural, international setting.
  7. Industry

    Associate Director, ITS

    University at Albany

    2010 – 2011

    • Directed planning, delivery, and management of enterprise messaging and collaboration services for 18,000+ users.
    • Conducted stakeholder analysis and vendor evaluations for critical infrastructure decisions; provided strategic technology recommendations to senior leadership.
  8. Academic

    Instructor

    University at Albany

    2007 – 2010

    • Taught Information Storage & Retrieval (undergraduate/graduate), Web Database Programming (graduate), and Database Development (graduate).
  9. Industry

    Tech Lead / Assistant Director, ITS

    University at Albany

    2002 – 2010

    • Led enterprise administrative applications strategy, including a PeopleSoft/Oracle ERP implementation and complex legacy data conversions.
    • Built and managed a technical team of 5–9 software engineers; conducted business process reengineering and fit-gap analysis; coordinated vendor and consultant relationships.
  10. Academic

    Instructor

    Siena University

    2003 – 2007

    • Taught Introduction to Computer Applications and Management Information Systems (undergraduate).
  11. Industry

    Senior Programmer-Analyst, ITS

    University at Albany

    1998 – 2002

    • Specialized in PeopleSoft/Oracle ERP customization and maintenance; led analysis, programming, testing, and implementation of integrated information systems.
    • Developed critical interfaces between mainframe and ERP systems. Technologies: COBOL, Oracle Database, PeopleSoft, MySQL, SQL, Perl, XML, HTML.

Leadership & Service

  • Board Member, AITP-EDSIG (2015–2017): fostered academia-industry collaboration in IS education; organized ISECON/EDSIGCON and CONISAR; oversaw JISE, ISEDJ, and JISAR editorial operations.
  • Editorial Board: JISE (2017–2022), ISEDJ (2016–2022), JISAR (2016–2022).
  • Reviewer (2005–2022): JISAR, ISEDJ, CONISAR, International System Dynamics Conference, Enterprise Information Systems Journal, CCSCNE, EDUCAUSE Annual Conference, HICSS.
  • Siena College governance: Presidential Search Committee (2019–2020); School of Business Dean Search Committee (2013–2014); Vice-Chair & At-Large Representative, General Faculty Committee; Board of Trustees Institutional Identity & Branding Committee.

EducationDegrees & credentials

Ph.D., Informatics

University at Albany

MBA, Management Information Systems

University at Albany

Graduate Certificate, Cybersecurity

University at Albany

B.S., Computer Science

Siena University

A.S., Business Administration

Schenectady County Community College

A.A.S., Paralegal Studies

Schenectady County Community College

Certifications

  • AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
  • GIAC Security Essentials (GSEC)
  • GIAC Certified Enterprise Defender (GCED)
  • Security Analyst Level 1 (SAL1)
  • Certified Scrum Master (CSM)
  • Mendix Rapid Developer
  • Systems Software Integrator (SSI), NICET
  • Cal Poly Professional Certificate in Machine Learning & AI

SkillsCore competencies

Leadership & Management

  • Team Leadership
  • Project Management
  • Strategic Planning
  • Business Process Reengineering
  • Agile / Scrum
  • Mentoring & Development

Technical Expertise

  • Java
  • Groovy / Grails
  • Spring (Boot, MVC, Security, Data)
  • TypeScript
  • PrimeVue
  • Python
  • JavaScript
  • PHP
  • SQL
  • Bash
  • RESTful APIs
  • Microservices
  • PostgreSQL
  • MariaDB
  • Oracle
  • MySQL
  • AWS
  • Docker
  • CI/CD
  • Keycloak
  • Liquibase
  • Claude Code

Specialized Areas

  • Cybersecurity
  • Enterprise Software Development
  • Academic Instruction
  • Research
  • Quality Assurance

ScholarshipGrants, publications & honors

Grants & Funded Research

  • NSF Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) Grant, Award #1432198, Principal Investigator, $687,876 (2014–2021).
  • Siena College Institute for AI (SCIAI) REU, funded by NSF, Faculty Mentor, “Detecting Cyberbullying in Social Media” (2016).
  • Siena College COTFD Research Fellowship Grant, $2,365, cyberbullying research in multiplayer online gaming (2016).

Selected Publications (Peer-Reviewed)

  • Fryling, M. (2020). From Flipped, to Flipped Out, to Mostly Sunny: How the Flipped Classroom Model Made the Move to Emergency Remote Learning Less Stormy. Issues in Information Systems, 21(1), 281–289.
  • Fryling, M. (2019). Low Code App Development. The Journal of Computing Science in Colleges, 34(6), 119.
  • Fryling, M. (2018). Gender, Over Sharing, and Cyberbullying in Online Multi-Player Gaming (MMOG) Environments. Issues in Information Systems, 19(2), 140–148.
  • Cotler, J., Fryling, M., & Rivituso, J. (2017). Causes of cyberbullying in multi-player online gaming environments: Gamer perceptions. Journal of Information Systems Applied Research, 10(1), 4–14.
  • Fryling, M., Yoder, R., & Breimer, E. (2016). Full Flip, Half Flip and No Flip: Evaluation of Flipping an Introductory Programming Course. Information Systems Education Journal, 14(5), 4–16.
  • Fryling, M. (2015). Investigating the Effect of Customization on Rework in a Higher Education ERP Post-Implementation Environment: A System Dynamics Approach. Journal of Information Technology Case and Application Research, 17(1), 8–40.
  • Fryling, M. (2010). Estimating the impact of enterprise resource planning project management decisions on post-implementation maintenance costs: a case study using simulation modelling. Enterprise Information Systems, 4(4), 391–421.

Full publication list (18 refereed journal articles and 20+ refereed conference proceedings) available upon request.

Honors & Awards

  • Professional Achievement Award, University at Albany College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security & Cybersecurity (2026).
  • Meritorious Paper Award, EDSIG Conference on Information Systems and Computing Education (2015).
  • Best Paper Award, Conference on Information Systems Applied Research (CONISAR) (2014).
  • Certificate of Appreciation, University at Albany, for ITS website and helpdesk wiki implementation (2011).

ContactGet in touch

Open to conversations on engineering leadership, cybersecurity, and computing education.

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