Does the world change for faculty members who achieve the long-awaited goal of tenure? It did for Bucknell computer science professor Alan Marchiori, but it had nothing to do with his new status. Instead, it was because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which erupted shortly after Marchiori received his good news.

“It’s nice to achieve tenure but I don’t yet know how to answer how it has changed things for me,” mentions Marchiori, who came to Bucknell in 2013. “It seems like everything has changed, but that is the COVID-19 situation.”

Marchiori had a wide range of experience before his arrival at Bucknell. He earned his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering and a master’s in computer engineering. Following this, he worked for several years as a design engineer developing electronic instrumentation systems to test military equipment. When the opportunity to help support one of the first online cashless payment solutions was presented, he moved and increased his focus on software. Soon he was working as a software engineer developing wireless mesh networking protocols to securely process credit card transactions in remote locations.

Those experiences led him to pursue a Ph.D. in computer science to explore the intersection between computing systems and the physical world made possible by wireless networks and the internet of things.

Marchiori’s Ph.D. research focused on using wireless sensor networks to improve the efficiency and performance of buildings and the comfort of occupants in those buildings. After receiving his Ph.D. from the Colorado School of Mines in 2011, Marchiori returned to industry as a research scientist at a corporate research center where he contributed to projects improving energy efficiency in commercial buildings, evaluating wireless instrumentation for aircraft and developing new security layers to protect vulnerable legacy systems.

Since transitioning to Bucknell, Marchiori has continued his focus on wireless networking. He planned to travel to The Netherlands during an upcoming sabbatical to collaborate with low-power network operator The Things Network to help analyze how they use the technology in large-scale real-world applications.

“Researchers can develop new technology and sometimes it gets used in the real world slightly differently,” describes Marchiori. “I want to learn from the network operators’ and users’ experiences using the current technology and then incorporate that into the next generation of the technology.”

But worldwide travel restrictions will likely impact his sabbatical plans, and Marchiori has proved to be skilled with contact tracing, which has become a common term in today’s lexicon.

“It’s always tempting to jump to the next hot topic,” says Marchiori. “However, shifting my immediate focus to contact tracing could make campus and the community safer.”

Contact tracing ties together Marchiori’s passions since it relies on the widespread use of computing systems, like cellphones, that have technologies for sensing and network communication.

Another project that Marchiori has embarked upon is developing low-cost water quality sensors. The idea spawned from a project he developed with the Bucknell Center for Sustainability and the Environment. Current sensors are cost prohibitive to install on a large scale. Thanks to his involvement with the ‘maker’ community on campus, he has developed a low-cost sensor that can be built for less than $100.

“The more cost-effective designs give up some precision and accuracy, but for some applications, we can use the increased data to improve our understanding of the world,” says Marchiori.

Freedom to pursue new research opportunities is one positive of tenure, but Marchiori is also looking forward to what tenure allows from a teaching standpoint. He’s hoping to lead some courses he hasn’t previously taught, spend some time updating data in other courses and develop some new electives.

“I want to keep our curriculum updated with the latest modern computing tools and technologies,” says Marchiori. “Our field is constantly changing and students want to learn what is being used in professional settings.”

Marchiori has already started on some updates along with his computer science colleagues. When Bucknell moved to remote learning in March, they updated the lab content associated with CSCI 206 (Computer Organization) to include high-performance computing and lab debugging exercises. He — and all of his colleagues — were already changing the way they taught, so it was the perfect time for some adjustments to benefit the students.

Working with students and seeing them succeed is one thing that is special for Marchiori. He supports a number of student research projects and seems to convey a special appreciation for it when he talks about some of their successes, including citing students who have presented at research conferences and progressed to top-ranked Ph.D. programs.

Marchiori initially came to Bucknell because he liked the liberal arts focus and the ability for faculty to split their focus between research and teaching. He still loves those aspects, but also cited the camaraderie and supportive nature of the faculty as a reason it’s a great place to work and advance your career.

“Accessible faculty is a hallmark of Bucknell for students, but we’re also accessible for other faculty,” says Marchiori. “If I have a question about mechanical design — how to build a part for a sensor — I can go ask someone in mechanical engineering. And they’re very willing to help on different projects. If they need advice on a computing solution, especially with wireless networking, I’m able to work with them to find the right solution to their problem. There is a collaborative environment across departments and colleges. In fact, I have worked with every engineering discipline and many others outside of engineering.”

As Marchiori moves forward as a tenured professor his goal is to keep doing what he has been doing.

“Tenure is the next step in my career,” says Marchiori. “It’s great and I like having more security and flexibility. I plan to keep doing similar things, teaching new courses, collaborating with other faculty and involving students in research.”