Samuel Octavius, ITW’s former Co-Executive Director, now Operations Director, has based his stories on his twenty years as an expert in the field of information technology. Sam holds a B.S. in Computer Networks and Cybersecurity and an M.S. in Data Analytics from the University of Maryland and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Computational Social Science at George Mason University. 

 

He discovered his love for books as a young adult, lost in the magical world of Harry Potter, Jason Bourne's adventures, and William Gibson's cyberpunk. His voracious appetite for learning and his obsession with emerging technologies are infused in his storytelling. He served as 2023’s ThrillerFest Panel Master for the “Innovative, Futurist, or Autonomous—Real or Artificial Intelligence” discussion. He’s conducted working groups and delivered lectures on topics ranging from “Data Analysis in Everyday Life” to “Operationalizing Artificial Intelligence for the Modern Battlefield.” 

Sam enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1997, completed multiple combat tours and finished his twenty-four-year career in Marine Corps intelligence. Throughout his time in uniform, he explored the impacts of information warfare, data science, autonomous systems, mass media, and AI on the military. His efforts contributed to modernizing the Marine Corps intelligence community’s use of data engineering. These days, he’s fascinated by the ways in which advanced digital technologies influence intimacy, connectedness, and belief structures in interpersonal relationships. 

 

Follow me on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@samueloctavius

Or on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samueloctavius/