Justin Pelletier

Dr. Pelletier teaches Authentication and Security Models and enjoys exploring information security economics, social cybersecurity, and quantum/post-quantum security. He is a combat veteran who has served as an intelligence officer during three overseas deployments and provided homeland response for two domestic emergencies.

1. How Do You Teach Applied Critical Thinking in the Context of Disaster?

Disasters are low probability, high impact events. But thinking more about impacts and likelihood is not enough to properly navigate a disaster. During crises, we must accept failure and forge better thinking through failures that are both quick and shallow. The nature of applied critical thinking is endemic to proper disaster management. This is something we are cultivating in the immersive scenarios within RIT's new Cyber Range and Training Center. Within the Cyber Range, trainees will experience incidents and learn to build a pattern of effective responses.

2. Why Do You Think Applied Critical Thinking is Important in Your Domain?

We cannot simply think *harder* about impacts and likelihood, we must categorize and examine the structures of our thinking--the algorithms we use to arrive at conclusions--in order to manage cognitive distortion. When disaster does strike, I have found that thinking becomes especially prone to catastrophizing and availability bias.

3. Can You Share a Story Where Quality Applied Critical Thinking Was Key to Your Success?

Just over the last few weeks, all of RIT has had to adjust to alternative teaching modalities. During our pivot, I noticed that a false dilemma emerged. This is a logical fallacy that sorts options into a binary choice, but does not consider alternatives. As a teaching community, I think we assumed a need to do lectures as the best way to teach. If we could not do it in person for roughly three hours per week per class, we felt compelled to do it online. Michael Yacci (Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at GCCIS) recognized this and challenged the faculty to apply critical thinking. As we've worked through it as a College and within each Department, it has been quite inspiring to see how many alternatives came out of the team. Though this is an ongoing effort, there is evidence of success in the strong collaboration across faculty and staff, who have built a repository of best practices that iterate upon each other’s successes and failures.

4. How Do I Use Critical Thinking in Other Areas of Your Life Outside of RIT?

In 2019, I spent some time in Afghanistan. The job of any intelligence officer is to speak truth to power. At several occasions, I found the resources available at https://yourbias.is/ and https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/ to be particularly useful in systematically examining the way we thought about setting conditions for successful resolution to the war there.

5. Any Last Critical Thoughts You Wish to Share About What We Are Experiencing Now or What You Have Learned in Past Work?

This too shall pass. We can get through anything together if we remember to look up and call out for help when we need it.