The 2025 Spirit of Georgetown Winner: A Cybersecurity Leader with Heart

From (Not Quite) ‘Problem Child’ to Spirit of Georgetown Winner | Georgetown SCS
Skip to Main Content
Sign In
Alert
Cart
Menu
Academics
Academic Programs
Professional Graduate Programs
Online Master's Degrees
On-Campus Master's Degrees
Executive Master's Degrees
Graduate Certificates
Professional Certificates
Liberal Studies Degrees
Online Bachelor's Degree Completion
Graduate Degrees
English Language
Summer Sessions
High School Summer
PROGRAMS FOR ORGANIZATIONS
International Executive Programs
Custom & Executive Education
Special Programs
Coursera for Campus
Visiting Non-Degree
Centers & Institutes
Center for Social Impact Communication
Institute for Transformational Leadership
English Language Center
Academic Resources
Academic Calendar
Student Handbooks
See also: Resources for Current Students
Georgetown & Manchester City F.C. to Launch Executive Master's Program
more News & Events
Admissions & Aid
How to Apply
Master's Degrees
Graduate Certificates
Professional Certificates
Online Bachelor's Degree Completion
Intensive English
Doctoral Degree
Summer Sessions
High School Summer
Application Resources for
Military Students
International Students
Online Students
Application Details
Tuition
Financial Aid
Meet the Admissions Team
Contact Your Admissions Advisor
Georgetown & Manchester City F.C. to Launch Executive Master's Program
more News & Events
Faculty
News & Events
About
About Georgetown
About
Message from the Dean
Previous Dean's Reports
Our Campus
Leadership & Governance
Resources
Contact Us
School Resources
Maps & Directions
Parking & Transportation Services
Hours of Operation
Sustainable Campus
LG Digital Broadcast Studio
Digital Media Center
Visitor Policy
Public Safety
Our Location
Georgetown & Manchester City F.C. to Launch Executive Master's Program
more News & Events
Contact
Search
Resources for
New Students
Current Students
International Students
Online Students
Faculty
Alumni
Organizations
Sign In
Cart
Academics
Professional Graduate Programs
Online Master's Degrees
On-Campus Master's Degrees
Executive Master's Degrees
Graduate Certificates
Professional Certificates
Liberal Studies Degrees
Online Bachelor's Degree Completion
Graduate Degrees
English Language
Summer Sessions
High School Summer
Programs for Organizations
International Executive Programs
Custom & Executive Education
Special Programs
Coursera for Campus
Visiting Non-Degree
Centers & Institutes
Center for Social Impact Communication
Institute for Transformational Leadership
English Language Center
Academic Resources
Academic Calendar
Student Handbooks
Resources for Current Students
Admissions & Aid
Master's Degrees
Graduate Certificates
Professional Certificates
Online Bachelor's Degree Completion
Intensive English
Doctoral Degree
Summer Sessions
High School Summer
Application Resources for
Military Students
International Students
Online Students
Application Details
Tuition
Financial Aid
Meet the Admissions Team
Contact Your Admissions Advisor
Faculty
News & Events
About
Message from the Dean
Previous Dean's Reports
Our Campus
Leadership & Governance
Resources
Contact Us
School Resources
Maps & Directions
Parking & Transportation Services
Hours of Operation
Sustainable Campus
LG Digital Broadcast Studio
Digital Media Center
Visitor Policy
Public Safety
Contact
Resources for ...
New Students
Current Students
International Students
Online Students
Faculty
Alumni
Search
facebook
twitter
youtube
instagram
linkedin
Contents
All
Industry Trends
Tips & Resources
Academics
Military
Faculty
Opinion
Service
Students
Events
Video
Research
Press Releases
Dean's Messages
COVID-19 Protocols
From (Not Quite) ‘Problem Child’ to Spirit of Georgetown Winner
News
Events
Topics
All
Industry Trends
Tips & Resources
Academics
Military
Faculty
Opinion
Service
Students
Events
Video
Research
Press Releases
Dean's Messages
COVID-19 Protocols
July 15, 2025
by Lawrence Hardy
in
Students , Academics
Tagged: Master's in Cybersecurity Risk Management
At about mile seven, Gini Khalsa turned to his graduate student and asked, “Are you sure you want to do this, because it’s going to be a long walk and a lot of time?”
In fact, it had already been a long walk—and a lot of time. But Khalsa, who is 60, a resident of Hagerstown, Maryland, an IT specialist, and what you might call an enthusiastic walker, likes to make the most of his trips to Georgetown’s School of Continuing Studies (SCS), where he teaches in the Master’s in Cybersecurity Risk Management program.
And that means getting in a lot of steps each time.
While it was certainly polite for Khalsa to ask Zaki Mohammed (G’25), the student he was walking with, whether he wanted to continue their hike, he had to know what the answer would be—for two reasons. First, they were already well into Northern Virginia and had to get back to SCS somehow; and second, there was absolutely no way Mohammed—who had been talking for several hours with Khalsa about everything from his cybersecurity project to the purpose of life—was going to pack it in.
A Singular Honor
Faculty member Gini Khalsa with Zaki Mohammed (G’25).
On May 13 at the 2025 Tropaia Ceremony on the Hilltop Campus, Mohammed received the Spirit of Georgetown Award, which honors a graduating student or alumnus who exemplifies the university’s values of people in service to others, commitment to justice and the common good, intellectual openness, and leadership. He also won the Outstanding Student Award for the Cybersecurity Risk Management program.
To win awards such as these, one has to have accomplished a lot of things. And it is easy to list at least a portion what Mohammed has accomplished in his two years at Georgetown: served in GradGov, the university-wide graduate student government as the representative for the Cybersecurity Risk Management program; founded the Georgetown University Cybersecurity Society; served as a research assistant for the program; published several scholarly papers published; and won the University’s Exceptional Master’s Student Award in 2024.
"Georgetown didn’t just prepare me for a career," Zaki commented in a recent Q&A for SCS's Mission in Motion blog. "It shaped me into someone who sees technology as a tool for meaningful and compassionate evolution."
But to really get a sense of what motivates him, you need to talk with him—maybe not for five hours, like Khalsa did on that walk, but definitely for more than one—and those who have worked with and gotten to know him.
“Dedicated, enthusiastic, energetic,” is how Khalsa describes Mohammed: “Once in a while, you get students who are so committed to doing good in the field and putting their best foot forward—and continuing to do that.”
Author and cybersecurity consultant Henry Sienkiewicz also taught Mohammed and, like Khalsa, recommended him for the Spirit of Georgetown Award. His impression sounds remarkably similar.
Every so often, “you meet students who end up challenging you, and he clearly did that,” Sienkiewicz says. “He’s got a great mind and wonderful insights on a variety of topics, all related to some type of cybersecurity. But he, quite frankly, made me better at my game.”
A Passion for Cybersecurity
Zaki Mohammed (G’25) in academic regalia.
Mohammed grew up in a small town in southwest India, where he and his three siblings were expected to excel in school. And all of them did—except him. “Problem child,’’ is how his mother labeled an online folder she kept about him. It was said in jest but had a ring of truth. Although he loved tinkering with electronics—and once short-circuited the entire house when one of his experiments went awry— Mohammed was, by his own admission, “naughty” in middle school: cutting up in class, not finishing his homework, and not particularly interested in what he was supposed to be learning.
That feeling persisted into college, where he majored in computer science technology—programming, coding, and developing software—but didn’t find that very exciting, either. Still, Mohammed didn’t w…

Text scraped from the landing page for research purposes. © respective owners. This text is sourced from the advertiser's public landing page; for removal, contact dmca@luba.media.