Samuel Octavius, former Co-Executive Director of ITW's ThrillerFest and now Operations Director, has based his stories on his twenty years as an expert in 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. 

 

As a young adult, he discovered his love for books, 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 was 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 how advanced digital technologies influence intimacy, connectedness, and belief structures in interpersonal relationships. 

 

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