By Dave DeFusco
At a time when students and alumni from colleges across the United States are navigating a maze of disconnected platforms to stay in touch with their peers, faculty and communities, three students in the Katz School鈥檚 M.S. in Cybersecurity are building something different鈥攕omething unified.
During the Katz School鈥檚 Graduate Symposium on Science, Health and Technology, Laticbe Elijah, Joy Awoleye and Christine Macharia presented Campus Circle, a secure, inclusive online platform designed to serve as a one-stop hub for students and alumni associations from multiple universities in the New York metropolitan area. Cybersecurity Industry Professor Elad Hod advised the trio.
鈥淩ight now, most students and alumni are using scattered social media groups, email lists and third-party apps that don鈥檛 really talk to each other,鈥 said Awoleye, the team鈥檚 lead developer. 鈥淲e wanted to create something cohesive鈥攁 space where people can connect based on shared backgrounds, interests or goals.鈥
Campus Circle addresses a common pain point echoed by researchers who note that fragmented communication tools in higher education hinder meaningful engagement. The team鈥檚 solution? A robust platform that offers networking, collaboration, event planning, voting tools and community management鈥攁ll protected by modern cybersecurity standards.
Elijah, who developed the platform鈥檚 privacy features, emphasized the importance of data protection. 鈥淥ur platform isn鈥檛 just convenient鈥攊t鈥檚 secure,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e followed OWASP standards and GDPR guidelines to safeguard personally identifiable information. From broken access control to cryptographic failures, we鈥檝e worked hard to protect users from common threats.鈥
To build the site, the team used a combination of tools and programming languages. The look and feel of the website were created using HTML, CSS, JavaScript and the Bootstrap framework. Behind the scenes, they used Laravel, a web development framework that helps handle the application logic and connects the application鈥檚 front end to the MySQL database, which stores user information. They also ran several tests to make sure the platform worked well and was easy to use.
鈥淲ith assigned privileges, administrators have exclusive control over the users,鈥 said Awoleye. 鈥淎nd if someone breaks the rules, they can be suspended. That keeps it a safe and respectful space.鈥
The prototype is currently live at , where it underwent beta testing by the Katz African Student Association (KASA). The platform鈥檚 in-built voting tool was used in KASA鈥檚 2025/2026 cabinet elections, successfully replacing paper ballots and informal group polls with a streamlined, secure process.
鈥淲e see this platform growing into a digital commons,鈥 said Macharia. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just about technology鈥攊t鈥檚 about community. This project aligns perfectly with the goals of cybersecurity: trust, access control and the responsible use of personal data.鈥
Still, the project鈥檚 ambitious scope faces limitations. 鈥淲e鈥檙e a small team and we had a tight timeline,鈥 said Elijah. 鈥淭here are features we didn鈥檛 get to implement鈥攜et.鈥
Those features are already mapped out for future development: AI-powered matchmaking based on academic or professional interests, geolocation-based meetup coordination, personalized content feeds and smart suggestions powered by machine learning.
鈥淲e envision a future where students and alumni don鈥檛 have to search multiple platforms to find each other,鈥 said Macharia. 鈥淐ampus Circle will bring the community to them.鈥
