Commencement right on cue for UTC cybersecurity graduate Noah Dillon

Noah Dillon sings the alma mater during commencement while standing in cap and gown on stage.

Noah Dillon sings the alma mater during the afternoon commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 9. Photo by Angela Foster.

Noah Dillon’s commencement weekend will not end after he crosses the McKenzie Arena stage. It will just be getting started.

On Saturday, May 9, he will receive his master’s degree in computer science with a concentration in cybersecurity from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. A short time later, still in cap and gown, he will join the Chamber Singers—a select vocal ensemble—to perform the alma mater as part of the ceremony’s conclusion.

The following day, Dillon and the Chamber Singers will board a flight to Ireland, beginning an international tour that blends music, history and culture.

That kind of quick turnaround is familiar to Dillon. When he completed his bachelor’s degree in computer science at UTC in May 2024, he began a NASA internship just two days later. Now, as he prepares to graduate again, the transition is just as immediate.

“I graduate and then I’m on a plane to the other side of the world,” he said. “I’ve worked very hard to get to this point. This semester has been pretty busy, but I’m enjoying it because there are so many good things happening.”

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The Mount Juliet, Tennessee, native has been part of the Chamber Singers since his freshman year. Since then, he has spent countless hours balancing performances, travel and rehearsals alongside his rigorous academic path in computer science.

“Choir was a very good place to be,” Dillon said. “I think everybody who’s doing something you wouldn’t necessarily consider a creative field … having that outlet is a really good place.”

UC Foundation Professor of Music Kevin Ford, who leads the Chamber Singers, said Dillon’s dedication to the ensemble has remained consistent throughout his time at UTC.

“Noah has been a unique student who has made singing a priority in his life,” Ford said. “He came to the group in 2021 and has continued in it through undergraduate into graduate school. Some semesters, he commuted to campus just to make the choral rehearsals since much of his work could be done remotely.”

That same discipline has defined his work in UTC’s cybersecurity program.

As an undergraduate, Dillon was selected for the competitive CyberCorps Scholarship for Service program, which prepares students for careers in federal service. He also completed two internships with NASA’s Office of Inspector General, contributing to a major effort to modernize a tool used to detect fraud, waste and abuse in government grants and contracts.

“It has been one of the most incredible things I’ve done in my life,” he said. “I’ve learned how a large corporation operates, how the government works and how to manage time on a huge scale.”

His work earned recognition within the agency and reinforced the path he set for himself after attending a GenCyber summer camp in high school.

“Noah Dillon always impresses me as a curious, determined and service-minded leader who brings together technical excellence, teamwork, creativity, humility and a deep sense of purpose,” said Professor Mengjun Xie, head of the UTC Department of Computer Science and Engineering. “He is an outstanding representative of the kind of students UTC’s Scholarship for Service program has produced and will continue to produce.

“I am highly confident that he will build a bright career, distinguish himself in public service and make significant contributions to the agencies he serves.”

That path, Dillon said, began to take shape when he committed to the CyberCorps program and secured his first internship.

“When I got the scholarship, that was the moment where I thought, ‘OK, every bit of work that I’ve done has paid off,’” Dillon said. “Then getting the internship a few months later just pushed me even more.”

Since then, he has taken on leadership roles, including mentoring younger students through cybersecurity competitions and campus organizations.

“I started extremely shy,” he said. “I was nervous going into work or classes. Now I’m standing in front of a room giving presentations or leading meetings. I’ve grown so much through the people I’ve met here.”

That growth is something he now encourages in others.

“Just be curious,” he tells them. “Don’t stop asking questions. If you stop asking questions, you’re not going to learn anything.”

A smiling Noah Dillon sits at a table at the Outstanding Graduate Student Awards Ceremony

Noah Dillon was honored at the Outstanding Graduate Student Awards Ceremony in April as the outstanding student in the Master of Science: Computer Science: Cyber Security program. Photo by Dixie Edmondson.

Dillon has extensive travel experience, including a previous Chamber Singers tour through Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic.

Ireland will add another destination—one he committed to immediately.

“I love traveling,” he said. “When I heard Ireland, I was like, ‘OK, I’m going to go.’ There was no doubt about it.

“I love going places and meeting new people, seeing what things are, eating the food, being very involved in trying to learn as much about the culture as possible.”

The Ireland trip will include family as well as his fellow singers. Dillon’s twin sister, Izzy—a December 2025 UTC graduate with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice—will be there, too, joining him for the experience.

“We’re both very excited,” he said. “This is her first time traveling to Ireland, too, so I think it will be nice to be getting to share that experience.”

The Ireland itinerary includes three major performance sites across the country.

In Galway, the Chamber Singers will perform at St. Nicholas’ Collegiate Church, a medieval church founded in the 12th century. In Limerick, the ensemble will present a full evening concert at St. Mary’s Cathedral. In Dublin, the group will sing at Christ Church Cathedral, the city’s oldest church and a landmark that predates nearby St. Patrick’s Cathedral by roughly half a century.

The performance sites themselves are of particular interest to Dillon, with the Chamber Singers set to perform in historic spaces shaped by stone, weather and design.

“Most are made of stone,” he explained. “All of that affects how you sing and how it sounds. I’m really excited to see what it’s like for us to stand there and sing and hear the actual reflections of our voices back off the stone.”

Calling himself an analytical thinker, Dillon approaches those spaces with a different lens.

“You can see what people were thinking when they built something,” he said. “It’s literally written in the stone.

“You can learn a lot just by how things are put on the walls, how the pews are situated … what’s the centerpiece of the space. I’m really excited to see them.”