Shine Kang
’84, Electrical & Electronics Engineering

Her first name, by definition, means to excel and stand out – something Shine Kang certainly does through her professional career and personal drive.

Kang serves as the Chief Information Security Officer at the Architect of the Capitol, a legislative branch organization. The Architect of the Capitol’s mission is to provide Congress and the public with a wide range of professional expertise and services to preserve and enhance the Capitol complex, including the U.S. Capitol, Senate and House of Representatives office buildings, Library of Congress, Supreme Court, Botanic Garden and Capitol Power Plant. Shine’s responsibility is to manage information security programs to protect the networks and information resources.

She has 20 years of experience working in federal government. After graduating from Cal Poly Pomona with a bachelor’s degree in electrical and electronics engineering, Shine joined the Department of Defense as an engineer in the Army Materiel Command. She worked for the Army Signal Command and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a quality and reliability engineer and later moved into Information Management. She served the Department of Energy for three years as the Network and Systems Security Officer before accepting her current position at the Architect of the Capitol.

While studying at Cal Poly Pomona, Shine says she acquired the knowledge and self-discipline that is the basis of her career advancement.

“As a student at Cal Poly, I developed the skills to be hard working, put forth my best effort, planned for small goals, completed tasks on time, tried continuously, read as a habit, analyzed and coordinated,” she says.

While building her career, Shine continuously pursued advanced education. She earned a master’s degree from Texas A&M University in Industrial Engineering and a Master of Business Administration from Georgetown University. She also earned a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) credential.

“I think education is the basis of self confidence, and it always counts,” Shine says. “It’s important to have an attitude of continuous learning and growth. Opportunity is there for those who are ready and seek it.”

Although she has studied at several universities, Shine says Cal Poly Pomona is like home. Her freshman year of college was only her second year living in the United States after she and her family emigrated from Korea. She worked in Los Angeles every day after class and then returned to the University Library to study and finish homework.

“I have vivid memories of the beautiful campus—the rose garden, olive trees, farm animals, view of the snow-capped mountains and hills covered by golden poppy flowers,” Shine says. “I love to stop by whenever I go back to California. I walk around and reminisce about the old days. Cal Poly was the place where I dreamed about my future, where I set my professional goals, and it provided me the foundation of my professional career.”

Shine loves music and art. She plays piano and guitar and is an amateur artist in Chinese brush drawing. She is a member of the Symphony Orchestra League of Alexandria and the Washington Professional Artists Association.