Rate My Professor Tonia San Nicolas-Rocca

Tonia San Nicolas-Rocca is the Faculty Associate Dean in the College of Information, Data and Society at San José State University (SJSU), where she also serves as an Associate Professor in the School of Information. She has been at SJSU for thirteen years, leading strategic planning and implementing programs aligned with the college and university mission. She collaborates closely with department chairs and directors to promote faculty and student success and advance academic excellence. As Co-Director of the Center for AI and Cybersecurity (CAIC), she partners with faculty, city leaders, and industry professionals to cultivate the next generation of AI and cybersecurity experts. Her initiatives include securing grant funding for research and industry partnerships, expanding professional training opportunities, and boosting interest in AI and cybersecurity via innovative outreach programs. In 2025, SJSU received a $100,000 award from Honda for her project, CyVerse, a cutting-edge browser-based XR immersive training platform for cybersecurity and AI foundational knowledge.

Dr. San Nicolas-Rocca earned her Ph.D. in Information Systems and Technology from Claremont Graduate University. Her research and teaching focus on cybersecurity education, information assurance, health informatics, knowledge management, and technology applications in health and community contexts. She has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings on these topics. Key publications include "Patient-provider communications in outpatient clinic settings: a clinic-based evaluation of mobile device and multimedia mediated communications for patient education" (2015, with B. Schooley and R. Burkhard), "Information security in libraries: Examining the effects of knowledge transfer" (2019, with R.J. Burkhard), "Design and development of a patient-centered e-health system to improve patient understanding at discharge" (2014, with B. Schooley and S.J. Joo), "Application level security in a public library: A case study" (2018, with R. Thomchick), and "Capturing and conveying Chamorro cultural knowledge using social media" (2014, with J. Parrish). Before academia, she worked in the telecommunications industry designing and managing secure network solutions for multinational organizations. She held prior faculty appointments at Colorado State University Pueblo and California State University San Bernardino, and has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in computer information systems for over 18 years. She contributes to SJSU's interdisciplinary cybersecurity initiatives and teaches cybersecurity and networking to iSchool graduate students.