Paul Groll is a dislodged UP'er and a recovering coral reef theoretical ecologist. At some point, he got roped into a broad array of computer-related research projects at both the University of Hawaii (1984) and Michigan State University (1981, 1990). SCUBA tanks are heavy, so he eventually switched fields and moved into computer science (hey, floppy disks). He worked for many years at MSU, focusing on scientific and engineering computing, and also built up a software and network consulting firm, working throughout Michigan and Ohio.

After joining the State in the 90s, Mr. Groll has worked in nearly every facet of IT, including running a data center, firewalls, agency services, software design and development, secure medical data messaging, Enterprise Information Management, Data Architecture, and more recently, Big Data, Cloud Computing, and Analytics.

Through all this, his passion remains cybersecurity, in which he holds a number of professional certifications. He continues to consult, travel, and lecture on a range of technical and scientific topics, reads extensively about cybercrime and Number Theory, and throws spinning things into the air for Kai The Wonderdog.