About Joe Pearce

About Joe Pearce

General: I am a 53 year old college graduate married to Sherri Pearce. I am an employee of Eastman Chemical Company as a Corporate IT Architect in the Global IT Operations Team. I have lived in Hampton, Tennessee in the same home all of my life. I am a Free and Accepted Master Mason and a former member of the Order of the Eastern Star. I am former graduate student and alumnus of ETSU, and a graduate and alumnus of Northeast State Community College. I am currently on what has turned into an extended hiatus from graduate school. I had been working on completing my master's in computer and information science before joining Eastman, but I have been unable to find time to return.

Education: I was a graduate student at ETSU working on my master's in computer and information sciences but was recently purged due to inactivity. I simply haven't been able to find the time to go back. I have a BS in Computer and Information Science with an Information Technology concentration. My electives focused mainly on security and forensics. I have not made up my mind whether to do a thesis or a Capstone project for my masters, but if I do a thesis, I hope to do it on smart card security focusing on the problem of DSS satellite theft. My main interests are information security and forensics, network and system administration, identity and access management, project management, human relations, organizational behavior, and interpersonal communications.

How I Got Here: I have always been a geek of sorts. When I was young, I had the first Atari on my street, a blessing due to my half brother and all of his friends wanting to play. I had the first computer which was a Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer 2, a blessing due to how well I was doing in school on the Apple IIe computers. I wrote my first program on an Apple IIe at my elementary school in 8th grade in 1985. I wrote programs in Basic on the old TRS-80. During high school, I worked on computers often, but never thought about using it as a career. After I graduated, I became a meat cutter and cut meat off and on for 10 years until a work-related injury forced me to make a change of careers. I only touched computers when I had to. After the injury, I decided to go to college and major in Computer Science. 

Interests: I love to fish, hike, and camp. I especially love trout fishing in the local creeks and rivers. There is nothing like a day of relaxation standing in the middle of Laurel Fork Creek fishing for the elusive Brook Trout or the super fun Brown Trout. Yes, I even like to catch the occasional Rainbow Trout. I love to hike the Appalachian Trail. The Pond Mountain area is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful places in the world. I also love to camp. Carden's Bluff, named after my mother's side of the family, is one of my favorite places to go due to its direct proximity to Watauga Lake. Carden's Bluff was named after Ansil and Presley Carden due to their ferry across Watauga River to the Horseshoe Bend area of Siam, now the current site of Watauga Dam and Wilbur Dam.

I also enjoy gardening. I took a break the past couple of years, but plan to have a garden again soon. I usually have a great garden every year which normally has the standard crops. I have grown leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, Vidalia onions, yellow onions, broccoli, zucchini squash, yellow crook neck squash, better boy tomatoes, blue lake bush green beans, pole green beans, bantam hybrid corn, golden queen yellow corn, silver queen white corn, radishes, carrots, slicing cucumbers, pickling cucumbers, spinach, green peppers, banana peppers, jalapeno peppers, cayenne peppers, cantaloupe, watermelon, and okra. I can't forget to mention all of the flowers I have growing. I have a mixture of annual and perennial flowers all over the yard in pots and in the ground. There are simply to many to list. I just love the outdoors in general.

One of my most loved past times is automotive related items such as car shows, cruise ins, car clubs, cruise rides with my friends, detailing cars, and riding motorcycles. My wife and I both love leading car clubs that help charitable organizations trying to help to make up for any wrongs from our younger years while also doing what is best for our community. Car shows are a great way to raise funds for various charities and we love to help while enjoying our vehicles.