Faculty and Staff - Upper Peninsula Cybersecurity Institute

Michael Sauer is the Director of the Upper Peninsula Cybersecurity Institute (UPCI). As Director, Michael leads UPCI’s efforts to teach, test, and train individuals for industry-recognized credentials relevant to cybersecurity careers.  Michael is the alternate point of contact (POC) for NMU's CAE designation.

Prior to serving in his current role, he was a Senior IT Project Manager at Mativ, a 3-billion dollar publicly traded specialties manufacturer. He was responsible for ensuring the successful delivery of large complex global information technology projects, including those in cybersecurity.

Throughout his career, Michael has consulted for private and public organizations including the State of Michigan, US Airways, Microsoft, Ford Motor Company, and Citizens Insurance.

In public service, Michael has sat on the board of directors of the Noquemanon Trail Network for 20 years as Treasurer, Vice President, and most recently as President. At the state level, Michael sits on the State of Michigan's cybersecurity planning committee, and is also the workforce development co-chair for the State of Michigan's cybersecurity task force. 

Michael is a devoted husband, trail advocate, sailor, and lover of golden retrievers.

Dr. Jim Marquardson is an Assistant Professor of Information Assurance & Cyber Defense. Jim earned his Ph.d. from the University of Arizona in Management Information Systems where he researched novel ways to detect lies using modern technology. Jim has published articles in journals such as Decision Support Systems, Interacting with Computers, and the Journal of Information Systems Education. His research interests include human-computer interaction, persuasive technology, information security, data analytics, and education.  Dr. Marquardson serves as the primary point of contact (POC) for NMU's CAE-CD designation

Jim has worked in information technology at Zions Bank and Exxon Mobil. He chose to return to academia so that he could prepare the next generation of information technology professionals. Jim uses a hands-on approach to teaching cyber security topics. His students build computer networks, create virtual machines, and develop software.

Jim enjoys mountain biking, baking, college football, ethical hacking, programming, and music.

Joshua Niemi graduated from Northern Michigan University in 2020 and 2023 with Bachelor of Science degrees in Criminal Justice and Information Assurance/Cyber Defense. He is an Army Veteran and Purple Heart recipient. After the Army he worked in the defense industry for Raytheon and Booz Allen Hamilton supporting The Department of War and NATO in electronic warfare and asymmetric warfare. At UPCI he provides instruction on IoT, Hardware Hacking, Networking, Ethical Hacking, and Cyber Security Principles. 

Matt Landers has been an accomplished ethical hacker/security researcher for over 20 years and spends a majority of his time discovering new vulnerabilities and attack vectors. He works as a security consultant through Attactics, a security company devoted to hardening clients infrastructure.

A few of the companies that Matt has worked with to better their security standpoint are ING Inc, AT&T, New Relic, Ubiquiti, GM, TP-Link, Sophos, Netgear, Cloudflare, Autodesk, Facebook, Netflix, Indeed, Alienvault, Poly(Polycom), P&G and more.

Matt Landers is an EC-Council member (CEH) and CEI (Certified EC-Council Instructor).