Digital Forensics
Jonathan Rajewski, MS, CCE, EnCe, CISSP, CFE
Assistant Professor of Digital Forensics, Champlain College 

“Through our faculty’s ongoing connections to and work with local law enforcement and the digital forensics industry, we’re able to bring the current trends of digital forensics—all those rapid evolutions that are happening outside in the field—into the classroom every day,” says Jonathan Rajewski, an assistant professor of digital forensics at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont. “And students here are benefitting tremendously from that experience.”


Previously employed as a senior consultant for a global consulting firm where he travelled the world conducting and managing digital forensics investigations, professor Rajewski is not only a faculty member at Champlain, but he is also the co-director/principle investigator of the Champlain College Center for Digital Investigation (C3DI) and an examiner for the Vermont Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Recently named the “Digital Forensic Investigator of the Year” by Forensic 4cast, professor Rajewski is as passionate about teaching and empowering students to become leading-edge digital forensics professionals as he is about the exiting work of digital forensics itself.

Despite the relative complexity and unfamiliarity of most people with the field, professor Rajewski is committed to giving his students a complete education in digital forensics from the ground up. “Incoming students don’t need to be ‘techie’-type people,” says professor Rajewski, “they need to be people who love to learn and apply knowledge. So you don’t need to come in as computer expert to be hugely successful in this program—our first-year foundational courses give you all the grounding you need.” His students agree, saying through his classes, “you will NEVER be confused.”

Students also report that professor Rajewski “cares about what we think of the class and makes changes accordingly,” and he “goes the extra mile to make sure you understand the information being presented.” Very technical topics are broken down into laymen terms, followed by him showing the class “how it actually applies to the subject.” He also gives real-time demonstrations when someone asks a question, then has the students apply that topic to a hands-on activity. “This method reaches all learning styles: visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners,” professor Rajewski says. 

Through this detailed, hands-on approach to learning, his students gain mastery-level understanding of the subject matter. “I want students to become experts,” says professor Rajewski. “The Champlain digital forensics curriculum has been built around what the industry needs. We polled the industry and studied job descriptions to find out what skills the industry is requiring for certain positions in the field, and we’ve created courses to match those needs.” This industry-based curriculum has been highly successful for students and grads alike: last year, recruiters from major consulting firms and government agencies came to Champlain College for the express purpose of interviewing Champlain’s digital forensics majors for summer internships and full-time positions—a high percentage of students were hired as a result of those meetings. “It’s really impressive that the employers come to us seeking out our students,” says professor Rajewski.

Professor Rajewski says that in addition to the depth of forensics course offerings, digital forensic majors get unparalleled experience in the Champlain College Center for Digital Investigations(C3DI) working in a real digital forensics investigation lab. “What our students become capable of doing is tremendous,” he says. “A big part of that is the experiences they have working in C3DI conducting the digital forensics research that helps local law enforcement solve actual cases. It’s also an amazing resume builder.”

Professors Rajewski’s teaching style is as hands-on as his students’ educational experience in Champlain’s digital forensics. program. Each course is presented differently, and Professor Rajewski tends to draw from experience and tell stories about why the
discussion topic is important for the students to understand. By their senior year, students are well prepared to take the Capstone course in which they conduct research into a ‘new’ technology and create a presentation and report of how they would forensically analyze a device or Internet service. “This year, many of our students conducted research that hasn’t been done before, making new discoveries—a number of papers they wrote have a high probability of being published in digital forensic industry publications,” professor Rajewski reports. “Now, that’s truly impressive.”

It’s all about the results with professor Rajewski. And, he’s proud of what his current and former students have achieved already. “Our students come from all over the world,” he says. “And we’ve seen them land positions with local law enforcement, the federal government, the Department of Homeland security and other Department of Defense agencies as well as government contractors and consulting firms from across the country.”

Five other Champlain College professors were recognized in the book. Here is a list of names and links to their college profiles: