Dr. Belón received her doctorate from Teachers College, Columbia University, in 1984 specializing in teaching methodologies and curriculum development within the Movement Sciences field. While there, she developed an interest in computers and programming and redirected her career to the software industry.

She worked in the computer software community as a database administrator, programmer, and Director of Education for 16 years, took a 1-year fast ride with a dot.com, then returned to academia for a six years stint in which she shepherded the creation of over 12 new courses, and built one of the first 2-year Associate of Science degrees in Computer Security in the United States.

Dr. Belón launched her own security company (Belón Research & Practice) in January 2006 and consults with academic institutions and business on security topics.

In her service to Rotary International, Barbara served as Governor for District 7410 (Northeastern Pennsylvania) for the 2015-16 Rotary year. She continues to be active at the club and district level and completed an international global grant water project in Honduras (2017).

From 2016-19, Barbara served in a dual role as the Director of Membership for the National CyberWatch Center and as one of the principal investigators on the NSF SFS Pathways grant.

Over the past four years, Dr. Belón has acquired training in the area of life coaching, holds a Level 2 certification in the ELCA Coaching program, and has applied for her ACC certification with the International Coaching Federation.

Dr. Belón has numerous publications to her credit but prefers editing. In her spare time, Barbara enjoys gardening (pulling weeds is so therapeutic!) and playing the acoustic guitar with her husband, Edwin.