From Refineries to OMSCS: One Yellow Jacket’s Path From a Texas Oil Town to Educational Technology

Alex Duncan is the senior director of the Online Master of Science in Computer Science program.

Oil is often called “black gold.” Alex Duncan traded a job working in the oil industry for a white-and-gold career instead.

Duncan is senior director of Georgia Tech’s Online Master of Science in Computer Science (OMSCS) program — the world’s largest program of its kind. His journey to Tech began in Texas: Duncan grew up in Plano, a suburb of Dallas, and studied mechanical engineering as an undergraduate at The University of Texas at Austin. After graduation, Duncan worked in the small town of Sweeny, Texas, as a reliability engineer at an oil refinery. In that position, he ensured that the facility’s equipment and processes were dependable and worked efficiently. In other words, his job was to diagnose how to fix equipment.

Duncan quickly realized this career wasn’t for him. “I didn't really have an aptitude for it, and I just wasn't interested in it,” he said.

Alex Duncan’s path began in Texas, first as a mechanical engineering student at The University of Texas at Austin, and then as a mechanical engineer at an oil refinery in the small town of Sweeny. Duncan’s pictured (right) using a plasma cutter with colleagues.

People who work in refineries constantly read meters. These meters track the movement of fluids to keep everything running smoothly and help identify any problems. Part of Duncan’s work entailed making the meters easier to read.

He said, “One of my projects was to ensure that by simply glancing at the meter, someone could immediately know whether the measurement was in range or out of range.”

That experience sparked an interest. “I really gravitated toward the idea of making something easier for people to use,” he said. Duncan was motivated to return to school to study user experience (UX).

UX research often explores how people feel and interact with a product, website, or service. Focus areas can include ease of use, intuitive design, and user emotions. UX designers aim to make experiences both simpler and enjoyable. This suited Duncan’s interest in making processes easier for the people around him.  

Duncan did his graduate studies at Georgia Tech and is pictured at Commencement with his parents in 2014.

Duncan began looking at graduate schools outside the state of Texas that offered UX programs and ultimately chose to become a Yellow Jacket. He enrolled in Georgia Tech’s Master of Science in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).

“The program is so highly ranked that of course I was drawn to it. The HCI program is one of the best in the country and maybe the world,” said Duncan. “That was really what brought me to Atlanta — HCI’s strength and prestige.”

During his studies, Duncan focused on UX, particularly in educational technology, including massive open online courses (MOOCs). Emerging in the late aughts, MOOCs were seen as a way to provide accessible education to large groups.
 

While in grad school Duncan participated in a MOOC-related panel with professors Bonnie Ferri (left) from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Michael Schatz (middle) from the School of Physics.

Duncan saw the rise of technology in education and wanted to learn how the public could benefit from these developments. He said, “I became really interested in the field of education. I was curious about how people learn, how we can help people learn better, and how technology can help people learn.” After finishing his master's degree, Duncan worked in UX departments at several companies around the U.S.

Returning to Atlanta, he found contract work until 2018, when a surprise text from David White, then-executive director of OMSCS, led to a permanent role as a student experience researcher. White recalled Duncan from his HCI graduate studies and recognized the overlap of his skills and interests with programmatic needs for OMSCS.

Duncan was stunned by the timing. His GTRI contract was coming to an end, and he was actively looking for his next job. He felt like asking White, "Is this a trick? Are you watching my life?”

Alex Duncan, like most OMSCS students, works from various locations. But when he’s on campus, he’ll likely be found in one of the College of Computing buildings.

As a student experience researcher, Duncan was responsible for enhancing OMSCS and undergraduate online courses. He recommended and implemented improvements to ensure ongoing progress. He also assisted in scheduling course updates, researching online course technologies, and adapting classes to new technology platforms.

Now, seven years later, as senior director of OMSCS, Duncan’s responsibilities require him to be more hands-on with OMSCS program operations. He oversees course maintenance, maintains the program’s website, addresses student feedback, and manages the program’s 600-plus teaching assistants. He juggles these tasks alongside his research into how OMSCS students learn and what makes them successful. 

“I research how students progress through our program, and what kind of life obstacles they run into while they're enrolled,” Duncan explained. “Right now, we're studying how students prepare for entry into OMSCS and how their preparation impacts their success. We’re looking at the whole student experience and ultimately making it better based on our findings.” 

The UX portion of Duncan’s work involves understanding how to support students who are all enrolled in the OMSCS program but live in vastly different locations. Having 16,000 students spread across 130 countries can present unique challenges — Most of the students are nontraditional and have jobs and partners, but they also experience vastly different sets of challenges ranging from political unrest to catastrophic weather events. 

“We have to understand how these challenges might impact our students’ ability to learn and complete their work — that knowledge is not just for our curiosity,” said Duncan. “We have to understand how we can accommodate these situations because we want our program to be widely accessible, and we want to have a global reach.”

Alex Duncan stands on the Binary Bridge leading to Klaus Advanced Computing Building, with campus and Atlanta in the background.

Duncan’s work helps OMSCS deliver on its mission to increase the number of high-quality computer science graduates through online learning. It also supports the program’s goal to create a global community of computing professionals.

“Access to a quality education is at the heart of Georgia Tech’s mission statement,” he said. “I love that I can see a direct connection between my work with our online students and that mission.

“I genuinely believe we are improving the human condition by giving people these opportunities to educate themselves, and to have access to job opportunities they wouldn't have otherwise. That is where OMSCS really shines.”

Given his professional beginnings in an oil refinery, it is perhaps unlikely that Duncan would end up studying the student experience of an online program. For Duncan, it comes back to making life better, one experience at a time. One change in process can make a world of difference. One program like OMSCS can change the trajectory of a student’s life.

The College of Computing is a global leader in real-world computing breakthroughs that drive social and scientific progress. Our undergraduate program is ranked No. 6 and our graduate program No. 7 in the country by U.S. News & World Report. With our unconventional approach to education — along with cutting-edge, cross-disciplinary research — we are expanding the boundaries of computing.