Dr. Galil is a leading computer scientist and was the seventh president of Tel Aviv University. In 2010, he joined Georgia Tech as the third John P. Imlay Jr. Dean of Computing. Dr. Galil was a moving force behind the establishment of Georgia Tech’s Online Master of Science in Computer Science (OMSCS) program, which by Spring 2022 had grown to more than 12,000 students representing more than 100 countries. Inside Higher Education noted that the OMSCS “suggests that institutions can successfully deliver high-quality, low-cost degrees to students at scale.” And The Chronicle of Higher Education stated that the OMSCS “may have the best chance of changing how much students pay for a traditional degree.”

A Brief History of the Online Master of Science in Computer Science (OMSCS) at Georgia Tech

In May 2013, Georgia Tech, together with partners Udacity and AT&T, announced a scaled online master's degree in computer science, the Online Master of Science in Computer Science (OMSCS). The OMSCS expands access to a high-quality graduate-level degree program and carries a total tuition of less than $7,000, a significant reduction in cost compared to similar programs offered at comparable universities. 

Since launching in January 2014, the OMSCS has sparked a worldwide conversation about higher education in the 21st century. President Barack Obama praised the OMSCS twice, and over 1,200 news stories have mentioned the program, describing it as a potential "game changer" and "ground zero of the revolution in higher education." Harvard University researchers concluded that the OMSCS is "the first rigorous evidence showing an online degree program can increase educational attainment" and predicted that the OMSCS will single-handedly raise the number of annual computer science graduates in the United States by at least 7 percent. With a shortage of one million computing professionals in the United States, the OMSCS is satisfying a great national need. 

The OMSCS is the largest computer science graduate program in the world. To date, over 6,500 students have graduated from the OMSCS.