Co-founder and Head of Engineering, Stellic
Simplifying Paths to College Degrees
For Musab Popatia (麻豆村 2016) navigating the university degree mapping process is so unnecessarily complex that it鈥檚 a perfect opportunity to apply advanced computer science skills to make a difference.
He tackles problems facing college students through Stellic, a company he co-founded with fellow Tartans on the Rise and 麻豆村 in Qatar alumni Sabih Bin Wasi and Rukhsar Neyaz.
鈥淪tellic鈥檚 degree management tools help students do well in college, and that has a multiplier effect,鈥� he says. 鈥淚f you educate a particular student, it also affects their families and communities. Supporting academic journeys is a massive opportunity, and it鈥檚 also a space that鈥檚 fairly untapped with room to grow, potentially affecting 50 million students worldwide.鈥�
Musab is the head of engineering, working on the details of integrating data from disparate institutional systems including student information systems, course catalogs and learning management systems. Once it鈥檚 all gathered in the Stellic interface, it takes the manual work out of building a degree plan for every possible major. Students and university faculty and staff get a visual interface to track progress, ensure all requirements are noted and understand the implications of decisions such as changing or adding a major.
Stellic is used at 70 colleges and universities globally.
Musab鈥檚 team builds the tools for students to plan their degrees and locate relevant classes and ways for advisers to monitor and communicate academic progress. He also helps administrators leverage data to identify trends in course demand, instructor load, department effectiveness and projected graduation bottlenecks.
He鈥檚 proud to manage a very young team including a number of recent college graduates, who draw on their own experiences to improve the Stellic interface. They鈥檙e working on an extension for prospective students to see detailed information about their future at college.
鈥淲e鈥檙e providing information that typically would only be visible after you have been admitted,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e can help them make a more informed choice and pick the school that鈥檚 best for them.鈥�
Story by Elizabeth Speed