Serving nontraditional students, such as military veterans, is nothing new at The University of Tulsa, and Don Cowan’s success is a prime example of how students from all backgrounds thrive on campus.
Humble and soft-spoken, Cowan (B.S. ’25) graduated from Owasso High School and served eight years as a U.S. Marine before returning to Tulsa in 2021 to earn his bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity. His capstone project was conducted in partnership with the university’s Oklahoma Cyber Innovation Institute.
Cowan benefited from multiple internships, including one with IBM in Austin, Texas, last summer. By September, the global technology corporation had offered him a full-time job at the elite IBM X-Force Red upon graduation. Cowan will be conducting ethical hacking to identify gaps in organizations’ security controls and protect IT systems from potential attacks.
“I’ve always been fascinated by building things and taking them apart to discover ways they can work differently than intended,” he said. “To me, penetration testing is like solving multiple puzzles at once, but instead of following a picture on a box, I’m finding unexpected ways the pieces fit together. It’s an interesting blend of creativity and problem-solving where thinking ‘wrong’ often leads to important discoveries.”
As an undergraduate, Cowan worked in the on-campus Information Technology Security Operations Center, which offers prime jobs to the best cyber students to defend the university from online threats. He also served as president of the Root 66 Cyber Club and participated in multiple penetration testing and cyber defense competitions.
Cowan thanked all of his professors in the College of Engineering & Computer Science for their support and gave a special mention of Codi West, Ph.D., who serves as an instructional assistant professor of cyber studies and director of co-curricular activities.
“Don has been an amazing student to work with. He has made the most of every opportunity we could provide, from captaining competitive learning teams to co-developing lab infrastructure,” said Tyler Moore, Ph.D., who serves as the Tandy Endowed Chair in Cyber Security and Information Assurance and chair of the School of Cyber Studies. “I’m excited for Don to join several fellow UTulsa alumni at IBM X-Force Red.”
