MIT Commencement Program 2007 - Includes Address by Charles Vest, MIT President Emeritus
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PRESENTER: Good morning. Welcome family and friends of the MIT graduating class of 2007.
[CHEERING]
MCGANN: We're coming to you live from this grand stage here at MIT'S Killian Court, where even right now, they are bringing up those degrees that in just three short hours, the graduates will be receiving those hard-earned degrees right behind me. My name is Matt McGann. I'm the associate director of admissions here at MIT.
I'm also a graduate of MIT, of MIT class of 2000. So it wasn't very long ago that I remember taking the walk across the stage. And as an admissions officer, I read the applications of many of these students who we'll be seeing today. I know them well, and they are excellent and world class. And it is a privilege to be here celebrating them today.
VIELMA: Welcome. My name is Karina Vielma. I am also a graduate of MIT, class of 2001. I am assistant dean in the MIT Office of Minority Education. Commencement is a very special time at MIT, a time where the entire institute community comes together to celebrate the accomplishments of a remarkable group of young men and young women.
We will be visiting with you for the next 90 minutes as we await the arrival of our guests of honor. They are currently gathering in the Johnson Athletic Center on the west side of campus, and you should be able to see them on the big screen. They will be joining us out here in Killian Court at about 9:50 AM.
MCGANN: I'm sure you'll agree that Killian Court is a grand setting for what will be MIT'S 141st commencement exercises. This is the only space at MIT that is fit for 13,000 people will be here today. It will be a beautiful day. The National Weather Service is predicting a perfect day-- no rain, highs of 77 degrees, and partly cloudy. I cannot imagine a more perfect day for commencement exercises.
Killian Court is also a space that doesn't always have these chairs out here. During the school year, it's a great place to study, to play Ultimate Frisbee, and actually, this is the place where our MIT students began their MIT career, as well as will end it today. So just behind me, below that great dome, in front of those great columns, was where they gathered four short years ago for their freshmen photograph. Do you remember your freshman photograph, Karina?
VIELMA: Yes, I do, Matt. I remember there was a hack placed on us too, since we were in that class of 2001. So we had a hack for the Space Odyssey 2001 movie our here in Killian Court.
MCGANN: And of course, Killian Court and the Great Dome behind us is a classic setting for MIT'S pranks, which we call hacks, as you probably know. That Great Dome behind us has hosted a police car-- a full scale police car with working, flashing lights, and coffee and--
VIELMA: And donuts, I believe.
MCGANN: And donuts, yes, indeed. And one year ago, there was a fire truck also placed atop that Dome with a giant ladder. One of my favorites was when they turned this Great Dome behind us into R2-D2. If you kind of squint, it looks kind of like that domed head of R2-D2. Do you have a favorite hack that happened here at MIT?
VIELMA: Not really, Matt, but I do have many, many memories of walking through Killian Court my Course 18, which is mathematics, my Course 18 classes over in building two, which is over here by the giant screen. And it's a great privilege to be out here. Because as you walk and-- as you're walking to class, you realize the hard-earned degree that not everybody receives. It's only people who graduate from MIT. We don't give out any honorary degrees. So it is a great honor.
MCGANN: In the admissions office, we like to say that there's only one way to earn an MIT degree, and that's the hard way. And the graduates today are proof of that. So our goal for the next hour or so is to celebrate the members of the MIT Class of 2007. We'll show some video clips of MIT students in action. We'll interview some family and friends. Plus a sampling of this year's MIT graduates, we'll interview them live over at the Johnson Athletic Center, and that'll be pretty exciting. And we'll take a look at them as they prepare for their wonderful opportunities ahead.
VIELMA: Video coverage of these proceedings are being webcast live throughout the world. Those of you here in Killian Court will be able to watch a recorded version of the webcast from your home or office computers. This year, we will also be offering a podcast of the ceremony. So if you wish, you're welcome to download Commencement 2007 to your iPod or personal digital device.
In February of last year, MIT began producing a video podcast magazine with the purpose of capturing and communicating the richness and diversity of the MIT experience. We call this endeavor ZigZag. I love that name. Each ZigZag episode features stories of student life, research, special events, interesting people, and the occasional hack, as we were discussing. We will be showing you sample episodes of ZigZag throughout the morning.
The first episode was podcast last summer and is hosted by my colleague and fellow MIT alum, Matt McGann. He's a celebrity on campus. MIT benefits from a vibrant and very loyal, committed alumni. You will see the 50th reunion class, the Class of 1957, proudly displaying their red coats later this morning walking down Killian Court, as this next story explains.
MCGANN: Coming to you from the Stat Center at MIT, my name is Matt McGann, and this is ZigZag.
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Commencement week is always a special time of year for our graduating students, but it's also an occasion for our alumni to reflect upon how MIT has shaped their lives. Many graduates come back to campus for Tech reunions to keep up with current events at the Institute and to catch up with old friends. Tech Reunions 2006 was a festive affair, attracting a record number of alumni and guests participating in a rich assortment of activities.
PRESENTER: Welcome. Or should I say to many of you, welcome back to MIT.
GARVIN: Alumni come back for a number of reasons. Some people come to reconnect with old friends. And a lot of people come to have an opportunity to meet the people they never really got to know.
There are a number of highlights of Tech Week. One of them is our traditional Tech Night at Pops, which we've been doing for 106. We buy out Symphony Hall. And classes from the senior class to the oldest alumni come, and we have a great time. Technology Day, which brings together a series of faculty, is a wonderful opportunity to get up to date on what's going on at MIT. And during Tech Week, we have one of our three times a year broadcast for the Enterprise Forum, which is based in Kresge Auditorium and then broadcast around the world.
One of the nice things about Tech reunions is that you can cut across all the classes, and you have an opportunity to bring together somebody from the fifth reunion class and somebody from the 40th reunion class. And they can talk to each other. They can find out how they built their company.
They're great events. Everyone who comes wants to come again. They'd recommend it to a friend. So I think the important thing is it would be even better if we can get a larger percentage of each class participating.
MCGANN: For the Class of 1956, this year's reunion was especially memorable, as 2006 is the year they finally get to don the legendary red jacket, bestowed upon every MIT 50-year reunion class.
BLOTNER: My name is Mal Blotner. And I was in Course 10. You know that we do it by numbers here.
ALUMNI: Course 7.
ALUMNI: Course 16.
ALUMNI: Course 10.
MCGANN: How did it feel when you first got to put on the red jacket?
CHIHOSKI: Well, exciting. And this is my dad's red jacket. My dad was Class of '28 also in civil engineering.
GOODWILL: The last time I was here was 1988. My son graduated from here. So it was a-- it brings back a lot of memories.
MATSA: I worked with a Whirlwind computer, which was a whole room full of tapes and all kinds of other gadgets.
INTERVIEWER: Do you remember how many women were in the class?
WAHL: From what I have been told and we've tried to figure out, if you only count the entering freshmen, it was 13. And then, eight graduated.
BROWN: In '56, there weren't many people of color. I came to MIT primarily because I wanted make sure that no one ever doubt my credentials. And that has helped.
FRANK: I've been waiting 50 years for the privilege of wearing this jacket and walking down in the procession. 50 years I've been waiting for this. What a kick!
MCGANN: After graduation week, you might think that things would slow down a bit here at MIT, but that's not entirely the case. Almost before we had a chance to catch our breath, 50 K through 12 educators arrived on campus for the week-long Science and Engineering Program for Teachers, or SEPT. We sat down with the founder of SEPT, Professor Ron Latanision, who told us more about the program's educational mission.
LATANISION: The origin of the program and the intention of the program has always been to provide teachers with the perspective of a MIT faculty on what science and engineering means in terms of our whole standard of living. So our goal today is not only to deal with the question of technical literacy in the broadest sense but also to encourage young people, through their teachers, to pursue their interest or to develop interest in science and technology, and to become part of the infrastructure of the future in the United States.
PROFESSOR: Good morning. And welcome to MIT on the behalf of MIT'S Physics Department.
LATANISION: The program runs for a full week. We describe it at the outset as being typical of the MIT educational experience, and that is, as a drink from a fire hose.
MODIC: I definitely had a biology fire hose yesterday. I had no clue what was being said. And that's OK. I don't think that you can ever come into a program like this expecting to absorb 100% of what's said. And they don't expect us to, I don't think. I hope not. [LAUGHS]
BANTOE: Each day is-- it's literally mentally exhausting. By the time you get to the afternoon, it's like you've gotten so much information, so much useful information, actually.
PROFESSOR: You see here the primary red on the outside, blue on the inside. And here, you see the secondary.
WALKER: We talk about rainbows, something as simple and beautiful as a rainbow, and how a rainbow is created and looking at the mathematical aspects of a rainbow. So you'll never look at a rainbow again the same.
LATANISION: We have thought over the years it would be very useful if we could export what we have done on campus to other locations. And so this year, we are actually broadcasting the program in this summer live to over the internet. There are a group of about 35 teachers who are in a classroom at the University of Rhode Island, and they're participating interactively with the teachers who are on our campus.
RENEHAN: My hope is that I can take this information back to my students. And when I'm in calculus class or pre-calculus and they ask me, when am I ever going to use this? Then, I can give them a real, live application that, look, this is research that is currently going on. And this is how it can be used and applied in the real world.
MCGANN: As regular viewers of ZigZag know, for the past several years, the MIT campus has become a preferred nesting site for mating red-tailed hawks. This year, for the second time, AMPS, MIT'S media production group and the producer of ZigZag, was able to videotape and webcast the maturation process of two checks. On Easter weekend, these eggs were cracked open, not by children in search of chocolate, but by two baby hatchlings in search of space, space to stretch and grow and eat and grow and grow and grow.
Nourished by a plentiful supply of food from their expert hunter parents, the chicks seemed to double in size each week. Soon, a global audience was enjoying their day-to-day activities. A virtual community gathered around the nest as hawk watchers traded observations and insights on the Hawk Cam blog. Together, we all shared in the excitement of sibling rivalry, parents being parents, curious first wanderings from the nest, and, as graduation week approached, their maiden flights.
We wish our fledglings the best as they explore the world beyond MIT. We were fortunate to watch them grow and learn. And we also learned from them.
That's all the time we have for now. From the Stata Center at MIT, I'm Matt McGann. Thank you for watching ZigZag.
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GARVIN: That was a great ZigZag episode. Now, let's check in on what our guests are-- of honor are up to. We have a student on the street, Reporter Allie [? Poshay, ?] over in Johnson Athletic Center.
[? POSHAY: ?] Hi, Karina.
VIELMA: Hello, Allie. How are things over there?
[? POSHAY: ?] Everybody is buzzing. There's an incredible energy down here right now that's infectious, to say the least. So how's the family's doing over there?
VIELMA: They're great. They're getting seated and finding their water on their seats, which we hope will be a beautiful day today. So they'll be needing that. Can you please introduce yourself, Allie, to the families, guests, and friends here in Killian Court?
[? POSHAY: ?] Sure. My name is Allie [? Poshay. ?] I'm a rising junior in the Class of 2009. And I'm majoring in Course 15, Management Science. And I'm from Atlanta but I'm living in New Bedford, Massachusetts right now.
So I have a couple guests I'd like to introduce. They have some interesting things on their black robes. So guys, would you like to say a few works? OK, say your names. And then, we'll go through and talk about what you're wearing.
LUGO: I'm Valentina Lugo.
LOWRY: I'm David Lowry.
[? POULE: ?] [INAUDIBLE] [? Poule. ?]
[? SUPPLE: ?] Derek [? Supple. ?]
POSHAY: OK. And what-- explain what you're wearing.
LUGO: This is called a serape. It represents that I've been a member of [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] for four years here at MIT. That's the Mexican-American and Chicano organization, although it's embracing of all cultures. And it's been like my family while I've been here.
POSHAY: OK,
LOWRY: This is a eagle feather given to me by my father-in-law and braided by my wife. The beads are burgundy and silver to represent MIT'S school colors. And I'm Lumbee Indian, and that's why I have the eagle feather. But the burgundy beads symbolize seven, which is the year we're graduating, 2007.
POSHAY: Cool.
[? POULE: ?] Hey. I'm wearing the Tau Beta Pi sash. It's the engineering honor society. It represents the top 10% of graduating seniors on campus.
POSHAY: OK.
[? SUPPLE: ?] And I'm wearing the green sustainability pledge ribbon. It's a pledge that about 100 graduates are taking to work to make the companies they work for and more environmentally and socially responsible. And it's a national pledge that a couple of hundred colleges are taking part in.
POSHAY: OK, wow. Thank you, guys. I appreciate you explaining your interesting attire. Back to you in the court, Karina.
VIELMA: Thank you, Allie. We have a great diversity of students here at MIT. So we'll check in with Allie and get some more of those graduating seniors on camera. What's next on the program, Matt?
MCGANN: Well, commencement marks the official end of the academic year. And although the pace changes a bit during the summer, the education continues in many different forms and for a varied group of students, as you'll see in the next episode of ZigZag. Let's check it out.
BOLTON: Coming to you from the Wood Sailing Pavilion at MIT, my name is Marsha Bolton, And this is ZigZag.
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Summer break is winding down, and the class of 2010 will soon be arriving on campus. But there's still plenty of time to enjoy the New England weather with a trip to the beach or a sail on the Charles. The summer is also a time when MIT hosts students from the local community and from around the world in pursuit of challenging educational opportunities. Building exotic alternatively-fueled vehicles, playing Quidditch with underwater ROVs, and doing graduate-level research as an undergrad are just some of the answers you'll find here to the age old question, what do you do on your summer vacation? For one international group, the summer of 2006 provided an opportunity to make a real difference as they gathered at MIT for the Vehicle Design Summit, an event conceived and organized by students.
BITELLO: The Vehicle Design Summit consists of students from 13 countries, about 20 universities.
ALLEN: We had four vehicle teams that each designed and built from scratch a complete vehicle that carried either one or two passengers and would really make a positive impact on the issue of commuter travel.
JAFFE: We're doing a ground-up re-analysis of everything you find in the car.
VAN HOEF: We're trying to build a two-seater commuter car.
BOGGS: I really enjoy designing things. And this event is really full of designing.
RITTER: This isn't-- it's not for fun. It's not for a competition that ends and we're done. We are trying to do something very real, very serious, and have an impact in the world right now.
ALLEN: One of cars we made, the AHPV, Assisted Human Powered Vehicle, so maybe if they're part of the power source, if they need to pedal in order to move the car in addition to having a battery pack and an electric motor, that was kind of the key tenant. We also made a biofuels car. And that team was very interested in, how do you run a car on vegetable oil-- SVO or straight vegetable oil? It has four wheels and two passengers. And they made a steel space frame.
We also made a fuel cell electric hybrid. It's predominantly an electric-- three-wheeled electric with two passengers. And our other car is called Pulse, meaning it's supposed to be the pulse of the city. Kind of a commuter concept that just has one person and was just to show, here's what-- if you're commuting by yourself, here's where your car might look like if it was all electric.
[CHATTER]
The biggest priorities of our work are to get students together and show that really passionate people can do a lot and that an issue, like global warming, is really not ephemeral. Even though it's in many different realms and many different markets, there are ways of chipping away at it little by little.
BOLTON: If you've spent any time around MIT this summer, you've probably noticed crowds of students a little younger than your average undergrad. They're participants in the School of Engineering's engineering outreach programs.
CARTER: The Office of Engineering Outreach Programs currently has three major programs in the office. The first and the flagship program, which has been around the longest, is the MIT Minority Introduction To Engineering and Sciences, or the MITES program. Typically, we bring about 60 to 80 students to campus from across the country, and they study what is a mini freshmen experience for about six weeks-- courses in life sciences, engineering design, internet programming, genomics, calculus, physics, and humanities.
The second program is SEED Academy, Saturday Engineering Enrichment and Discovery. We keep the kids for three and a half years. And they basically spend 10 Saturdays a semester with us doing hands-on kinesthetic learning in engineering disciplines.
And the third program, which is the newest, is the Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics program. That's STEM. That program is for middle school students. We enrich their middle school experience by teaching them advanced topics, things like algebraic topology, descriptive geometry, physics, probability and statistics, and programming in a five-week intensive program during the summer.
PROFESSOR: Three, two, one.
[APPLAUSE]
ANGELA: The best part about STEM was meeting new people and learning about more stuff, because it actually stretched our brains.
CARTER: These programs are important because A, you get students to come together and see that there are other students like them that love to ask the same probing questions and have a fire, a passion in the belly for science and technology. And two, it helps us to teach students to ask the why questions. And that's what we need more of in this country.
BOLTON: For some of this year's MITES students, the summer ended with a splash, as they participated in the first ever MITES underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle, or ROV competition.
STUDENT: This way. This way. This way. Swim that way. Swim that way.
[CHEERING]
AMAYA: Today, we had the kids show off their five weeks of work. And what they had to do was build an underwater machine called an ROV. And we had them do three types of competitions today. They did a quick drag race, a weightlifting competition, and finally, we had a Quidditch match underwater.
NAPIER: We won the competition. We came in first place overall based on the fact that we performed highest in all the three competitions. But this is our beautiful machine, Cardinal.
MORIARTY: In this class, I'm trying to have them ask the questions, to have them be the ones observing something and ask the questions about it. So I'm really trying to get them to be actively the ones driving what we're doing, where they can really just get involved, get immersed in it.
CARTER: There's a tradition here at MIT that before any major challenge, that students get dunked. They get thrown into the moat or the pool or the shower. And I heard a rumor that the winning team stepped up to that challenge and threw the teaching assistant in the pool. I don't know if it's true-- true or not. But if it is, very much in line with the MIT tradition.
STUDENT: Go.
[SPLASH]
[LAUGHTER]
BOLTON: A couple of episodes back, we met the students from MIT'S Summer Research Program, or MSRP, as they were beginning their nine-week stay on campus. It's been an intense couple of months for these 57 undergraduates from around the country. They've taken on projects and diverse topics, such as robotics, nuclear engineering, material science, and design. And their graduate-level work has resulted in seven likely publications.
But they've also managed to enjoy trips to Woods Hole in Martha's Vineyard. And at the final celebration, they received a surprise visit from Randal Pinkett, winner of last season's Apprentice and an MIT PhD.
PINKETT: Having been through MIT and knowing the MSRP program, first of all, let me congratulate you. It's a great time to be involved. It's a great time for you finishing up. So hopefully, you enjoy this. Enjoy the day. Celebrate your accomplishments. And recharge your batteries for the fall semester.
WILLIAMS: This program has definitely changed my thoughts about the future. When I came in here, I had a set path, but now, things just kind of got changed, but for the good, for the better, definitely. So I have more direction now.
BOLTON: It seems certain that we'll be hearing from these outstanding students again as they continue to pursue careers and break new ground in science and technology.
That's all for now. For ZigZag, I'm Marsha Bolton. I'll see you next time.
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VIELMA: As some of these stories indicate, MIT actively recruits students from around the world. And the ways in which students discover MIT is as varied as the students themselves. We recently asked a group of graduating seniors how and why they discovered MIT. So let's take a look.
PEARCE: When I was really small, I played with LEGOs in my front window.
NEDZEL: I kept a listing of all the different product numbers in the LEGO catalog that I wanted.
LUGO: Sometimes, I would create math problems for myself.
GUERRA: I saw the moving images on the TV, but I couldn't explain why that was happening. So I started taking the TV apart.
PEARCE: That was my first experience with working with my hands and trying to build things. And when I learned that that was actually engineering, MIT made all the sense in the world.
NEDZEL: From my dad, he definitely wanted me to come here. I said, I don't want to go to MIT. I don't want anything to do with this place. He sort of took a step back and tried to allow me to find my own way, why this school was such a wonderful place for me. He just really drew out the person I've always been, and that person was someone that was made to go to MIT.
PEARCE: My perception of MIT was that it was a cold, boring place.
HOPEMAN: I had heard about MIT. It was a distance school, great in engineering. But I had never had any real desire to come here.
NEDZEL: But when I got here, I just found so much more.
LUGO: I met people from all over the country and all over the world.
SCHOR: I have friends on the varsity pistol team that went to Nationals this year. I have friends who do ballroom dance competitions or salsa lessons. Everyone has their own thing and their own style. And it really adds to the personality and depth at MIT.
SLUTSKY: MIT is so intense, so challenging, and yet, so rewarding that I think that the experience you gain in four years is unlike any throughout the country.
PEARCE: It became abundantly clear to me that MIT was really a unique place, and I saw the greatness of the people who were around here. And I figured I wanted to be a part of that.
[AUDIO OUT]
MCGANN: We're back now. Today, we have graduating families celebrating bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and doctoral degrees. And here with me today, we've pulled out of the crowd, somewhat at random, the family of a master's degree student. So first of all, let's introduce the-- can you introduce to us who we're celebrating today?
TAYLOR: We're celebrating my husband, Daniel Taylor. And I'm his wife, Lauren.
TAYLOR: I'm his mother, Lynn.
TAYLOR: His father, Glen Taylor.
STOVALL: And I'm the mother-in-law, Joanne Stovall.
MCGANN: And where are you all up from today?
TAYLOR: Florida.
MCGANN: Florida. And can you tell me a little bit about your husband and his experiences at MIT? How has his experience?
TAYLOR: Oh, his experience has been wonderful. We initially came here because he wanted to go to a school that would give him so many opportunities. And that's what it really gave him. So everything he did, he loved, no matter how hard. So it was great.
MCGANN: How was it coming from Florida to deal with these New England winters? What was that like for you guys?
TAYLOR: I hate snow.
[LAUGHTER]
PRESENTER: So now, when we were talking earlier, you were telling me-- how did your husband get to school every day?
TAYLOR: He rode his bike. And then, when the snow was too much, he would just walk with boots.
MCGANN: So you had to outfit yourselves for the winter, go to the store, buy a whole bunch of stuff that you'd never need in Florida?
TAYLOR: Yes. The first winter we had our spatulas and everything scraping the windshields. And then, we went and got all the proper things, so it was good.
MCGANN: So now that he has graduated, what will he do professionally? What's he doing?
TAYLOR: Well, we already moved back to Florida. And he's working in a firm in Orlando doing public works, so we like it a lot.
MCGANN: And how has he used his MIT knowledge in the firm and out in the real world?
TAYLOR: Well, he's kind of taken over all the computer responsibilities at his new job. And he's teaching everyone how to do all these new programs that are out, so.
MCGANN: So when he was growing up, did you ever imagine that he would go off to MIT? Was he the MIT type?
TAYLOR: Oh, yes, always. From the time he was two years old, I knew that he would be doing great things.
MCGANN: And you were saying that he was also, like in the video, one of those students who was taking apart things and--
TAYLOR: Always. From the time he was two years old, his favorite toy was LEGOs. He never wanted to go outside. He just wanted to do things. And twice when he was in elementary school, he won the state science fair with different designs that he had done with LEGOs.
MCGANN: Now, do you feel that your daughter has chosen a good man? Are you very proud of your son-in-law today?
STOVALL: I am extremely proud of my son-in-law. And also, not only did he graduate from MIT, but in this last year, my daughter and he had their first child. So he did all of his studies while they were planning for the baby, so he was pretty dedicated and busy.
MCGANN: So maybe your grandson will be class of MIT, what, 2025?
STOVALL: Well, my granddaughter--
MCGANN: Oops.
STOVALL: --will be a graduate of 2025.
MCGANN: So you'll all be back here in about 18, no 22 years, something like that.
STOVALL: We plan to be, yes.
MCGANN: All right, great. We're going to throw it back over to Karina. What's next?
[INAUDIBLE]
VIELMA: Well, we're going to check back in Johnson Athletic Center to see what Allie's up to. Allie, how are you doing over there? How are the graduates?
[? POSHAY: ?] Pretty good, Karina. It's filled up quite a bit, actually. There's a lot more hoods, a lot more graduates just standing around eating breakfast. So I have a couple more to interview for you. We have--
[? CHOW: ?] Elaine [? Chow. ?]
POSHAY: --and--
MARTINEZ: Josue Martinez.
[? POSHAY: ?] Okay, and where are you from?
CHOW: I'm from Oklahoma City.
MARTINEZ: San Juan, Puerto Rico.
[? POSHAY: ?] Okay, so you are a grad student?
CHOW: I am. I'm in the MBA program.
[? POSHAY: ?] Oh, and did you travel with that?
CHOW: I traveled a lot. It was great.
[? POSHAY: ?] Where did you go?
CHOW: I went to Mexico. I went to Costa Rica. I went to Vietnam, Israel, bunch of different places-- Montreal, if that counts.
POSHAY: Wow, okay. One more. So what did you do at MIT?
MARTINEZ: From study, built a lot of stuff with my friends, just hung out, played video games.
[? POSHAY: ?] So you had a good time? That's what you-- you build stuff?
MARTINEZ: Yeah. Oh, build stuff-- bars, cars, just a little bit of everything.
[? POSHAY: ?] Okay, all right. So you build anything in particular that was your favorite thing, you were just really proud of it?
MARTINEZ: Oh, my favorite thing of all time-- last year, I built a full-size loft and bar. Took me like a week to build, polished, urethaned, everything. It's amazing. It's a gem.
[? POSHAY: ?] It got put to use?
MARTINEZ: It got put to use for sure. But don't tell the administration.
[? POSHAY: ?] [LAUGHS] All right. Back to you, Karina, in the court.
VIELMA: Thank you, Allie. As these students have demonstrated, MIT students achieve in a variety of ways-- clearly in the classroom and in laboratories, but also, they achieve in the playing fields and the concert-- in the concert hall. The arts at MIT play a vital role in the overall educational experience, as this next video illustrates.
BRODY: One morning, I came up the steps of Massachusetts Avenue and walked through the door, and the entire space had been transformed into a wheat field. Innovative visual arts projects like that are happening all the time on campus. The arts at MIT, like science and engineering at MIT, are on the cutting edge of their disciplines. They are serving the students.
STUDENT: And I've got a rap sheet that's got a--
BRODY: And in the way they're serving the students, ultimately, they're going to be serving the entire society.
[VIOLIN MUSIC]
TSENG: At MIT, you'll find some of the best musicians, virtuosos, completely. The person who lives next door to me has perfect pitch. And if you name any song whatsoever, he can strum it out on his guitar. If it has multiple lines of music, he can strum out all the lines on his guitar. And you can see that. It's indicative of the level of quality at the MIT symphony orchestra, the MIT concert choir, et cetera.
TSIEN: Last year, I got to premiere a song cycle written by an MIT composer, and that was a lot of fun-- modern poetry, modern music, and everything.
STUDENT: Everyone at MIT cares about something, whether it's their classes or their [INAUDIBLE] or some student activity they do. There's always something that they really care about.
SONENBERG: The thing about MIT students that I most appreciate is the elegance of their thinking and the fact that it's sort of live and let live here.
CHOIR: (SINGING) [INAUDIBLE] Ooh wah wah wah wah.
[INDIAN MUSIC PLAYING]
SONENBERG: There's a point of concentration that any discipline requires, whether it's engineering, or it's directed or acting or painting. That point concentration is the focal point. It is the thing around which you organize your thinking and your technique. And so the fact that there is ensemble work where people learn to work collaboratively is something that I see that people take into their laps in a way that you would hope that labs would work collaboratively.
[MUSIC PLAYING - SANTANA FT. ROB THOMAS, "SMOOTH"]
(SINGING) Because you're so smooth. And it's just like the ocean under the moon. It's the same as the emotion that I get from you. You've got the kind of loving that can be so smooth, yeah. Give me your heart. Make it real, or else, forget about it.
[LAUGHTER]
STUDENT: I'll kill you all.
STUDENT: He kills me. Ooh. Ahh. [LAUGHTER]
SARWATE: Well, right now, it's sort of-- the theater is a way I can investigate my own sort of identity, especially my own cultural identity. But I'm also-- enjoy theater because it's so-- such a collaborative art. And it's a lot like engineering, which is one of my majors. And I also intend to pursue engineering, and that is so collaborative. And so you get a lot of different people's perspective on things.
[CHATTER]
ARNING: I'm Bill Arning. I'm the curator at the MIT List Visual Art Center. And I'm here in our annual student loan exhibition. MIT, quite unusually, has a collection of artworks that students get to live with for a year.
D'ARBELOFF: Arts are in every new building now. It's pervasive from that point of view. And it's pervasive from the things that you see people doing all over. My favorite program is the Council Scholars, of course, because I'm very involved with them. It started with 20 or so undergraduate students. And now, we have both undergraduate and graduate students-- computer scientists. There are chemical engineers. There are architectural students. And they are not, with a few exceptions, actually going out and leading professional lives as artists. But this is something that's been very important to them all their lives.
THOMPSON: We find our students, a certain number of them, go on to graduate study in music and in the arts. Some of them go on to become leaders of arts organizations within their communities. Some of them go on to sing in organizations, in performing organizations, like the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. And in a couple of notable situations, I have myself, a number of times, been engaged by organizations whose presidents were either in my class at MIT 20 years ago or had been at MIT years before that.
[CLASSICAL MUSIC]
My first visit to MIT-- when I walked through the halls, I remember passing through the math department on the way to Building 14, where we used to be. And I looked in a door and saw mathematicians hunched in [INAUDIBLE]. And I felt right at home. Because that looked exactly like walking down the halls at Julliard into the practice rooms and seeing people working personally on something.
[? LOCKHART: ?] One of the amazing things about MIT students is the incredible wide range of interests and abilities that extend far beyond the intellectual and the academic. And our special guest with us this section of the concert is no exception to that. His name is Jonathan Lee.
[APPLAUSE]
[SYMPHONY MUSIC]
GOEL: I think that being involved in activities like this only enhances your education. I think it's important that while you're at school to focus on things besides your own research.
SONENBERG: So people come here as scientists, as engineers, as mathematicians. But when they are making art, they're artists.
[DRUMMING]
STUDENT: (CHANTING) People moving out, people moving in. Why? Because of the color of their skin. [INAUDIBLE]
D'ARBELOFF: I think it's a way of chilling out some of the stresses you have. It's a way of looking at the things you're doing in a-- with a broader picture.
TSIEN: It's like anything you want to do, MIT students will go off and form a group for it. And then, they'll actually carry it through. Because they put all their engineering skills to work, and they engineer these art groups. And there are piles of them.
STUDENT: Hi, we're The Corollaries. We have our new CD, which you should by. We're the Institute's only co-ed, secular, all-MIT, non-jazz competing a capella group. So that makes this special. And you're all special too. We're going to sing another song now.
THE COROLLARIES: (SINGING) We are the engineers. We are the engineers. We are the engineers. We are the engineers. We are the engineers. Yes, we are the engineers.
TSIEN: So you shouldn't think that MIT has no art, because they've got them sprawling all over the place.
BRODY: Well, now, the advice I give to incoming freshmen consistently is don't leave your trumpet at home. You can use it here.
MCGANN: So we've got a live check-in over at Johnson Athletic Center, where the graduates are busily getting ready for their walk over here. So can you see? Can you find your graduate out there? Right now, while MIT students are, in the long-term, focused on that mission of MIT to change the world, to make the world a better place, right now, their mission, I think, is just to get in that snack line, grab some muffins and orange juice.
Now, you should know that at MIT, there are-- there are no classes that really begin before 10:00 AM. So this is extremely early for MIT students. So you can see a lot of sleepy students in line. But they're very excited to be walking up that main aisle and sitting in these black seats in front of us not very long from now.
So right now, what we're going to do is-- we just saw in a video about the arts at MIT. Now, we're going to throw it to a ZigZag piece looking at other activities at MIT. MIT has just a plethora of activities, more than 330 different student groups, 41 varsity sports. There's so much to do. Why don't you check this piece out? It's really quite interesting.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Coming to you from the Johnson Athletic Center at MIT, My name is Matt McGann. And this is ZigZag, now available in high-definition.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
At most campuses across the country, athletics are an integral part of the college experience. At MIT, students apply the same passion, drive, and commitment to athletics as they do academics. The Institute fields 41 NCAA teams, as many as any other school in the nation. But when it comes to athletics, the key word is participation. More than 10,000 members of the MIT community participate every year in a rich and varied intramural program. At MIT, students would rather be on the field than in the stands.
ANDERSON: One of the reasons I really enjoy working here at MIT is because our student athletes don't have to sacrifice their academics for athletics and vice-versa. We want our student athletes here to do just what that term says. You're a student first, and you're an athlete next. On an annual basis, we get 760,000 visits in our recreation department.
And our varsity sports, I think that speaks for itself. We have 41 varsity sports. And we're tied with Harvard for the most sports at any institution of higher learning.
The breadth and depth of our program is an inclusive one. We have 29 clubs. We have a strong intramural sports program. You take a PE class, for instance, our students may come here and never skated before. They put on a pair of skates. And they learn to skate. And two months later, they're playing in an ice hockey game. That's just unreal to me.
But the MIT students, they want to be excellent at everything they do. So it doesn't surprise me at all to see that happen. And it happens on a regular basis.
Our student athletes, when we get a chance to work with them, they learn leadership. They learn to work as a team. They learn that they can push themselves beyond whatever thought they could do. They learn to take charge without taking over. And these are the same kind of skills that you can take from the playing field and get to the boardroom, and you can use those there. We know that they are really, really prepared when they move to the next game, which is the game of life.
MCGANN: MIT fields more than 2,000 intramural sports teams and nearly two dozen sports. And 80% of MIT students participate in some form of organized athletics.
We all know that MIT is renowned for academic excellence. It's known as the leader in science and technology. But it's also known for mariachi bands? That's what the freshman class discovered at the 2006 Activities Midway, where they were introduced to the wide, wide world of clubs and organizations available to students at MIT.
ENDERTON: We are the MIT Energy Club. And what we do is we try and bring together the business, technology, and policy communities at MIT.
CHU: I'm with Dance Troupe. And basically, we're the largest dance organization at MIT.
ANDREWS: The MIT Marching Band goes out to football games and other sporting events, and helps keep the pep going.
RUSH: Course 16.5, Aero-Disastro, which is the MIT student juggling club. And I should be able to juggle five balls while talking on the microphone, hitting Matt McGann, in the head.
[INAUDIBLE]
CHANDAWARKAR: I'm in The Corollaries of MIT. We're the oldest coed a capella group on campus.
DENIS: The MIT Ballroom Dance Team gives me another outlet for my energies and emotions.
MONZON: Our group is called MIT Filipino Students Association. It helped me a lot in making new friends and basically just promoting the culture.
BUCHWALD: We are the cheer squad at MIT. And we cheer for football and basketball games.
CHEERLEADERS: E to the U. U to the X. E to the x to the x. Cosine, secant, tangent, sine. 3.14159. Integral, radical, [INAUDIBLE] MIT.
STEIN: Our group is the Laboratory for Chocolate Sciences, and we do anything you could want to do with chocolate.
O'REILLY: We'd build and operate a HO-scale model railroad. And we build all the electronics and write all the software. And we can actually run the layout remotely.
DARBE: Design For a Change is involved in international development work. It's a real and meaningful impact.
HASTINGS: If a student is not doing these kinds of activities, then they're going to be a one-dimensional kind of person. But we're in the business of creating holistic students.
SHAHIR: MIT students who I've noticed so far are very passionate about what they do here.
RIVAS JR: I've made many, many friends here and really have enjoyed-- great-- I know they're going to be lifelong friendships.
[MARIACHI MUSIC]
PRESENTER: The start of the new semester also saw the observance of another MIT tradition, the hack. Regular viewers of ZigZag will remember our coverage of a hack last semester, in which the Cal Tech cannon appeared mysteriously on MIT'S campus. This term, the fifth anniversary of September 11, was commemorated by the equally mysterious appearance of a full-sized fire truck perched atop MIT'S Great Dome.
CHANDAWARKAR: I saw the fire engine on the Dome when I was walking over the bridge in the morning. And me and my friends were like, oh, that must be a commemoration for September 11.
HAREL: We got here on Sunday. It was our first tour of the campus. And well, it was a nice surprise, even for our tour guide. He showed us and explained the whole hacking culture.
LAM: I'm not surprised that MIT did a fire engine on top of the Dome. MIT has a lot of respect and a lot of caring for issues.
DERSH: I thought it was very well done. I know the police car back in the day got a lot of media and everything. So it's something that people always remember. And this one had even more meaning.
HAREL: I think it's really a nice gesture.
CHANDAWARKAR: We have no idea across the river how they do it. But it provides lots of people entertainment.
DERSH: I think it's a good thing to have.
MCGANN: That's all for now. For ZigZag, I'm Matt McGann. See you next time.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
All right, we're back here. And Karina has found another very nice looking MIT family from the audience. So Karina, who do we have here?
VIELMA: Well, Matt, I'm here with the Vielma family. They're going to see their daughter graduate. Is that correct?
VIELMA: Yeah, that's correct.
VIELMA: What is her name?
VIELMA: Her name is Lucia Vielma.
VIELMA: Lucia. And you are-- can you please each tell me just how you're related to her?
VIELMA: She's my daughter.
VIELMA: Mom.
VIELMA: Brother.
VIELMA: Her older brother.
VIELMA: Sister.
VIELMA: Great. Isn't this a beautiful looking family? Is this the first time that you come to commencement?
VIELMA: No, this is the second one-- the first one that we got interviewed. But it's the second one that we are on this place.
VIELMA: And what was the first time that you came for commencement?
VIELMA: The first time was when you graduated.
VIELMA: Oh, that's right. They were here for my graduation. This is my family, folks. Thank you for being such great families and coming up here. But I wanted to ask you about my sister, Lucia, who's graduating. Did she behave in any way like the MIT types?
VIELMA: No. I never thought that she was going to come here. Because when she was younger, she was a little lazier than you are. So I thought that she was not coming, because I know that anybody coming to this place have to work very hard to make it. And I thought that she was not going to come here.
VIELMA: Well, she did. How did you guys see your sister, Lucia?
VIELMA: She was the smart one.
VIELMA: Smarter than me?
VIELMA: Um.
VIELMA: OK, OK, don't answer that.
[LAUGHTER]
Does she do anything besides the-- over ordinary, extraordinary?
VIELMA: I'm not sure.
[LAUGHTER]
VIELMA: How about you, Frank?
VIELMA: Well, you know, I'm an Aggie. So it's pretty cool to be an Aggie. But I wish I was a little bit more like my sisters. I mean, when I was a senior, my younger sister Lucia, was a freshman. And we were in a academic competition. And she actually beat me in that competition-- me being the senior, and her being the freshman-- which I thought was pretty amazing thing she did.
VIELMA: Wow, that's amazing. So as a freshman, she beat you in a competition. Great. That's the MIT type. How about you, Irene? Are you coming to MIT?
VIELMA: I don't know.
VIELMA: Do you like math and science?
VIELMA: Yes.
VIELMA: Are you considering MIT?
VIELMA: What do you mean?
VIELMA: OK, I guess she hasn't started thinking about that. So is there any message that you want to give to the graduating class today?
VIELMA: Well, congratulations in your graduation. I think that you all work hard down here, and you deserve the best on your professional careers.
VIELMA: Thank you very much. This is the Vielma family, folks. Matt, now back to you.
MCGANN: Looks like we in the admissions office are going to have to look out for an application, maybe, from Irene. We'll look out for that. Irene Vielma-- remember that back in the admissions office. So right now what we're going to do is we're going to kick it back over to Allie at Johnson. She's got some more graduates who she'll talk to. So who do you have, Allie?
[? POLSHOY: ?] Hi, Matt. We have two doctorate students and an undergraduate. And they have some pretty interesting headwear. And I just wanted to ask them a little bit about it. So what are your names? Where are you from?
ELIZABETH: My name is Elizabeth, and I'm from Honolulu, Hawaii.
FITZMORRIS: I'm Jean Fitzmorris. I'm from Massachusetts.
ZOS: I'm [? Zos, ?] and I'm from Adelaide, South Australia.
POLSHOY: South Australia, okay. So what are you wearing on your head?
ELIZABETH: I'm wearing a Haku lei. It's a type of Hawaiian lei that's traditionally worn, I guess, during graduation. It's kind of a celebration.
[? POLSHOY: ?] Okay.
FITZMORRIS: This is the Green Monster, Fenway Park. And it's complete with Manny Ramirez at the outfield wall. My friends helped me pu it together. See it?
[? POLSHOY: ?] [LAUGHS] It's very nice. It's very nice. And what do you have on your head, sir?
[? ZOS: ?] This little guy is a robot. He's a humanoid KHR1 robot. And that's because I'm from the robotic life group at the Media Lab, and we never go anywhere without our robots.
POLSHOY: Oh. Oh. I see that. I see that. So he's going to wave at your graduation?
ZOS: Right. Right. It's partly his graduation too.
[? POLSHOY: ?] Oh, so you built it last night or--
[? ZOS: ?] Well, I rigged up everything and did some software last night.
[? POLSHOY: ?] Okay, just overnight.
[? ZOS: ?] Yeah. No sleep for the wicked.
[? POLSHOY: ?] No sleep. OK. OK. So he doesn't sleep before his graduations. [LAUGHS] Do you guys have anything you want to say to the families?
ELIZABETH: Hi, Mom and Dad, and my sister.
FITZMORRIS: Congratulations, everyone. Thanks.
[? ZOS: ?] Definitely a shout-out to Rosie and Simon. Thanks for making the trip.
[? POLSHOY: ?] All right. Let's take it back to you guys in the court.
MCGANN: OK. I wish that I had come up with something really cool to put on my headwear when I graduated. So keep an eye out for that really cool headwear as they walk down that aisle not very long from now. It's getting to be that time.
Well, our video magazine, ZigZag, is just one example of the rich assortment of video content that's available on the web. The explosive popularity of YouTube demonstrates that people not only want to watch video of their choosing but also to create and share their own content. MIT recently launched its own version of YouTube, which is called MIT Tech TV.
This site will allow for the MIT community, including students, faculty, and staff, to upload, view, and share quality science, engineering, and MIT-related content, providing a global audience with a window into MIT. It will not surprise you to know that many of our students are also talented media producers, as evidenced by these two pieces submitted to the student video contest sponsored by the Dean of the School of Engineering. Let's check it out.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
VIELMA: Our very own MIT President, Susan Hockfield, has made the search for clean, affordable, and sustainable energy sources a top priority here at MIT. Here's a brief look at just two initiatives-- of just two of the many energy-related research initiatives going on around campus. Let's take a look.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
BOLTON: Across America, the holiday season means travel. In fact, the winter holidays are traditionally the busiest travel times of the year. On a typical holiday weekend, the number of long distance trips increases by more than 50%. And the vast majority of those trips are made by automobile. With soaring gasoline prices and the threat of global warming, addressing the global energy challenge HAS become a top priority at MIT.
Hydrogen fuel cells, solar power, and exotic battery technology may all have a role to play in our transportation future. But there are also more immediate steps that can be taken to improve the efficiency of current gasoline engines.
HEYWOOD: I've been working on engines and then their fuel requirements, because the two are intimately connected, for almost all of my professional life. Our idea of a half-size engine is the best idea that I think I and my co-inventors collectively have come up with.
BROMBERG: We have been driving these sort of vehicles for 100 years. And here, we can still come up with something that seems to be relatively innovative, interesting to explore.
COHN: John Heywood, Leslie Bromberg, and I have been working for some time on bi-fueled gasoline engines, that is engines with two fuels, as a way to improve efficiency at low cost. And these thoughts just came together, as is often the case when you come up with a new idea, in the thought that we could use a small amount of ethanol to really improve the performance of spark ignition gasoline engine. The liquid ethanol is squirted directly into the cylinder. And there, it vaporizes. And it has a tremendous cooling effect. This prevents engine knock.
Engine knock, which is the unwanted detonation, of the fuel has been a major limitation on engine performance and efficiency. When the pressure and temperature in the cylinder get too high, the engine knocks. And that can be damaging.
HEYWOOD: The gain in efficiency relative to today's engines is about 25%. Our team is not motivated by we want this to work and so we'll make a lot of money. We want it to work so that we have a substantive impact on this big problem. We're just using too much energy, too much petroleum. We're emitting too much greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
We're 5% of the world's population, and we're using 25% of the world's petroleum. But there's a number that I got recently that's worse than that. We're using 40% of the world's gasoline. Now, I think that's a horrifying number. So there's a compelling need to reduce our energy consumption in transportation, to reduce our gasoline consumption. So a better vehicle helps everybody.
And we think this is real. And it looks practical. So it's got real potential for having an impact.
BOLTON: The half-size ethanol-boosted gasoline engine may be showing up in production vehicles within five years. You can read more about energy research initiatives at MIT in the current issue of Spectrum at web.mit.edu/giving/spectrum.
Is there an electric car in your future? One of the main technological challenges to the widespread use of electric vehicles is limited battery life. But at MIT'S Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems, new research is promising a viable alternative to conventional batteries, the ultra capacitor.
SCHINDALL: Research is fascinating in that you often end up doing something you never expected to be doing. We start with the basic capacitor. They're very, very effective in that you can charge and discharge them indefinitely. They store energy just like a battery. But they store much less energy than a battery does, not enough to be useful in electronic devices.
Now, an ultra capacitor is a great improvement over an ordinary capacitor. An ultra capacitor has about 1/25 the energy of a battery. We were simply looking at ultra capacitors to see if they would be useful to automobile manufacturers. And we made the connection that perhaps we could take an old product, a capacitor, and make that old product in a new way, use a new technology, nanotechnology, or a nanotube technology, and actually build a product that is better than what's out there before at a cost-effective price.
What we're doing is taking a capacitor and coating the plates of the capacitor with hair-like nanotubes growing out from the surface of the capacitor plates. The ions, which store the electrical charge, are attracted into the spaces between the nanotubes, allowing the capacitor to store an amount of energy that's comparable to what is ordinarily stored by a battery. That would be a significant improvement with many, many applications, ranging from small devices that could be more quickly recharged to larger devices, such as automobiles, where the braking energy can be captured in one of these devices. And that braking energy can then be used to accelerate the car and make the overall operation of the automobile much, much more efficient.
BOLTON: That's all for now. For ZigZag, I'm Marsha Bolton. I'll see you next time.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MCGANN: Hello. And we're back live on Killian Court. Earlier this week over email, we sent out an email to the entire graduating student body and said, would you like to have a nice message read aloud to the family and friends watching here live in Killian Court, live on the web, and also who will buy the DVD at home? And they responded in droves with lots of really, really nice messages. And we wanted to read some of them here. We'll also read a few for the web audience at home during the procession.
So the first one was from Karen Condon, a graduating student today. And Karen writes, "Grandma and Grandpa Ebersole, thank you so much for coming to watch me graduate on your 50th wedding anniversary and for the love and support you've given to me these past four years. Happy anniversary. Love, Karen." I thought that was really sweet.
Heather Pressler writes, "Thank you to my family, friends, and mentors for all of your support over the years, especially Mom, Dad, Uncle Ron, and Aunt Collette for coming to my graduation; my Alpha Phi sorority sisters for great times at MIT; and finally, Dr. Langer and Dr. [? Whitrop, ?] professors here at MIT, for helping me develop as a researcher." Thank you, Heather.
William [? Supply, ?] who will get his degree in material science and engineering today, writes, "Dr. Matthew Handler, you've been an inspiration to me as a material scientist. Thank you for your confidence and mentorship in my formative years as a scientist. I will miss you dearly."
Matt Pappy writes, "To my grandparents, hi, and thanks for coming to watch. To my whole family, thanks for your support."
This is a greeting from [INAUDIBLE] from Elmwood Park, New Jersey. He says, "I'd like to thank my mom, my dad, my brother, Saul, and my girlfriend, Kayla, for all of their support and help getting me through these past four years. I know I'll be moving far away, but everyone will be close at heart."
Sun Mi Yu writes, "To my grandfather, who did not make it to see my graduation but I know is here in spirit, thanks for always believing in me. I made it. Also, to my dear aunt in Korea who could not make it because she's in chemotherapy, this one is for you."
Silvana Arevalo says, "To my family, thank you for your continued love and support over the years. You've been my inspiration for achieving what I have done today."
Rose [? Li ?] writes, "To mom and dad, thank you for all of your love and support. I could never have gotten to where I am today without your encouragement and faith."
Kelsey Byers writes, to "Aunt Robin, Uncle Bob, Aunt Polly, and Uncle Garrett, thank you so much for the love and support you've given me. I love you all."
David Rush writes, "Thanks, Mom and Dad, for your love and support and for letting me make my own decisions but always being ready to offer advice when I asked."
Kaitlyn [? Gianavanuchi ?] says, "To Mom and Dad, Bobbie and Danny, thank you so much for being my rock and for always inspiring me. I love you more than words can say."
Jenn Fish says, "To my Fishes, Mom, Dad, and Chris, I love you and could not have done this without you."
Shirley Fung writes, "Thanks to my family for being supportive and loving over the years, always having my back. And thanks to Andrew for keeping me sane and always bringing a smile to my face when I am down."
Taylor Roan, who's receiving degrees today in mechanical engineering and physics, writes, "May thanks to my angelic wife, Kayna, who is too lovely and kind to be terrestrial. Your generous support has been crucial. I look forward to spending the rest of eternity with you and our little one due this autumn."
Christina Glaser writes, "Big up to Mom, Dad, and Bill."
Cynthia Walker, who will be receiving her degree today in mechanical engineering, writes, "To my family and fiance, thank you for all of your support. Without you, I would never have made it. Love you."
Moira [? Rassich ?] says, "To my [? Rassich ?] family and my whole Northport family, thank you for all of your love and support. I love you all."
Maurice [? Obaid ?] says, "To my family-- my mother, [? Zalpha; ?] my father, Khalil; and my sisters, Nadine, Saraya, and Tatiana-- thank you for all of your support and encouragement through the years. Thank you for believing in me and standing behind me in all of my endeavors. I should hope that I keep you proud. Your Lebanese son, Maurice."
Chris Watson writes, "To mom and dad and to my abuelita and to Grandma and Grandpa, also to everyone who has supported me over the years who believed that I could do it."
Dwight Chambers writes, "Many thanks to my parents, who so generously supported me through a four-year roller coaster. Thanks to my brother who constantly teaches me about perspective."
And finally, Alice Zo, who will be graduating today with a degree in material science and engineering, says, "To my family, thank you for convincing me to go to MIT and for your continuing support behind every decision I have ever made. To my friends, even though we have memories we'll never remember, you guys are some of the people I'll never forget. Love always, Alice." Karina?
VIELMA: Well, Matt, as you know, students who graduate from MIT go just about everywhere. Isn't that correct?
MCGANN: Well, some of us stay here.
VIELMA: That's right. You and I came back to MIT. Well, in this next video, we also asked a selection of students to share their thoughts about what this day, graduation commencement, means to them, and where they go from here.
PEARCE: Using my MIT chemical engineering degree, I'm going to enter into a doctoral program studying management and organizations at Northwestern University.
GARCIA: I'll be attending UCLA in the aerospace division working on structures to get my master's degree.
SCHOR: In August, I'll be leaving for Spain, and I'm working for a chemical engineering company. So I essentially get to live in Spain for nine months for free.
NEDZEL: I don't know exactly where I'm going to end up five or 10 years down the road. But I do know that it's going to be some sort of role that has interesting and challenging problems that need to be solved. And it will be a role that, in some way, can positively influence society.
PEARCE: This is a place where people are committed to changing the world. And so we students come here, and we get educated. We come up with new ideas. And then, we go back into the communities from whence we came AND start solving the problems that we see exist, using the skills that we developed here at MIT.
LUGO: When I get my diploma on Friday, my mom is probably going to be crying and, at the same time, shouting out, that's my kid, and just excited knowing-- and proud knowing that not only I did this, but she helped me do this.
SLUTSKY: So it will be more than just me being ecstatic. It'll be them knowing that they've put a child through MIT. And they claim that they deserve honorary degrees as well.
HOPEMAN: Oh, they're going to be so proud. My parents are so proud that I'm here.
PEARCE: I recognize that the common thread of my experience is that I could do more than I ever thought I could. My brain has been able to hold more information than I ever thought it could. And as I approached this time to get my degree and look back on what an MIT degree will mean, it will mean the end of a long journey. It will mean the beginning of a lifetime of leadership and change for society.
MCGANN: All right, so we're going to go back to Allie one last time here. There's a lot of excitement, and she has one last interview that we've got to learn a little bit more about what's going on over there. So Allie, what's going on right now?
[? POLSHOY: ?] Hi, Matt. We have. Ms. Julie Norman with us right now, who's going to give us a little lowdown on how this whole thing happens. So, Ms. Norman, I understand that this takes a lot of logistical prep work. And it's done a little differently than some other colleges do it. Can you explain that a little bit?
NORMAN: Well, the logistical part is that we line the students up in order, march them in four columns to Killian, and when they cross the stage, we give them their own personal diploma. And so to make that happen with about 2,500 graduates is rather challenging. But we can do.
[? POLSHOY: ?] Wow. Wow, that's incredible. Everybody gets their own diploma.
NORMAN: That's correct.
[? POLSHOY: ?] Wow. How many people are graduating right now?
NORMAN: We have about 2,300 students today, just under 2,300.
[? POLSHOY: ?] So is everybody here?
NORMAN: We hope so.
[? POLSHOY: ?] We hope so. So how do you manage to get from here all the way over to Killian and everybody's makes it okay? How does that work?
NORMAN: Well, we will process in just a few moments. In just a few minutes, we'll be leaving. And we will process out of this building and down Amherst Alley towards Killian Court, where we meet up with the rest of the stage party and follow them in.
So as you can see, the students are getting a little anxious. It's warm here. And we're getting ready to go. We do need to exit this building and get them outside. And they're excited. This is a bed of high energy and anticipation.
[? POLSHOY: ?] Yeah, I could certainly feel it. It seems like the happiest place on the planet right now. And you can tell everybody's a little anxious. We have a couple people running through here. So how was the-- how long have you been awake today? Did you go to sleep last night in preparation?
NORMAN: Oh, absolutely, for about four hours.
[LAUGHTER]
[? POLSHOY: ?] So how long have you been here?
NORMAN: Since 6:00 this morning.
[? POLSHOY: ?] Oh, wow. I woke up at 6:00 this morning.
NORMAN: This happens once a year. And this is why we're all here. It's the most exciting day on the campus each year.
[? POLSHOY: ?] Right. Can I ask you a little bit-- what colors are you wearing?
NORMAN: I am a graduate-- did my graduate work at the University of Texas, and I am a toxicologist and industrial hygienist. So this is health and science.
[? POLSHOY: ?] Why MIT?
NORMAN: I came here-- I was at Montana Tech as a faculty member. I came to MIT in 2000, and I'm a senior associate dean for undergraduate education.
[? POLSHOY: ?] So you're the head lady in here right now?
NORMAN: Yes.
[? POLSHOY: ?] Okay, well, thank you very much. I won't keep you any longer.
NORMAN: You're very welcome. I'll see everyone in the Court.
[? POLSHOY: ?] All right, back to you, Matt.
MCGANN: OK, as we just heard from Dean Julie Norman, it really is an amazing feat to have those 2,200-plus graduates get their actual diploma. And I remember, when I walked across that stage right up there and received my degree-- actually from Charles Vest, who's today's commencement speaker-- it was an amazing feeling to open it up and see my actual MIT diploma as I descended down the ramp. And that was when I knew that I made it. And that will be an amazing feeling that your students will have in just a few hours from now.
So we're getting ready for those columns to come on over. But before we do that, I do have to make some important announcements. So let me do that now.
So I know that each of you here is going to be very anxious to get the best possible view or photograph of your graduate, as my parents were. But I urge you to remain respectful of your fellow guests while doing so. Please do not stand on chairs while taking pictures. We honestly-- seriously here-- have had folks get hurt doing this. And it's also quite disrespectful and rude to those folks who are behind you. So don't stand on the chairs. And be respectful as you're taking your pictures of your graduates.
I would ask you that as the ceremonies begin or perhaps now as you're thinking of it, put your cell phones and pagers on silent or vibrate mode so as to not disrupt the ceremonies. Don't call your graduate as they're processing in. Graduates really do need to maintain line of march, and this can be distracting.
The medical tent is located at the rear of Killian Court. That big white tent will be where you can get medical help if you need it. So that's where you'll find the medical tent. You also see student EMTs wandering around. And I think that's really neat that we do have student EMTs on campus that are available to help. And if you need that, just yell or go back to the medical tent.
Official photographs and DVDs may be ordered of the ceremony today. Ordering info is that the info tents here in the court, located in both of the lower courts. You can also order the DVD and the photographs on the official commencement website when you get home if you like.
Concessions are available in the lower courts. Coffee, tea, beverages, and snacks are available for purchase if you so like. Water bottles-- you found them for free on your chairs. And please do keep yourself hydrated. Today will get up to about 77 degrees. So keep yourself hydrated. If you need more water, there is more water available at the info tents in the lower courts.
Restroom facilities-- very important, people are always looking for the restroom facilities. They are located in the lower rear court. You can see them in the teal color. So look for them. If you need any help today with restrooms, water, medical, the folks in the red jackets-- not the class of 1957; that's a different red jacket-- but the volunteer red jacket, you can grab any of them. They're extremely helpful and can help you with anything you need today.
And finally, I should note that in the program that you picked up as you walk in, the words to the National Anthem and also to the MIT school song in praise of MIT are printed in there. So if you want to sing along today, feel free to join in. I do love the MIT school song, and I'll be singing along myself a little bit later today. There is also some logistical information in that commencement program.
So if you haven't checked it out, leaf through it. It's pretty interesting. So that's where we are now.
So Karina is going to come back up with me for a moment. So what do you remember most about your commencement? What memories do you have?
VIELMA: You know, Matt, it was a while back. So I remember it was raining a little bit, drizzling. And I was very excited because this was the first time that-- that my entire family was going to be here at MIT. How about you, Matt
MCGANN: I can remember that I was in line. I remember trying to not trip, which I think is what a lot of the graduates today will be focusing on. Don't embarrass myself as I get my diploma. And then, it became a blur. I remember very little after that until we went out to lunch.
My grandmother was here, my parents and my brother. And we went to the north end, the Italian district, for lunch together. And I do remember that. But everything after following that line and trying not to trip-- I mean, everything after that is a complete blur.
VIELMA: Yeah, I also remember when I was going up the stage, I was scared that all of a sudden, my diploma would be taken from me for some reason. Like maybe I didn't complete a problem set or maybe I didn't turn in an essay or library book. So I was scared that it was going to get snatched from under me right at the last moment. But luckily, I have pictures to prove that I did, in fact, collect my diploma. And I shook, at the time, President Chuck Vest's hand. And it was a wonderful, wonderful moment, even though it was drizzling. But it was a wonderful moment to remember.
MCGANN: Well, that moment for the Class of 2007 is coming up quite quickly. They are beginning their march out of the Johnson Athletic Center. They'll be coming across West Campus down Massachusetts Avenue, making a left onto Memorial Drive, and up on into the Court not very long from now. So for right now what we're going to do is we're going to go to the MIT Brass Ensemble under the direction of Larry Isaacson.
Now, prior to the beginning of the procession, the MIT campus police Honor Guard will present the colors. You'll see them march on up. They will be announced. It's quite nice. So now, we leave you with a video compilation of a sampling of the many interesting and inspiring people that have visited MIT over the years. We call it Voices @ MIT. Have a wonderful day, and again, congratulations. Congratulations, everyone.
CLINTON: MIT is admired around the world as a crucible of creative thought, a force for progress, a place where dreams of generations become reality. MIT has done much to make this the American century.
ANNAN: The Boston area boasts of several excellent institutions of higher learning. But there is only one MIT.
[? AGA KHAN IV: ?] MIT has shown a standard of excellence in education and research that sets a benchmark for universities everywhere.
RONGJI: [SPEAKING CHINESE]
TRANSLATOR: Right now, China is very short of talented managers. What we would like to see, more than anything else, is to see MIT helping us to train these high-level managerial persons.
RONGJI: I promise I will pay what you are paid here.
[LAUGHTER]
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you.
GATES: I, personally, and Microsoft, have been an incredible beneficiary of the kind of work that goes on it in here and in other places like this. Here at MIT over 50 years ago, there was a vision laid down by [INAUDIBLE] Bush that were probably about, oh, 20% of the way to achieving.
SAHIN: I can't tell you how much I have personally benefited from this institution. As part of this wonderful campaign, I would like to put $100 million on the table.
[APPLAUSE]
HAWKING: As one as unfortunate enough to be disabled, this is the age in which to be so. The disabled have a lot to thank technology for. I probably wouldn't have survived. And I certainly wouldn't have been able to write a best-selling book if I had been born any earlier.
WARNCOK: Managing innovation and figuring out how to actually turn good ideas into products is a really interesting thing that you probably don't learn about in universities. It's not about just technology. It's about the way people are treated. It's about how you motivate people.
BERNERS-LEE: What was that inspiration which led, suddenly, to the world wide web? For me, I wanted the thing to be a project management tool that allows all to work together-- not management from the top down, but management in there working together way. So I then said, it should be intercreative, a universal space for people to communicate through sharing knowledge.
GORE, JR: We are at the dawn of a true innovation page. It's estimated that the entire store of human knowledge now doubles every five years.
RUSHDIE: I would like to thank MIT for this incredible honor, which is, I have to say, the first academic honor I've ever received. So it's nice to start at the top. This is such a great institution dedicated to the search for the new and to the openness of thought that that search requires.
SONTAG: This case is the great test of where we stand on the issue of freedom and solidarity and the future of our own culture.
GOODWIN: For in the end, I believe the real challenge of history is to resist the tendency so prevalent today to label, to stereotype, to expose, to denigrate, and, instead, to bring common sense and empathy to our subjects so that the past can truly come alive, if only for a few moments, in all of its beauty, glory, sadness, and complexity.
KING: Young people, like you, are always the vanguard of any social movement, setting an energetic tone of courage and commitment. And now, we need you to, once again, lead us to a higher and more noble destiny.
CLINTON: 21st century America belongs to you. Take good care of it. Thank you, and God bless you.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
PRESENTER: Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the MIT Police Honor Guard.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[APPLAUSE]
[CHATTER]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MCGANN: Hello, and welcome back to those of you watching on the webcast and the DVD. You are watching MIT'S 141st Commencement Ceremonies. We are live from Killian Court at the MIT campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is a beautiful day here in Cambridge-- partly cloudy, high of 77 today. It is a perfect, perfect day for an MIT commencement, which we'll be getting started shortly.
I am your co-host. My name is Matt McGann. I'm the Associate Director of Admissions here at MIT in the Office of Admissions. I'm also an MIT graduate. I am the MIT Class of 2000. And with me is my co-host.
VIELMA: Yes. Welcome, everyone, as you join us. My name is Karina Vielma. I am Assistant Dean in the MIT Office of Minority Education. And I'm also an MIT graduate, Class of 2001. We were just here talking about the wonderful time that we had when we graduated. So these families are awaiting their own graduates to proceed in.
MCGANN: So here, you can see the wonderful Great Dome of MIT. And underneath that you see the Roman numerals there, MCMXVI. And that's 1916. That is the date when the MIT campus moved from the Back Bay Area of Boston to this brand new land, a mile's worth of shoreline along the Charles River here in Cambridge.
This campus here was designed by an MIT graduate of architecture named Wells Bosworth. Bosworth designed this MIT campus, this beautiful old part of the campus around Killian Court today. So 1916 the new campus opened, and was in 1917, that following spring, that the very first commencement ceremonies were held in Killian Court. And they've been held here on and off during the years. And you can see a wonderful shot of Killian Court and the empty black seats, which will be soon filled by MIT graduates.
VIELMA: Yes, and as you can see, Matt, the landscaping is just beautiful. The MIT Grounds Department handpicked each of these lovely, lovely flowers and plants that are displayed here on the stage. And later on today, they will be sold to the community. And all proceeds will go to the community service fund, which is an excellent way to raise money. And as we know, students here do so much community service that that money will be well-- put to very, very good use.
MCGANN: Also in the shot, you can see-- you could have seen the actual stacked graduation diplomas. They are all on stage right now ready to go just behind these beautiful-- we have some impatiens, some petunias. And we pan up. And just in the right of your shot there, you can see the diplomas ready to go.
And you heard a little bit earlier from Dean Julie Norman, who coordinates a lot of the commencement logistics, that every student will receive their own diploma. Now, I found it funny that as you look in your commencement program, for those of you who have a commencement program, there's a funny story in here that back in the day and very old time MIT commencements-- the-- sorry-- for the first time in 1923, we had carefully racked diplomas in front of Dr. Samuel Stratton, who was the eighth president of MIT, who made an individual presentation of diplomas to every man and woman in the alphabetically arranged line that passed in front of him. That was an innovation. And it replaced the scramble of other years in which each graduate picked up his own diploma from a basket on stage.
VIELMA: That's funny.
MCGANN: So this measure added a great measure of dignity to the ceremony, they said. It was also the first time that they used a loudspeaker. And they said that it showed conclusively that such an apparatus must henceforth be a part of the technology equipment used on every such occasion.
VIELMA: [LAUGHS] That's great. Well, just as we were talking to Julie Norman, she did mention-- first of all, Julie Norman is the Senior Associate Dean and Director of the Office of Undergraduate Advising and Academic Programming. And she's the Head Assistant Marshal today.
We spoke with her today as she was in Johnson Athletic Center lining up all the students. She did mention that each student will receive their own diploma, which is true. We experience that.
Our diploma is picked out from the bunch. And as you-- as those of you who will be watching soon, the names are read very, very quickly. And so it has to be precisely-- the students have to be precisely lined up so that they will receive exactly their diploma and no one else's. So it is great-- with great position that this commencement day is organized.
Lots and lots of helpers we see there in the red jackets-- the commencement staff is amazing. It's composed of MIT faculty, some staff members, and even students who are on campus for the summer, or have stayed on. It's amazing. I ran into some of them, and they're just very helpful to everyone and polite. It's amazing, the MIT community that we have here.
MCGANN: So here you see the MIT Brass Ensemble and Conductor Larry Issacson playing beautiful music for us today as we await the arrival of the procession and today's guests of honor. So they will continue to play here. But I think the important folks today-- at least, you know, when I was graduating, really, I saw the day as being a lot about my parents and my family and my friends who were there to experience this day with me. And it was so wonderful to have my parents and my grandparents and my brother all together to celebrate.
And as we look out over these smiling faces-- a little bit warm today, as we said-- lots of family and friends have turned out to watch their graduates. It's quite a popular ticket. And this commencement ceremony is always very full of lots of happy families.
VIELMA: Yes. And it's amazing, the diversity in families out there on the crowd. It's just wonderful to see the different attires that they're wearing, the different languages. And people are just so happy to be here on this day-- and very early, as you recall. The doors to Killian Court opened at 7:30 for the parents. So some of them have been waiting here for a very long time.
And it's beautiful to see the families and-- all come together. And MIT really is celebrating them. Because it's not just their child's accomplishment or their grandson, granddaughter's accomplishment. It's-- the entire community has come together to support each and every student. So it is a grand occasion.
I also had my parents, Matt, here. And I really thought it was a gift to them. Because as you know, a lot of the graduates, they think, oh, it's such a long ceremony. After they call my name, I want to leave. But really, it's more for the families to enjoy and to able to experience MIT at its grandest.
We have everybody coming together for this one occasion. And so it is truly a remarkable experience to give as a gift to families. Don't you agree?
MCGANN: I agree. And to all of the family and friends and everyone else watching out there on the web right now or watching after the fact on this DVD, I know that the graduates today are very happy to be sharing this moment with you. So thank you for watching and sharing this time with them. And they will be making their way into the courtyard not very long from now. Those chairs will soon be filled.
VIELMA: You know, one interesting thing that-- as I came in this morning, Matt, is those seats were covered-- the seats on the stage were covered up until this morning at around 7:00 AM. And they're ready to welcome all of our special guests. And it's just wonderful to see, like I said, the staff coming together and just being here for these students.
It's wonderful to see Killian Court dressed up so nicely. And the trees have been blooming. And it's just-- it couldn't even-- it couldn't be a better day than today. I think the rain cleared out, too. I checked the forecast, and no rain is expected today, we hope.
MCGANN: So here is the grand shot of MIT, the one that you always see on all the brochures and the posters of the columns and the Great Dome. This is, in MIT speak, Building 10. Behind those columns is Lobby 10. And the Great Dome, of course, very famous for the MIT pranks. And we've talked already about the police car that was put on top of the Dome in 1994, the fire truck that was put on top of the Dome in 1996.
Some other things that they've done to the dome over the years-- when the Nintendo Wii was released, they put a Triforce from the popular Nintendo video game, The Legend of Zelda, atop the dome. They put a Batman symbol on the Great Dome. For the Torino 2006 Winter Olympics, they put A Torino gold medal, which had a hole in the middle, you remember. They put the Red Sox logo on the Great Dome when they won the World Series in 2004, which was quite the joyous event here in New England-- Red Sox Nation they call them.
Many, many things-- maybe my favorite of recent years, during the career of these Class of 2007 students, was in 2003. To celebrate 100 years of flight by the Wright brothers, they put a very large scale model of the-- oh, actually we see Priscilla Gray coming in on the left of the screen being escorted in by a volunteer in the red jacket. Priscilla Gray and her husband, Paul Gray really personify MIT. They have been a part of MIT. So we see Priscilla Gray kissing First-- Becky Vest, the wife of Chuck Vest, and then Kathryn Willmore, the former executive vice president of-- or rather vice president of MIT. Tom Byrne is there in a very fashionable tie in the right of your screen. He's the First Husband, I suppose, of MIT, married to Susan Hockfield, the current president of MIT-- so everyone really turning out today for the commencement ceremonies.
VIELMA: And Priscilla Gray actually showed up today to present the Priscilla Gray Awards at this year's Awards Convocation Ceremony. It was great to meet her. And she just showed so much love for the students who received these public service awards. It was a great event. And actually, it was great to meet her personally. She's a pretty amazing person.
MCGANN: So in the procession, we will see a number of former and current MIT presidents-- Susan Hockfield, of course. Chuck Vest the immediate preceding president will be our commencement speaker today. And also Paul Gray, Priscilla's husband, who is still on the staff of MIT. He is a faculty member in electrical engineering and computer science and has spent most of his adult life here at MIT as a faculty member, as chancellor, as president, Chairman of the MIT Corporation-- just many different roles. So we'll have lots of MIT dignitaries on hand today.
VIELMA: And when you were graduating, you had-- your commencement president was Chuck Vest, correct?
MCGANN: Yes.
VIELMA: Yes. So did I. And do you remember who spoke in your commencement?
MCGANN: I walked in the year 2001, though I'm a member of the MIT class of 2000. And Daniel Goldin, the NASA administrator, spoke that year. And he was wearing robes from, I believe, the University of Padua in Italy.
And while you'll see in today's procession many very interesting robes and hoods from many different institutions, it's really those European institutions that started a lot of the pageantry that we associate with commencement and doctoral robes and hooding and the ceremonial caps and things. And he wore that from the University of Padua that year. How about you?
VIELMA: Oh, look at--
MCGANN: Oh.
VIELMA: Look at the Charles River just looking beautiful today. We have some runners out there. And I think they're about to begin the procession.
MCGANN: And there you see Martin Tang. Martin Tang is the president of the MIT association of alumni at Columbia he is the first international president of the MIT Alumni Association. He graduated, on this court, 35 years ago. He is a member of the Class of 1972 with a degree from the Sloan School of Management. You can see that he was carrying the MIT Mace. Karina, can you tell me a little bit about the mace?
VIELMA: Sure. The mace is carried by the Chief Marshal. And it was given to the MIT Institute by the Class of 1907. So that would be--
MCGANN: They would be their 100-year reunion, were any of them still around.
VIELMA: Yes. Isn't that amazing?
MCGANN: Yeah.
VIELMA: And on their 50th reunion is when they gave gift to the Institute. It's really symbolic. They actually created the mace, the ceremonial mace. It was a member-- class member [? Leverett ?] [? Hutton ?] that created this mace. And on top, you'll see it has an eight-bladed head that is surmounted with a beaver. And as we know, we have the beaver on our brass racks. And it symbolizes nature's engineer-- the animal-- the engineer of the animal world. And it's, of course, our mascot.
And it also has several other pieces, Matt. It has the seal of MIT on the base and oak leaves and pendant life-sized acorns. And these symbolize strength. They also have engraved on them the presidents-- the names of the presidents of MIT and the years that they--
MCGANN: And speaking of presidents of MIT, you could see Susan Hockfield in the foreground, the President of MIT. To her left, our right is Dana Mead, who is the chairman of the MIT Corporation. Behind them, you can see our commencement speaker, Charles Vest. And on the right, his left, is Paul Gray, his predecessor as the president of MIT. So they're putting the mace in place. We're really ready to begin here as the academic procession comes up to the podium. And they're coming closer to those degrees.
And you see Martin Tang greeting everyone. He's in great spirits today. Again, our first international president of the Alumni Association and beloved by everyone here at MIT.
VIELMA: And he's standing by that mace very-- like you said, very graciously greeting our special guests that will be on the platform. And--
MCGANN: There you see the beaver atop.
VIELMA: Isn't it beautiful?
MCGANN: Oh my goodness. And I love that it was designed and created by an MIT student-- an MIT graduate. And I also love that this is its 50th commencement. This is the 50th time that that mace has been used, beginning in the class of 1957. And we will very soon see that class of 1957. But first here, a number of MIT faculty members, some folks that you and I and the graduating students today had as their professors, their teachers, during their years at MIT.
And there's Ken Reeves, the mayor of Cambridge-- his third term as the mayor of Cambridge-- joining us here today. To his left is Alex d'Arbeloff MIT alum and also a former chairman of the MIT Corporation. So we have lots of really very special people here with us today.
VIELMA: We also have Bob Randolph up on top there.
MCGANN: That's the MIT chaplain is Bob Randolph. So everyone continues to mount the stage. And you can see that everyone is in different robes and different hoods. And those robes and hoods are indicative of where the faculty member received their doctoral degree. So--
VIELMA: I think the gray ones-- the gray ones are the MIT--
MCGANN: Yeah, MIT has two different robes and hoods, depending on whether you received a ScD or PhD, two different doctoral degrees, which are both awarded at MIT. But the gray with red stripes on the arm you can see there, that is one of the MIT robes.
VIELMA: It looks so beautiful. Everybody's so colorful up there.
MCGANN: And here they are, the Class of 1957, the 50-year reunion class coming in. And they are wearing the very fashionable red jackets of the Cardinal and Gray Society for the first time. We do love the Cardinal and Gray Society.
The 50th reunion class gets to lead the graduates into Killian Court each year. We don't know exactly when this tradition started with the 50-year reunion class. But we know that dating back at least in 1929, it's been happening, so at least 77 years. And what they said was that they are to be given a place of honor in the procession following the custom of other years, so it's been going on longer than 77 years.
So those red coats-- in 1966 the Class of 1916, returning to MIT for its 50th reunion, organized a fund to purchase a reunion jacket for each of their classmates. So that started the Cardinal and Great Society. And since then, alumni attending their 50th reunion are distinguished by way of gray slacks and the beautiful cardinal blazer bearing a detachable and intricately stitched MIT breast pocket crest. And you could see that there.
And also, you see many women. And I don't know if everyone knows this, but MIT has always been a place that's been open to women. We are not a place that recently went coed. So you'll see both men and women-- increasing numbers of women over the years. But you see men and women of lots of different backgrounds coming in in their red jackets.
VIELMA: When would that be? When would we receive our red coats?
MCGANN: I'll be back here, I guess, in the year 2050.
VIELMA: 2050. Wow.
MCGANN: It's kind of hard to imagine.
VIELMA: It's hard to imagine. I imagine these guys are very, very proud to have been MIT graduates for the last 50 years. It's amazing.
MCGANN: Yeah. So I have some statistics about 1957. The average US family income back then was $6,130.
VIELMA: Wow. That's-- that's almost a month's income now.
MCGANN: You could buy an Oldsmobile Golden Rocket 88, a four-door sedan. That sold for $2,895 back then-- back in the--
PRESENTER: Ladies, and gentlemen--
MCGANN: Oh, you have an announcement.
PRESENTER: --the guests of honor, the Class of 2007.
[CHEERING]
VIELMA: And now we prepare to receive the Class of 2007.
MCGANN: The moment everyone has been waiting for.
VIELMA: Our guests of honor.
MCGANN: Susan Hockfield clapping quite happily there behind the podium as she prepares her remarks to speak. But here they come. Here they come.
VIELMA: What a joyous occasion it must be, the-- the peak of your education, commencement. This is where we celebrate.
MCGANN: So you can see leading the Graduate Division in are the deans for student life and the dean for undergraduate education. So in front are Larry Benedict, the dean for student life, and then Dan Hastings, the dean for undergraduate education. They are the marshals of the Graduate Division.
VIELMA: And you can see Dean Hastings very happily marching there with his gray coat-- gray and red coat.
MCGANN: You can see with the beard, Les Norford, the associate marshal. He's a professor of architecture. He's a great guy. And also Christine Ortiz, another associate marshal, is an associate professor in material science and engineering.
VIELMA: And she's standing behind Dean Hastings, I believe, in the video now.
MCGANN: And behind them will be the first students to ascend the stage today. They are the President of the Class of 2007, Susan Shin, and also the president of the Graduate Student Council for most of the past academic year, Eric Weese, both very beloved students by the student body here today. And they will both get the chance to address our graduates.
The other students who will ascend the stage quite shortly will be assistant marshal, [? Grace ?] [? Lowe, ?] who's Susan Shin's vice president, the vice president of the Class of 2007, and also assistant marshal, [? Sean ?] [? Wu, ?] who is the vice president of the GSE, the Graduate Student Council, for most of the past year. So they are getting ready to ascend the stage. We see some more of the red jackets, the Cardinal and Gray Society, take their seats.
VIELMA: There's Blanche Staton. She works in the Graduate Students Office.
MCGANN: Ah, and here they are.
VIELMA: Looking Looking on on at at the the incoming graduates. graduated.
MCGANN: So they're getting ready to come up onto the stage. And the other graduates will take their places in those seats that you see there. And as they really enter the front of Killian Court, a wave of applause rises from the crowd. You can hear it quite loudly now. This is the moment.
VIELMA: The moment all the graduates have been waiting for.
MCGANN: Larry Benedict and Dan Hastings leading the group in.
VIELMA: They're greeted, again, by--
MCGANN: Martin Tang.
VIELMA: --Martin Tang.
MCGANN: The president of the Alumni Association. So the first of our Class of 2007 are beginning to take their seats. And they are continuing to come in. You heard that there'll be more than 2,000 graduates today receiving bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees.
VIELMA: And as you can see, some of them are wearing their-- their stoles, which are-- there's one of them, a kente stole. It's made from African kente fabric. And some leis-- we see some Hawaiian leis.
MCGANN: Looked like we had some wind turbines on top of that one. So here is Susan Hockfield on the left, the president of MIT.
VIELMA: And Chuck Vest.
MCGANN: To the right is Chuck Vest, who will be the commencement speaker today. Chuck Vest, I believe, has in his hands his address to the graduates today. And he has addressed many MIT commencements before, but this one will be special. He has just been elected the Head of the National Association of Engineers, the NIE-- NAE. He will be begin that position down in Washington DC quite soon. But Chuck Vest is still a fairly revered figure here on this campus. And here's the entire tableau of faculty and staff and those four students we mentioned, who are getting ready to celebrate the class today as they graduate.
VIELMA: And we see the stacks there, Matt, of the red folders carrying the MIT diplomas. And soon, those will be handed out. And hopefully we'll have zero left after today. About 2,300 was announced-- about 2,300 graduates are going to join us today to receive their diplomas here in Killian Court. And we see more of them marching in.
There, we see a serape worn by Christina Gomez. She's graduating in Course 2, Mechanical Engineering. And of course, the graduates just look wonderful in their different attire marching in, waving to their families, to their friends. And I'm sure some of them are looking forward to afterwards to show their diploma and to show their families their hard-earned degree.
MCGANN: Now, the senior class has had quite the busy week. This past week has been what they call Senior Week. So they began last Friday with events designed for the class to spend some quality time together before heading to the four corners of the world. So on Friday, there was little fancy wine tasting event in MIT'S Faculty Club overlooking the Charles River. On Saturday, the seniors went down to Cape Cod and took a senior dinner-- scenic dinner train ride, featuring a five-course gourmet meal. That sounds pretty nice.
Sunday night, they had outdoor movies on Kresge Oval-- Casino Royale, an old school with a short intermission show by classmate, future graduate here in just a little while, David Rush, juggler. On Monday, they went out to the Six Flags amusement park. Tuesday, they went for a cookout on Kresge Oval.
Wednesday night-- or Wednesday for lunch, they had a lunch cruise in Boston Harbor. And last night was a grand event for all MIT alumni, including the Class of 2007, the future alumni, the Tech Night at the Pops, an annual MIT-only performance at Symphony Hall, which is just really an amazing night to see all of the MIT alums there filling some Symphony Hall, seeing one of the most famous orchestras in the world, the Boston Pops.
VIELMA: And yesterday, we also had the--
MCGANN: Donna Coveney, the MIT photographer for many years with beautiful shots. She is up on the Dome, looking down at this beautiful scene today on Killian Court. And I'm sure that we will look forward to seeing Donna's photos-- Donna Coveney's photos a little bit after the ceremonies today.
Adele Santos there, the Dean of-- the Dean of Architecture and Planning. Ike Colbert, who will be leaving, departing this year, as the Dean for Graduate Students. Paul Lagace on the left, one of the marshals, a faculty in aeronautics and astronautics. Many, many folks up on the stage today. Everyone turns out. You don't want to miss commencement at MIT.
VIELMA: And yesterday, we also had the hooding ceremony for the candidates for PhD and ScD. They received their academic hoods in a ceremony that was performed yesterday. So the celebrations have been going on for the entire week for our community. And the doctoral students, they received their attire yesterday. So it was great to see some of them walking around campus.
MCGANN: So as we see these graduates getting ready, taking photos with their cell phones. This is 2007 now, the technology of the day. Everyone smiling, happy, taking their photos.
VIELMA: And I'm sure they're looking forward to turning over their Brass Rat that they've worn facing them, correct? Now, it's going to face the world.
MCGANN: That's right. At many institutions, the big deal on commencement is to turn the tassel on your cap. But at MIT, we have another tradition which is more important to our graduates. And that is to take our class ring, which is called the Brass Rat. And it's called that because it's made of gold. It has a beaver on it. I don't know.
But since the-- 1930, we have had an official class ring designed by the students in the class. So everyone in-- every year's ring is unique and different. Of course, Karina, the Class of 2000's Brass Rat was the best. We all understand that.
VIELMA: No, no, no, Matt-- 2001.
MCGANN: But you will see these students a little bit later on during the address by Susan Shin, the class president for the Class of 2007. She will instruct them to turn their beavers around, turn that ring around. And you will see the Class of 2007 get very excited at that point. And that is one of the things that I do remember about my commencement was turning around my Brass Rat.
And that is when you see someone from MIT, you can look at their finger with their Brass Rat, a very popular ring. And if the beaver is facing out towards you, you know that they've graduated. And if it faces inward, you know that they're an upperclassmen at MIT.
VIELMA: Correct. Correct. And the ring is designed by a ring committee called Ring Com, which is a group of about 12 people. And they come up with a design. My class actually had very unique details on it, as this class also has, Class of 2007. So they'll be looking forward to turning theirs over. Again, we also have the doctoral students also have a Grad Rat.
MCGANN: Yes, the Grad Rat. So the Brass Rat started as an undergraduate tradition. But graduate students are a big part of this community as well, an equal part. So they said, we need what we're going to call a Grad Rat. And every ring has something unique on it. My ring has unique things to my particular class here.
And the Grad Rat has, among other things, two neat little things hidden within the beaver and the design. There's a pizza, which is supposed to represent the food, the free food that is so important to the graduate students during their time, and also a handless clock. The clock represents-- the clock without hands represents, what they call, our lack of fixed time to graduation and the fact that there is never enough time to do all the things we need while at MIT.
VIELMA: And there they are, some of the doctoral students who are looking at their commencement folders and looking onward.
MCGANN: So you can see that they are wearing, many of them already, their doctoral hoods that they received yesterday. That's the blue hoods around them, which is lined with red-- Cardinal Red and Silver Gray, which are the official MIT colors-- and also the nifty little tam, the hat that they wear, is also an official part of the doctoral garb.
VIELMA: And again, our [AUDIO OUT] our stage of faculty there, ready to receive the graduates also.
MCGANN: And it's a wonderful thing that at MIT, all of the classes are taught by the faculty members. But when the students came here to MIT that they actually were able have classes with these amazing faculty members, Nobel Laureates. I had, for freshman physics, a Nobel Laureate, which was an amazing experience. For freshman biology, I had Eric Lander, the head of the largest center for the Human Genome Project. These famous faculty really do teach the students at MIT. Did you have a favorite faculty member or a most notable faculty member that you had during your career here, Karina?
VIELMA: Yes. My favorite was Professor Michael Sipser. He was my adviser also and very, very hopeful faculty member. And I am very, very grateful for all the faculty. They, in each their own way, taught me different things that have helped me throughout my life after-- at MIT and after.
So I'm sure that these faculty up here know that the students appreciate them. And that's part of the reason why they're here joining us. So it's great to see them all up there.
We also saw earlier Chancellor Phil Clay sitting up there on the stage, and our provost, Rafael Reif who is also sitting next to Charles Vest. And so it's great to have all these people who have an amazing-- there we see Chancellor Phil Clay. And it's just wonderful to see them be a part of this community in so many ways. Chancellor Clay visit our students very often and has discussions with them. He's a wonderful senior administrator to have on campus.
MCGANN: And sitting next to him was Steve [? Lerman, ?] professor of civil and environmental engineering, who's serving as the chair of the faculty at this moment.
VIELMA: That's right. And I think his term is just about ending. So he'll be ready to hand over his term.
MCGANN: Yeah. He-- a former chair of the Faculty [? Valiant ?] when he came in as Lorna Gibson, who was chair of the faculty, received a promotion to associate provost. And Lorna Gibson is, again, one of the beloved faculty members here.
VIELMA: Oh, nice.
MCGANN: So the graduates continue to come in. They just keep coming. More than 2,000 today will graduate. Just an amazing group. And you see the marshals continuing to stand as the graduates come in. And I don't see an end to this, Karina. Do you?
VIELMA: No. And it's amazing that those black chairs were previously unfilled. And now, they are just filling up. And we see here that it's-- they're almost all full. But it seems like we have more students coming in, so.
MCGANN: So here, again, we have a shot of the stage, as we have many of the noted faculty members standing and waiting. You see Professor David Newman is just coming off the screen to the right, the Housemaster of Baker House. We have live-in faculty members in all of our undergraduate residences. And we see more and more of the faculty. And they're looking, seeing what the program is today, and looking for some of the names of the students that they know, that they taught, that they mentored during their years-- looking through the program, seeing who is going to be there. And this is the view that they have from the stage looking out on that--
VIELMA: What a wonderful view, isn't it, Matt?
MCGANN: Oh, man.
VIELMA: It's amazing.
MCGANN: As the graduating students, we only see this view very briefly. We walk up the stage, try not to trip and embarrass ourselves, shake the hand of a senior administrator at MIT, receive our diploma, and then walk down those ramps. And that is one of the most joyous moments. And you'll see that moment for thousands of our students quite shortly here.
VIELMA: Yes. And that view is amazing, especially given this beautiful day that we have. It's also covered so that they get lots of shade. And the graduates will, of course-- as we saw, some of them be wearing shades. And of course, they have their caps. So they'll-- they're going to celebrate--
MCGANN: Ah, another shot of the mace.
VIELMA: This is the mace again. And one thing I didn't mention, Matt, about the mace is that the mace also has symbols, symbols of physics, math, humanities, biology, mechanics, electromagnetism, chemistry, civil engineering, earth sciences, naval science, architecture, aeronautics, all of these symbols that represent courses of MIT instruction but are also an expression of the technological culture here at MIT. And these have remained unchanged throughout many of the years. There, we see the beaver on top.
MCGANN: So the beaver-- this is an interesting story how it became our mascot. In 1914, Lester Gardner, of the MIT Club of New York, proposed a mascot to then MIT President Richard Maclaurin. And Gardner says, "We first thought of the kangaroo, which, like MIT, goes forward by leaps and bounds. Then, we considered the elephant. He is wise, patient, strong, hardworking, and like all those who graduate from MIT, has a good tough hide. But neither of these were American animals. We turned to William Temple Hornady's book on the animals of North America and instantly chose the beaver. The beaver not only typifies the MIT student, but also, his habits are particularly our own. The beaver is noted for his engineering, mechanical skills, and industry. His habits are nocturnal. He does his best work in the dark."
VIELMA: And that's what a lot of students here do. I remember late, late nights here at MIT working through problem sets. And that beaver really does show the type of work that MIT students do-- best at night and all of it is, mainly, engineering, for the most part.
MCGANN: Engineering, science, architecture, management, humanities, arts, social sciences-- all of which are done here at MIT-- certainly exemplifies-- that beaver exemplifies our motto, which is, "Mens et manus."
VIELMA: Mens et manus.
MCGANN: Mind in hand.
VIELMA: Yes.
MCGANN: So here at MIT, we both have the theoretical work and the hands-on work. And when you make that dam as a beaver, you have to do some theoretical planning and then the hands-on actual building of the dam. And there's the beautiful flowers which will be on sale this afternoon. Funds going to the MIT community service fund.
And we're about to see one of the-- of my favorite groups on campus, the MIT Corollaries, MIT'S oldest coed acapella group. And they will be singing the National Anthem very soon here.
VIELMA: And they perform throughout the year, is that correct, Matt, on different occasions?
MCGANN: So they will perform the National Anthem. And then later on, at the conclusion of the ceremony, they will sing the MIT school song in praise of MIT, which begins-- you may know the song-- "Arise all ye of MIT."
VIELMA: There's one senior there with his attire.
MCGANN: So these seniors will be singing with The Corollaries. And then, they will go and actually receive their degrees. And this has been worked out with associate-- head associate marshal, Dean Julie Norman, who we saw earlier. They have this really down to a science how The Corollaries will enter the line once again. It really is a logistical achievement the way that they're able to give everyone their own degrees. This does not happen at every institution. It is a very special thing that happens at MIT.
VIELMA: The students who will be singing in the acapella group will then come down, have their seats, and then receive their diploma. Is that correct?
MCGANN: I believe they will enter the line at an appropriate time. So I don't think they will take seats within the masses of the graduates, but we'll watch that during the ceremony.
VIELMA: And I believe we're almost ready. We have some of the last graduates coming in.
MCGANN: So what we'll see, what to expect-- here's Paul Gray, we've talked about a number of times today, who really personifies MIT. He and his wife Priscilla are just a wonderful member of this community.
So today, the opening remarks will be given to the gentleman you see there is Dana Mead, the Chairman of the MIT Corporation. That'll be followed by an invocation that's given by a different chaplain each year. And that'll be done by Reverend Johanna Kiefner of the MIT Lutherans, the MIT Lutheran chaplain. That will be followed by the MIT Corollaries, who we were just looking at. They'll sing the National Anthem.
Then, we'll see the commencement address, Dr. Charles Vest, professor of mechanical engineering and President Emeritus; have a salute from the graduate students by Eric Weese, president of the Graduate Student Council; a salute and presentation of the class gift by Susan Shin, the president of the Class of 2007; the charge to the graduates by President Susan Hockfield; and then, the moment we really have been waiting for, the presentation of degrees-- as we look back over panning of the MIT faculty who are up on stage today, a number of very noted faculty and just some really wonderful mentors that we can see in the shot now.
VIELMA: And the degrees are presented in order of bachelor of science, then bachelor of science, master of science; and master of science, master of engineering degrees; and then advanced degrees. So it really is a science up here-- down to a science that they have it organized.
MCGANN: The first graduates today will be-- well, they'll be the students who are on stage. Those students will receive their degrees first. And then, it will start with graduates from the School of Architecture and Planning, the bachelor of science in art and design. We call architecture Course 4 here. Architecture at MIT-- this was actually the first place in the United States where you could receive a degree in architecture. And we still give those degrees today. Many amazing architecture graduates over the years from MIT, most notably, probably, I.M. Pei, who designed a number of buildings on our campus, including the media lab, also the pyramid in front of the Louvre, the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio; the Bank of China building in Hong Kong-- and a number of other folks. So there we see Martin Tang, again, in the center. To his right, the Dean for Student Life, Larry Benedict, and to his left-- left on the screen, anyway, Dan Hastings, the Dean for Undergraduate Education, also a professor in aeronautics and astronautics.
So everyone's just about ready here. You can see some cameras ready to film. You can see the faculty eagerly awaiting the ceremonies to begin. We're just waiting for some of the last folks.
There is Les Norford, associate marshal from the Department of Architecture, checking out and seeing how we're looking. The graduates still standing.
VIELMA: My sister's there in one of the front lines.
MCGANN: Lucia Vielma near the front to receive the-- after the Department of Architecture will be the Department of Urban Studies and Planning which your sister is a member of.
VIELMA: Correct. And then we have the School of Engineering, which is the largest department here.
MCGANN: About half of our students here-- a little bit more than half of our students-- will receive their primary degree in one of the engineering fields. At MIT, of course, so much more-- your sister in city planning, and wonderful departments in biology, chemistry, physics, brain and cognitive science, economics. Last year's speaker, Ben Bernanke, was our commencement speaker last year, an MIT graduate in economics. He's now chairman of the Federal Reserve. We also have wonderful departments here in linguistics, political science, management, management science, and just too many fields to name. So I apologize to those fields who I have not named.
VIELMA: Well, after the School of Engineering, we'll have the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, followed by the Sloan School of Management and the School of Science receiving their degrees. So they'll be really looking forward to receiving their Bachelor's today here from MIT. And you know, I'm wondering, where are all these people going?
It's amazing, so many of our students make wonderful, wonderful changes around the world. And we hear about it through the MIT Alumni Association, which I'm a part of, and of course you're a part of, and every MIT alum is a part of. So it's great to hear these news. And of course this is a celebratory moment, because as we see the graduates receiving their degree, then they're put off like a little seed out into the world where they'll plant their own change in the different fields that they'll be in.
MCGANN: Of the undergraduates who graduate, usually about 70% of them will go on to receive advanced degrees beyond their Bachelor's degree today. Many of them will stay and receive advanced degrees here at MIT. Others will go off and receive degrees in medicine law, research, science, and engineering, and many, many other fields. There's Ken Reeves again on the left, the mayor of Cambridge. Paul Gray on the right, former president of MIT.
And Dana Mead, you can see is looking at his remarks, that he is about to begin. He will be the first to speak today. He will welcome us. And it looks like we're just about ready for that moment. We've got a few more graduates coming in. The last to graduate today will be those in mathematics. I believe they are last in our order today. And these may be some mathematics students that we're seeing now. Also you see a number of students in uniform, commissioned into our military. They may be ROTC students, the Reserve Officers Training Corps, or may be here getting advanced degrees.
VIELMA: And Julie Norman, also. We see her at the end of the line. Not at the very end, but almost at the very end. And she has just done an amazing job coordinating all these helpers, commencement staff. And of course she'll also be joining the people up here on the stage.
MCGANN: So we hear applause starting to rise from the audience. I think this means that we are set for our ceremonies to begin today. The marshals, the graduation group of marshals, are ascending the stage. The time is upon us. So I hope that you will enjoy the rest of the broadcast, the webcast, or the DVD today as you watch it. It will be an amazing and just really very special ceremony that you're about to watch. And I'm going to go and watch it a little bit myself.
VIELMA: I also will sit with my family, [? Matt, ?] and watch my students, my sister, and of course future fellow colleagues and fellow alumni receive their degrees.
MCGANN: Do you think you might shed a tear today? Do you think somebody in your family might get a little weepy?
VIELMA: I think so. I think so. This is really a moment that we all wait for, is to receive our degrees.
MCGANN: And we have a crescendo here from the brass ensemble. I believe this will be the conclusion of their playing for the procession. And the cheers. And Dana Mead.
MEAD: Good morning. The Corporation and the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are now declared convened together with this assembly on the occasion of the commencement exercises of this institution for the conferring of its degrees. The stage assembly and audience will please rise for the invocation by Reverend Johanna Kiefner, and remain standing to join the MIT Chorallaries in the singing of one verse of The Star Spangled Banner.
KIEFNER: Okay. All right. On this day of celebration and grandeur, in which we offer honor and blessing to the life and promise present and gathered in this place, to the one known by many names and heard through the voices of wonder and passion, through reason and order, and in all that calls forth the best in who we are and can be, we offer our thanks for this day and invite your blessing upon these men and women graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We are grateful for the families, friends, professors, staff, and other mentors whose companionship with these graduates has made this day possible. May these guides continue to be instilled with wisdom and joy in teaching, and may they ever delight in the lives they touch.
For those whom this day marks a transition into a new chapter of their lives, we invite a passion for justice and a sense of clarity through which they may use their gifts for the betterment of the world. We invite an eagerness for learning and an ever deepening creativity, that as they grow in years and experience, there is a forever sense of wonder in the marvels of this planet and the universe we inhabit. We invite a thirst for truth and a discerning awareness, through the often complicated and at times distressing ways of the world.
And we wish for them companions along their way. Colleagues as partners in creativity, and to serve as wise guides as they mature into their professions. We wish for them friends to sustain them and laugh with them and to be for them sources of strength and flexibility. And may they be surrounded by those with deep love in order that they may know more fully their giftedness. And may they go forth into the world full of courage and eagerness. May their paths be well-lit and their hearts open. And may their minds and hands always be full of joy. Amen.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MEAD: I am pleased to welcome to the platform the honorable Kenneth E. Reeves, mayor of the City of Cambridge. Welcome, Mayor. I am also pleased to welcome to these exercises the distinguished members of our 50th reunion class, the great class of 1957.
It is my pleasure to introduce our commencement speaker, Dr. Charles M. Vest, MIT President Emeritus, professor of mechanical engineering, and President-elect of the National Academy of Engineering. Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, graduates, and graduates-to-be, Dr. Vest.
VEST: Thank you, Dana. Before I begin, I must tell all of you that I have listened to more commencement speeches than you can imagine. I've also invited more commencement speakers to campuses than you can imagine. From this, I learned that students usually feel they were short-changed. Hypothetically-- now, just hypothetically-- they might say things like, geez, Harvard got two Bills and all we got is one Chuck. But it's okay. Because I want to speak to you, not to the world. And because this is MIT, I'm going to talk to you about two big things-- opportunity and service.
Here are two things I know about opportunity. First, MIT is the greatest place on the planet when it comes to radiating education, opportunity, and service. Second, you never know when or how opportunity will materialize. Don't try to plan it or predict it, because you will undoubtedly be wrong. Now, how do I know these two things about opportunity? I know them because of the two letters I received from MIT during one 22-year period. I received the first letter from MIT in 1968. It informed me that the Institute was not interested in my application to become an assistant professor. So in Ann Arbor, I happily taught, did research, wrote a book, painted the house, helped Becky raise our children, and above all else, avoided committee assignments.
But 22 years later, in 1990, a second letter came from MIT. This one asked me to serve as MIT'S president. Not in my wildest dreams as a young faculty member could I have imagined that one day I would be called to serve as president of this remarkable institution. So always read your mail from MIT. There's an outside chance that instead of asking you for a donation, it may ask you to be president. Or perhaps, commencement speaker.
Now, being president of MIT brought me experiences that I could barely have dreamed of. Because of the opportunities created by education and by the place of MIT on the world stage, I would come to meet, know, or work with the kings, queens, presidents, premiers, or prime ministers of many nations; with the first human to set foot on the moon; with great artists and musicians; with the leaders of huge corporations; and with remarkable young entrepreneurs.
So what happens when you're with the powerful and famous? Well, in 2001, my wife Becky and I had tea with Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace. Would you like to know what she said to me? She asked me what I thought about Harry Potter. Thank goodness I had heard enough that I knew to mumble something about Muggles and Hogwarts. But believe me, it was a close call.
Or consider this. In 1994, I found myself in the East Room of the White House when all the living Apollo astronauts came together to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the first lunar landing. As I was leaving that amazing event, both Carl Sagan and the President of the United States sought me out to shake my hand and thank me personally for a small role I had recently played in our space program. With swelled head and adrenalin rush I floated out of the White House to catch a taxicab.
Then I heard someone on the street call my name. I turned around to find a former MIT graduate student who proceeded to berate me with a five-minute litany of pent-up complaints about some aspects of her experience here. She was certain that I had been personally responsible for all of them. So there's nothing like encountering an MIT graduate to keep your head out of the clouds and your feet on the ground.
But my real point here is that education and MIT opened amazing doors of opportunities to me-- opportunity to learn, opportunity to teach, opportunity to serve a greater good. Indeed the opportunity to serve is what I have valued above all else. I had the opportunity to serve as a voice for science, engineering, and higher education, and for the importance of our nation being open to scholars from all over the world at a time when America sorely needed to think about these things. And I want you to know that the people I have most valued knowing and working with are not the leaders of nations or corporate titans. They are my faculty colleagues, the intellectual leaders, the teachers and scholars who are the essence of MIT, and who give you, and gave me, the opportunity to literally change the world.
The opportunities for which they, the faculty, have prepared you will be as breathtaking as they are formidable. And most of them are beyond today's imagination. One reason is that they are mostly global in scale and very complex. Another reason is the continuous acceleration of technological progress.
The future is rushing at us more quickly every year. Just consider this. After the automobile was introduced, it took 55 years, in essence a lifetime, for 25% of the US population to have a car. It took 35 years, the length of a typical career, for the telephone to reach 25% of the US population. It took 23 years for radio, 16 years for the personal computer, 13 years for cell phones, and only seven years for the world wide web. Do you feel the acceleration, this exponential growth? Well, we'd better get used to it. 3,000 new books are published every day, and the amount of technical information is doubling every two years.
But along with all of this acceleration and exploding information, you have entirely new tools. Many of these new tools come from information technology or from 21st century life science. Your generation is already leading us into a new domain of global interaction. I am convinced that your way of communicating and working-- Second Life, Wikipedia, YouTube, social networking, social computing, open innovation-- these things reflect a fundamental transformation.
You can and must guide this transformation. You can use it to make money. You can use it to revel in catching politicians and movie stars making stupid mistakes. Or you can use it to bring what James Surowiecki calls the wisdom of crowds-- to work together to solve important problems and to build a more inclusive, engaged, and more egalitarian world society. It's your choice.
That's about information. What about the life sciences? We're barreling along three great frontiers of 21st century life science and biotechnology, frontiers that present extraordinary challenges and opportunities. The first is to realize the promise of genomic medicine, to put a powerful base of rational science beneath the practice of human medicine, and to tailor medical treatments to each individual patient. The second challenge is to dramatically advance our understanding of the human brain and mind, of memory, learning, and communication, and to attack the mental and emotional illnesses that today wreak havoc on so many lives. The third is to revolutionize much of engineering using the stuff of life as templates, and using biological mechanisms to design and grow new materials and to create new production techniques that mimic the efficiency of nature, thereby greatly reducing the environmental footprint left by industry.
Or to cite a more prosaic example, last year researchers announced that they had cloned pigs that made their own omega-3 fatty acid. Imagine, on the horizon as health food-- sausage. And there's more. Already the term biohacking is heard along our infinite corridor. Biohacking-- just think about the significance of that term. It of course heralds the advent of synthetic biology, the fusion of engineering and biology to design and build novel biological functions and systems.
Will all of these new capabilities of information science, life science, engineering, and their combination be used for good or for ill? How will you grapple with the ethical and legal questions that will come along with these new powers? How will you influence the public discourse and the public action on these questions? These are enormous challenges, in part because technological advancement usually outpaces social advancement.
For example, the design of the internet that forms the basis of so much opportunity in the world today was predicated on mutual trust-- trust that you are who you say you are and that you are doing what you say you are doing. But now, of course, we have viruses, worms, and phishing. That's P-H-I-S-H-I-N-G. You guys will have to explain to your parents what that means.
But these human-developed technological evils can be very serious. Just a couple of weeks ago, hackers virtually brought down the cyber-structure of an entire nation, Estonia. This is a highly wired country, and it's government, business, and economy we're very seriously impacted. Because of all of this, colleagues tell me that the internet must now be redesigned with security rather than trust at its core.
And we are all aware of the debates around genetic counseling, stem cells, and genetic modification of crops and food. Such redesigns and such debates are a necessary part of life in a free society. But you must be prepared to engage in the public dialogue and bring your own moral compasses and your commitments to applying the rationality of science and engineering to improving the human condition.
But let me turn the clock back 50 years. Each of us has a few moments of seemingly random memories of the past that from time to time spring into our minds with full clarity of sight, sound, and feeling. One such memory for me is simply of walking to high school one sunny morning in 1957. I lived only two houses away from high school, so if I left home when I heard the first bell ring I could make it into my seat before the second bell.
But be that as it may, I remember on that day a feeling of absolute joy, well-being, good fortune, and optimism. The air was warm and clear. The American flag was fluttering in front of the school. The sky was blue, and the sky was the limit. Life was good. The fact is that joy, well-being, good fortune and optimism were the right things for me to feel. Life indeed was good if you were a boy growing up middle-class and white in an American college town in the 1950s.
Now, much water has flowed over the proverbial dam in the years since then. But you know what? I still believe that optimism was very well founded. Now, you may say, yes, but when you were young, your world was much simpler, and certainly more insular than ours. Today, we face incredible global challenges. We have to improve the world's health, economies, security, and quality of life. We have to provide water and food for the burgeoning peoples of the Earth. We have to give them clean air to breathe and clear blue skies to make their spirits soar. We have to provide the energy that will lessen their burdens, integrate them into the world community, and give them economic opportunity. We have to cure their ills and safeguard their well-being. Come on, now. We have a much harder road than you did. Why should we be optimistic?
Well, in some ways you are right. But I want to leave you with another perspective. When I was young, I sat in our comfortable home in front of a black-and-white television and watched an interview with Dr. Tom Dooley, an American medical doctor serving people in Asia in the midst of unfathomable poverty and dire living conditions. Dr. Dooley held up in front of the camera a tiny, ill, starving child with distended belly.
Now, I have to explain that in 1950s, such sights were never seen on television or even in magazines. It was shocking, and I recoiled emotionally. Then he calmly said in essence, when you look at this child, you see something horrifying. But I look at this child and know that I have the knowledge and the skill to make him well. I believe that simple statement is a metaphor for what the graduates of a great university, especially one with the focus of MIT, can and must do-- make the world well.
Yes, you do grasp the complexity of our world, and you understand the enormity of its challenges. But you also have new tools to resolve them. In the end, I believe that knowledge and skill trump ignorance, and that optimism trumps pessimism. If you believe this, and if you embrace the opportunity to serve, you will find personal happiness and fulfillment beyond expectation. And you will benefit our world and your fellow men and women beyond measure. Good luck and godspeed.
MEAD: Thank you, Dr. Vest. And I should say thank you for that thoughtful and challenging address. But even more so, thank you again for your 14 years of leadership, and your dedication, wisdom, and hard work on behalf of MIT. And we wish you--
[APPLAUSE]
And we wish you the best and godspeed as you assume leadership of the Academy. Now, Mr. Eric Weese, president of the Graduate Student Council, will give a salute to MIT from the graduate student body. Following this, Miss Susan Shin, president of the senior class, will present the class gift to President Hockfield, after which the president will deliver her charge to the graduates.
WEESE: Thank you. One of the great things about MIT is how it draws students from around the world and from many different backgrounds. You wouldn't be here today, though, if you didn't have some things in common-- a willingness to work hard, to persevere, to consume distinctly unhealthy quantities of caffeine-- in short, you've set a very high standard. And it's one that I've been trying to reach. But the other day as I was attempting to do thesis research, I was waylaid again by the internet. You might note that I'm not graduating with you.
I didn't completely waste my time, though. Because I stumbled upon an interesting complaint from someone with a $150,000 job. It reads as follows. "We never seem to have enough money to do anything fun." It may well be that none of us will ever have all that we want. But it's also likely that we will all have much more than we need. So as you contemplate your possibly imminent ascent up the pay scale, please keep in mind that we are among the most fortunate ever. And we certainly ought to have enough to have some fun and to share. Congratulations on your hard-earned degrees, and best of luck with the future. Thank you.
SHIN: Thank you. My friend Melvin introduced me to Heroes, a TV show that tells the story of ordinary people who discover that they possess extraordinary powers. When they find out that they have these remarkable abilities, they begin to accept their gifts, learn to control their powers, and discover others who are as special as they are. As these strangers from across the globe come to meet each other, they find that they are all united by a common goal-- to save the world.
Hiro Nakamura is one of the show's main characters, and he has the ability to bend space and time. At first, Nakamura uses his abilities for fun, showing off to his friends and taking little vacations through time. But he quickly realizes that because he has this power he has a great responsibility to the rest of the world. On a trip into the future, Nakamura witnesses a horrific crime that wipes out an entire city, killing millions. Once he returns to the present, his doubts cause him to lose faith in his abilities. And because of these doubts, he is suddenly unable to travel through time. He begins to worry if his powers will be strong enough to defeat his enemies, to save his friends, and to build the future that he wants to see for himself. What Nakamura finally realizes is this-- everyone has their fears, but heroes overcome them.
When I look out into the audience today, I see my friends, my classmates, my heroes, and I recognize their extraordinary gifts. There are students here who have published research, patented new technology, and started their own companies. Others have won national championships or even courageously battled a life-threatening illness. All of us have persevered through the hardships of life at MIT and achieved greatness, because when it came time to choose between giving up and hoping, we made the right choice.
When that opportunity to be a hero comes to you, what will you do? When a moment of consequence arrives, it is my hope that we will relish that moment, rise to the occasion, and inspire by example. We, the graduating class of 2007, may not be able to fly or teleport ourselves. But we don't need these special powers to save the world. In fact, we have something much more important-- the hope that we can change the future for the better.
All of us set to graduate have struggled to hold onto this hope despite all that MIT has thrown at us. But it's because of the others here today-- our family, friends, and teachers-- that it has remained strong. And it's because of where we are today, the place to which we are now saying goodbye, that we have the chance of fulfilling our hopes and dreams. When we give ourselves something to look forward to, no matter how great or small the event, we are giving ourselves hope. When there is hope built into tomorrow, there are all kinds of opportunities to overcome the obstacles we face today.
In a short while, we will walk across this stage as MIT graduates, having conquered our fears and doubts, ready to save the world. Today is a day of great happiness. We've survived the Institute, and we have so much to look forward to after today. Thank you.
MEESE: And now, the moment we've all been waiting for.
SHIN: For years we have worn the Brass Rat with the beaver sitting on us, representing the hardships imposed on MIT students. Take one last look at the Boston skyline, which has symbolized the outside world awaiting us, and join me in turning around your Brass Rat.
May the Cambridge skyline be a constant reminder of your time spent at MIT. And now for the presentation of the senior gift. The average class participation rate for four years has been 33%. I am proud to announce that our class has broken MIT's record with an astounding 52% participation rate.
A portion of the class gift will go towards the class of 2007's study abroad fund. We hope that this fund will help students broaden their educations and give them a well-deserved break from MIT.
On behalf of the senior class, I would like to thank MIT Alumni Association President Martin Tang for matching our gift with a generous $15,000. Now I would like to ask President Hockfield to join me at the podium. I'm honored to present this check for $26,861 from the class of 2007 to you. Congratulations, Class of 2007. We made it!
HOCKFIELD: Thank you very much, Class of 2007, for the enthusiasm that 52% represents. Congratulations. Graduates of MIT, this is your day. We have gathered here in Killian Court to celebrate your successful completion of demanding courses of study, and you have our deepest respect for all that you have accomplished. But today is not yours alone. None of you would be here this morning were it not for the families and friends who have nurtured and supported you since your childhood, who have embraced your dreams and lighted your path. This is their day, too. Graduates, I invite you please to rise and to join me in thanking your families and friends.
Now, I want to speak to those of you graduating today about your path here at MIT, and the path that leads from MIT into the world. Of course, before you arrived here at MIT, each of you had already demonstrated significant talents. That's why we invited you to join our community. Once you arrived here, you took up MIT's challenges. And working, I am certain, harder than you ever had before, you've taken your academic accomplishments to entirely new levels. Today's ceremony is our community's expression of our pride and what you have achieved.
Our appreciation of your accomplishments would be far too narrow if included only your academic successes. Beyond the classroom and the laboratory, you have excelled on the stage and on the playing field, in service projects and in entrepreneurship. And what is perhaps most important, you have also begun to distinguish yourselves as leaders.
MIT itself has a deep commitment to leadership, demonstrated time and again in myriad ways. In the foundational science that led to the new targeted cancer therapies-- Gleevec for leukemia and Herceptin for breast cancer. In innovative plans to rebuild devastated New Orleans neighborhoods. In countless businesses from startups in Kendall Square to industry giants across the technology landscape. In fresh approaches to meeting the world's energy needs, including new technologies for energy storage and for solar energy conversion. And in novel uses of technology to convey the immortal truths of the humanities.
And in many different ways, from the UPOP program to the $100K competition, from [? 2-007 ?] to the Public Service Center, our goal has been to teach you how to become leaders yourselves. We have done this, graduates of MIT, because the world today needs your leadership. We need your leadership as we face the challenges of an increasingly complex and interdependent world. And we need your leadership to develop new ways to bridge old divides, not only between peoples and nations, but also between technology and policy.
MIT's enduring motto, "Mens et manus," "Mind and hand," is a reminder that leadership in the modern world depends critically on integrating across different perspectives for the common good. From one point of view, the leadership we call you to assume today might appear to be an obligation, perhaps a burden. But that would be a grave mistake. Leadership is a privilege and it is a joy, and I can assure you that in using your talents to serve others you will find the most enduring of personal satisfactions.
Even as you leave this place to become your generation's leaders, you will remain members of this community. At the close of this morning's ceremony, Martin Tang, the president of the Alumni Association, will formally welcome you into the Association's membership. And we hope that your lives will be enriched by an ongoing connection to the Institute. And it's my fervent hope that as you join new communities, you will transmit to them the values that define the MIT community; that you will make integrity the touchstone of your judgments; that you will exemplify the pursuit of truth and an unwavering drive for excellence. And that you will continue to demonstrate the value of good old fashioned hard work.
Beyond these great aspirations for you, I make a more pressing request. I ask of you to inspire your own generation and the generations to come with a renewed sense of optimism for the future. MIT's founding vision was both practical and idealistic in its insistence that our work must, as engraved across the frieze of Lobby 7, advance industry, the arts, agriculture, and commerce. That optimism for a better future has made MIT a beacon visible the world over.
This weekend we will celebrate MIT's optimism for the future by re-igniting one of our most powerful symbols. After the late summer sunset tomorrow evening, for the first time in more than three decades we will fully relight the great dome. The lighting of the dome signals the importance of what we do. Here at MIT, we see up close every day the countless ways that science and technology benefit humankind. But if we are to realize our optimism, we need to rekindle in others the same love and passion for truth and discovery, for creativity and problem solving, that brought us all here. I hope that each of you will embrace this challenge as your own, that you will let your light shine out to illuminate the paths for others.
Now, I would not set you this challenge if I did not think and truly believe that you could and would meet it. I have tremendous faith in you. Your intelligence, your dedication, and your creativity have inspired us during your time here. And I know that in the years to come you will do even more, and surprise and delight us with your further achievements. For your accomplishments here at MIT, I offer you my heartfelt congratulations graduates of MIT.
MEAD: Thank you, President Hockfield. And I should say, on behalf of the Corporation , thank you. Thank your faculty, your staff, and the entire MIT community for first, producing this wonderful group of graduates, and secondly, for a very successful year of leadership and excellence at MIT. Congratulations.
We are finally there. By virtue of the authority delegated to them by the Corporation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and on the recommendation of the faculty, President Hockfield will now present the following degrees. Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Science, Master of Science. Bachelor of Science, Master of Engineering. And the advanced degrees for the School of Science and Whitaker College of Health, Sciences, and Technology. Provost Reif will present the advanced degrees for the School of Architecture and Planning, the School of Engineering, the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, and the Sloan School of Management.
As they approach the ramp, undergraduate degree recipients will be greeted by the chancellor, the dean for student life, and the dean for undergraduate education. Graduate degree recipients will be greeted by their school deans. The first graduates to be recognized are the class marshals who are seated on the stage.
PRESENTERS: Recognition will now be given to the offices of the class of 2007, and the offices of the Graduate Student Council, who are seated on the stage.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science diplomas will now be presented to students in the School of Architecture and Planning who have completed the specified degree requirements.
Bachelor of Science in Art and Design
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Advanced degree diplomas will now be presented to students in the School of Architecture and Planning who have completed the specified degree requirements. Master of Architecture.
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Bachelor of Science as recommended by the Department of Architecture.
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Bachelor of Science in Planning.
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Master of Science in Architecture Studies.
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Bachelor of Science diplomas will now be presented to students in the School of Engineering who have completed the specified degree requirements. Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering .
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Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering Science.
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Master of Science in Building Technology
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Master of Science in Visual Studies.
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Master in City Planning.
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Bachelor of Science as recommended by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
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Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering.
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PRESENTERS: Master of Science in Urban Studies and Planning
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Master of Science in Media Arts and Sciences.
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Master of Science without specification of field.
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Doctor of Philosophy, with all the rights and privileges pertaining thereto.
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Advanced degree diplomas will now be presented to students in the School of Engineering who have completed the specified degree requirements. Master of Engineering in Civil and Environmental Engineering.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science in Mechanical and Ocean Engineering
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Bachelor of Science and Engineering as recommended by the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
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Master of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering.
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Master of Engineering in Manufacturing.
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Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering.
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Bachelor of Science in Material Science and Engineering.
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Master of Science in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering.
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Bachelor of Science in Archeology and Materials as recommended by the Department of Material Science and Engineering.
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Master of Science IN Ocean Systems Management.
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Bachelor of Science in Electrical Science and Engineering.
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Master of Engineering in Material Science and Engineering.
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Master of Science in Material Science and Engineering.
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Master of Engineering in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
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Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
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Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
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Master of Science in Chemical Engineering.
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Master of Science in Chemical Engineering Practice.
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Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics.
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Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Engineering.
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Master of Engineering in Biomedical Engineering.
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Master of Science in Toxicology.
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Master of Science in Nuclear Science and Engineering.
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Master of Engineering in Logistics.
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Master of Science in Computation for Design and Optimization.
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Master of Science in Engineering and Management.
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Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering.
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Master of Science in Engineering Systems.
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Master of Science in Technology and Policy.
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PRESENTERS: Bachelor of Science in Chemical Biological Engineering.
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Master of Science in Transportation.
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Master of Science without specification of field.
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Naval Engineer.
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Engineer in Aeronautics and Astronautics.
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Doctor of Science with all the rights and privileges pertaining thereto.
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Doctor of Philosophy, with all the rights and privileges pertaining thereto.
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Bachelor of Science, as recommended by the Department of Chemical Engineering.
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Bachelor of Science in Ocean Engineering.
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Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering.
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Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering with Information Technology.
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Bachelor of Science in Nuclear Science and Engineering.
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Bachelor of Science diplomas will now be presented to students in the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences who have completed the specified degree requirements. Bachelor of Science in Economics.
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Bachelor of Science in Political Science.
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Bachelor of Science in Anthropology.
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Bachelor of Science in History.
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Bachelor of Science in Literature.
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Bachelor of Science in Music.
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Bachelor of Science in Writing.
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Bachelor of Science in Humanities.
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Bachelor of Science in Humanities and Engineering.
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Bachelor of Science in Humanities and Science.
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Bachelor of Science in Linguistics and Philosophy.
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Bachelor of Science in Comparative Media Studies.
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Bachelor of Science diplomas will now be presented to students in the Sloan School of Management who have completed the specified degree requirements. Bachelor of Science in Management Science.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science diplomas will now be presented to students in the School of Science who have completed the specified degree requirements. Bachelor of Science in Chemistry.
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Bachelor of Science in Biology.
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Advanced degree diplomas will now be presented to students in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences who have completed the specified degree requirements. Master of Science in Comparative Media Studies.
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Doctor of Philosophy with all the rights and privileges pertaining thereto.
[READING NAMES]
PRESENTERS: Advanced degree diplomas will now be presented to students in the Sloan School of Management who have completed the specified degree requirements. Master of Business Administration, Sloan Fellows.
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Bachelor of Science as recommended by the Department of Biology.
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Bachelor of Science in Physics.
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Master of Science and Management, Sloan Fellows.
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Master of Business Administration.
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Bachelor of Science in Brain and Cognitive Sciences.
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Bachelor of Science in Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences.
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Bachelor of Science in Mathematics.
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Bachelor of Science in Mathematics with Computer Science.
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Advanced degree diplomas will now be presented to students in the School of Science who have completed the specified degree requirements. Master of Science in Physics.
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Master of Science in Atmospheric Science.
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Master of Science in Mathematics.
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Doctor of Philosophy with all the rights and privileges pertaining thereto.
[READING NAMES]
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology offer joint programs of education and research in oceanography and applied ocean science and engineering. Dr. James A. Yoder, vice president for academic programs and Dean at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, is here to participate with President Hockfield in awarding the following joint degrees. Master of Science in Oceanographic Engineering.
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Master of Science in Marine Geology and Geophysics.
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Doctor of Philosophy with all the rights and privileges pertaining thereto.
[READING NAMES]
Advanced degree diplomas will now be presented to students in the Whittaker College of Health Sciences and Technology who have completed the specified degree requirements. Master of Science in Biomedical Informatics.
[READING NAMES]
Master of Science in Health Sciences and Technology.
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Doctor of Philosophy with all the rights and privileges pertaining thereto.
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Master of Science in Management.
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Master of Science in Management of Technology.
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Master of Science in Operations Research.
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Doctor of Philosophy with all the rights and privileges pertaining thereto.
[READING NAMES]
MEAD: Congratulations to all of the graduates of 2007.
It's now my pleasure to introduce Martin Tang, the Chief Marshal who will greet the graduates. Mr. Tang is a member of the class of 1972, and is currently serving as the president of the Association of Alumni and Alumnae of MIT. Martin, please.
TANG: Thank you, Dana. Good afternoon, all. It it's my honor to recognize the distinguished class of 2007, the newest alumni of MIT. The entire alumni body, now some 118,000 strong, joins me in congratulating all of the 2007 graduates, and officially welcoming you into the alumni family, your infinite connection to MIT. Thank you.
MEAD: The 141st commencement exercises of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are now concluded.
A reception will now follow on Kresge Oval on the West Campus plaza. And at this time, will the stage assembly and the audience please rise and join the MIT Chorallaries in singing the school song.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MIT CHORALLARIES (SINGING): Arise all ye of MIT, in loyal fellowship. The future beckons unto ye and life is full and rich. Arise and raise your glass on high; tonight shall ever be a memory that will never die for ye of MIT.
Thy sons and daughters, MIT, return from far and wide and gather here once more to be renourished by thy side, and as we raise our glasses high to pledge our love for thee, we join all those of days gone by in praise of MIT.
Oh, I wish that I were back again at Tech on Boylston Street, dressed in my dinky uniform so dapper and so neat. I'm crazy after calculus, I never had enough; so it's hard to be dragged away so young, it was horribly awfully tough!
Hurrah for technology, 'ology, 'ology, oh, glorious old technology, 'ology, 'ology, oh!
Back in the days that were free from care in the 'ology varsity shop, with nothing to do but analyze air in an anemometrical top. The differentiation of the trigonometric powers, the constant pi that made me sigh in those happy days of ours.
Hurrah for technology, 'ology, 'ology, oh, glorious old technology, 'ology, 'ology, oh!
Take me back on a special train to that glorious institute, I yearn for the inspiration of a technological toot. I'd shun the quizzical physical profs, the chapel and all that, but how I'd love to go again on a scientific bat. La-la la-la, la-la la-la, la-la-la la-la la la, la-la la la. La-la la-la.
Da, da-da-da!
La-la-la.
Da da.
Da-da, da-da, da-da, da-da!
Oh, M-A-S-S-A-C-H-U-S-E-T-T-S, I-N-S-T-I-T-U-T-E O-F T-E.
And then it's C-H-N-O-L-O-G and Y comes after G, it's the Massachusetts Institute of Technology! Hey!
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