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SPEAKER 1: It's just happening? Yeah. See, I say all the time, you don't want everybody to become an engineer.
[QUEEN, "DON'T STOP ME NOW"] And the world
Turn it inside out, yeah
Floating around in ecstasy, so
Don't stop me now
Don't stop me--
Cause I'm having a good time
Having a good time
I'm a shooting star leaping through the sky like a tiger
Defying the laws of gravity
I'm erasing car passing by like Lady Godiva
I'm going to go, go, go, there's no stopping me
I'm riding through the sky, yeah
200 degrees, that's why they call me Mr. Fahrenheit
I'm traveling at the speed of light
I want to make a supersonic man out of you
Don't stop me now
I'm having such a good time
I'm having a ball
Don't stop me now
If you want to have a good time, just give me a call
Don't stop me now
Cause I'm having a good time
Don't stop me now
Yes, I'm having a good time
I don't want to stop at all
I'm a rocket ship on my way to Mars on a collision course
I am a satellite
I'm out of control
I'm a sex machine ready to reload
Like an atom bomb about to whoa, whoa, whoa explode
I'm burning through the sky, yeah
200 degrees, that's why they call me Mr. Fahrenheit
I'm traveling at the speed of light
I want to make a supersonic woman of you
Don't stop me
Don't stop me
Don't stop me
Hey, hey, hey
Don't stop me
Don't stop me
Oooh, ooh, ooh
I like it.
Don't stop me
Don't stop me
Have a good time, good time
Don't stop me
Don't stop me
Oooh
[CROWD CHEERING]
Welcome, distinguished faculty members, proud parents, and, most importantly, welcome and congratulations to the 2024 graduates of the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
[CROWD CHEERING]
I'm David Erickson, Director of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. And today, I'm very excited to celebrate this tremendous achievement and marking the beginning of a new chapter in your lives. So as all of you know, Cornell is an old university. Indeed, I believe this is Cornell's 156th graduating class.
[APPLAUSE]
But I think what many would not know, necessarily, is how deep into that history mechanical engineering has been represented. What became our school was founded here at Cornell in the early-1870s, not too far from this very spot. At the time, the concept of a mechanical engineer was somewhat new, but Cornell forged ahead, and we started our first bachelor's degrees in, roughly, 1874. And to give you an idea of how new the idea of a mechanical engineer was at that time, in 1885, roughly 10 years later, fully 1 in 5 mechanical engineers in the United States was graduated from Cornell University.
[APPLAUSE]
Now, that what that does, if you did your math quickly-- and I'm sure all the graduates can, at least--
[LAUGHTER]
That means that this represents the 150th year of Mechanical Engineering at Cornell. And that makes this--
[APPLAUSE]
That makes this a very, very special class. And many of you were around for our big Sibley 150 event featuring our good friend, Mr. Bill Nye, a few weeks ago, which capped off a year of events and activities for us. And one of the themes that we had over the course of that year was Sibley 300 and what the next 150 years of Mechanical Engineering at Cornell might look like.
But I thought here, what might be more instructive for this class, is to look at a little bit what Sibley 0 looked like for our first graduates. What did the world look like when they came out, and how was it different and the same than it is for you, and what that might offer in terms of advice.
Now, let's all imagine ourselves zooming back in time to the first few years of the Sibley school in the late-1870s and 1880s. Where we are in time is at the beginning of something called the second Industrial Revolution, OK? And for context, the first Industrial Revolution brought us things like steam power and efficient textile manufacturing. Second Industrial Revolution was characterized by rapid increase in infrastructure buildout-- railroads, for example-- and technological development.
And so what I did is I looked back on some of those innovations that came out around the time of our first graduates, and it's really interesting if you look at the longevity and how those innovations are still impacting our lives today. And so a few of the interesting ones-- so the predecessor to the iPhone, I'm sure all of you have them silenced in the room here-- in 1876, Alexander Graham Bell patented his telephone, which was built with the assistance of a young trained engineer, Thomas A. Watson.
Now, interestingly, one of the other things that when you do your research on this, you will recall that Thomas A. Watson is not Thomas J. Watson, the CEO of IBM. But that does have an interesting tie here, because Thomas J. Watson was born roughly 60 miles from here in town called Campbell, New York in 1874, the same year, 150 years ago.
As this class thinks about the challenges in sustainable energy, our first graduates entered a world where electric lighting was newly invented. Thomas Edison perfected in 1879 the incandescent light bulb, in and around that time, backed by research funds provided by investors, including JP Morgan and the Vanderbilts. And as this class looks to the electrification of transport, what is likely to be the first human-carrying electric vehicle under its own power was tested by French inventor Gustave Trouvé along a street in Paris in April 1881.
What he did was improve the efficiency of a small motor and attach it to a new invention called the rechargeable battery, fitted it to an English tricycle, and, thereby, inventing the world's first electric vehicle. But so far as I can tell, there was no $100-a-month option for full self-driving mode at that time. And if there was, it looked very, very different.
So I think what's interesting here is to think about how unique some of those innovations were 150 years ago and their staying power. At this time, 150 years later, we're still working on those types of innovations improving and advancing those technologies. As graduates, you step out into a world now that we might look back on as another Industrial Revolution-- whereas those first alumni entered a new world of telecommunications, electric lighting, and motorized vehicles, you enter a world of artificial intelligence, autonomy, low cost access to space, and greener and hopefully more sustainable energy.
We have spent the last several years doing our level best to prepare you for this new world. There are some courses you took where the material will be important to you every single day. And then there'll be some where it won't seem like it's important until all of a sudden it is. And I look forward to the day where you're sitting there thinking, what was that old professor saying about fluid mechanics when I was instead playing Brawl Stars or something like that?
[LAUGHTER]
Many of you here had your first introduction to Cornell and higher education in engineering in the middle of the largest pandemic the world had experienced for 100 years. By making it this far, you have all shown that you're able to adapt and thrive. But I've done this for many years now, and what I'm most happy about, this graduating class, is that you enter a world that looks a lot more like the year before you started than the year that you did. And I'm very happy to see that. Now, you--
[APPLAUSE]
You've done this together as a group. And you should be proud of that. This will always be your class. But as you enter the world, the final piece of advice I'd like to give you is about differentiability.
The innovations and inventions I described earlier were so differentiable in their time that, as I say, we are still using and innovating on them now, 150 years later. As you enter the workforce or continue your education and become this first of our second 150 years of alumni, think about what you can do that will be differentiable. How can you be unique? Think about that every day.
Every day, think, what can I do that will be remarkable? Every year, think about, what can I do this year that will be remarkable? What can I do over the course of my career that will be memorable? What can I do that the director of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Cornell will talk about in front of the Sibley school's 300th class? Congratulations to the graduates on our 150th year of mechanical engineering. And thank you very much.
[APPLAUSE]
So we now have our prizes and awards. The Thomas J. and Joan T. Kelly prize-- this award is given to a student who shows excellence in aerospace engineering as demonstrated through coursework or innovative design project. Erica Young.
[APPLAUSE]
Erica was part of the airframe lead for CU Air and became a full team lead this year. Erica led her team into designing Artemis, which was the first vertical takeoff and landing aircraft the team designed.
Erica was nominated by Professor Elizabeth Fisher and Professor Rajesh Bhaskaran for her work with CU Air and her design report for MAE 4701, focusing on optimization of the wing box for the aircraft.
[APPLAUSE]
The Outstanding Senior Award for Distinction and Leadership in Engagement, Stefan Wagner.
[CROWD CHEERING]
Let's try that again-- Stefan Wagner.
[CROWD CHEERING]
Stefan has a wonderful gift for being a leader, mentor, listener, and peer. He has been a TA for many MAE courses and has received much praise from his instructors of those courses and the students who have worked with him in his role as a TA. He--
[CROWD CHEERING]
He is always willing to give his time to help his peers, the staff, and instructors.
[APPLAUSE]
Walter Waring Prize for Excellence in Studies-- Walter Waring, for whom this prize is named, graduated from Cornell in 1922 with a degree in mechanical engineering. This award was established to recognize talented and dedicated undergraduate Sibley School of Mechanical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering students who have enhanced our community. This award goes to Nidy Sonwahker, who could not attend today. But I will read this.
[LAUGHTER]
Nidy served as President of Cornell Women of Aeronautics and Astronautics Chapter, an officer in the Cornell Aviation Club, and as an engineering peer advisor. Nidy has also served in leadership roles in both the Mars Rover and Cislunar Explorer project teams, as an officer and President in the Women of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Nidy led several initiatives that provided opportunities for her students and benefited the reputation of the Sibley school. So congratulations.
[APPLAUSE]
The Frank O. Ellinwood Prize-- this prize was donated by an alumnus who wishes to remain anonymous in honor of the late Sibley Professor Frank O. Ellinwood. This award is presented to the seniors who produced an excellent senior design project relevant to energy generalization and utilization. Neila Narayan.
[CROWD CHEERING]
Neila's project was design of an [INAUDIBLE] electric motor dynamometer. The McManus Design Award. This award was named in honor of Howard N. McManus, who was an outstanding Sibley professor in both the thermal and design aspects of engineering.
[APPLAUSE]
After his untimely death in 1974, his friends established a fund which supports the annual award, judged on ingenuity and engineering skills, as an original solution to a design project or problem. Keisakusa Mora.
[APPLAUSE]
For cell matrix strain bioreactor with research conducted with Professor Nelly Andarawis-Puri. The Bart Conta prize in Energy and the Environment-- Bart Conta was a professor of the thermal fluid sciences at Cornell and had great interest in sustainability and environmentally-friendly processes.
[APPLAUSE]
This prize is awarded for outstanding work on research or design project dealing with energy and the environment. Selection is based on a review of project summaries. The awardee is Xavier Zhang.
[CROWD CHEERING]
Xavier's project was versatile-- racking system designs for agrivoltaics. Research done with Professor Max Zhang.
[APPLAUSE]
The Sibley Prize for Excellence in Teaching Assistance. This prize was awarded to the graduate and undergraduate students who served as outstanding teaching assistants for the Sibley school undergraduate courses this academic year. This prize recognizes each TA's commitment to assisting undergraduates.
The Sibley Prize for Excellent Undergraduate Teaching Award assistance goes to the undergraduate teaching assistance for MAE 3780, mechatronics.
[APPLAUSE]
This includes Alex Egan--
[CROWD CHEERING]
Alice Hertz.
[APPLAUSE]
Neila Narayan.
[APPLAUSE]
Jacobo Ospina.
[CROWD CHEERING]
Julian Prieto.
[CROWD CHEERING]
Natalie Sun.
[APPLAUSE]
Stefan Wagner.
[APPLAUSE]
And Hannah Zolak.
[APPLAUSE]
Professor Karen Nunez nominated her undergraduate TAs for MAE 3780 due to their proactiveness in ensuring that every aspect of the course was able to be conducted in the most efficient and smooth manner possible. Their interactions with the students and the support they provided to the students in the course were extraordinary.
[LAUGHTER]
[APPLAUSE]
The Sibley Prize for Excellence in Graduate Teaching Assistance goes to Wiley Kirkes.
[APPLAUSE]
Wiley was the PhD TA for MAW 4130-5135 this spring. This course has a lot of moving parts, and Wiley played an important role in every one of them. He attended every lecture, gave three lectures when the instructor was away.
He ran all recitation sections each week and conducted three labs for the course. Professor Matt Miller stated, sometimes I hear Wiley talking to a student and telling him how hard the things they are trying to do in our class was hard for him too. He gets right down to their level and tells them that they can do it if he can.
[APPLAUSE]
The RN Janeway Automotive Engineering Award. This award goes to the student who submitted a publishable paper that presents the most promising proposal for an improvement in automotive vehicles. The award goes to Lauren Tom.
[APPLAUSE]
Lauren's project was the FSAE rear wing design. Lauren designed and built a rear wing for the 2024 FSAE car, which did not even have a functional rear wing in 2023. Lauren did an excellent job of considering design alternatives, performing CFD analysis, and manufacturing a rules-compliant rear wing that exerts considerable and useful downforce.
[APPLAUSE]
So one more round of applause for all our awardees here.
[CROWD CHEERING]
So with that, I'd like to introduce Professor Nelly Andarawis-Puri, Director of Graduate Studies, who will lead the hooding of the PhD student commences.
[APPLAUSE]
NELLY ANDARAWIS-PURI: Good morning. Thank you for the introduction, Professor Erickson. Good morning to the class of 2024. My name is Nelly Andarawis-Puri, and I'm the associate director for our graduate programs. And it's my honor to address our PhD and MS graduating class of 2024.
Today is a day of joy and celebration. Before I get into some deep stuff here, let's get one thing straight-- today is about you. So when I was putting together the speech, I got into my own head-- so what are we really celebrating?
Is it the titles of "PhD" and "MS" that will carry you forward? Sure, those are impressive. And ceremonial rituals have been a way to commemorate significant life events all over the world since the beginning of time. But let's be realistic here-- what we're really celebrating is the fact that you made it here-- and I mean physically here this morning. So to this very early graduation ceremony, on time, even though it's held well before the dreaded early class time of 9:00 AM-- it's a win for the day right there.
[APPLAUSE]
So when you started this journey, none of us could have anticipated the challenges you would face. You've experienced pandemics that've turned your living rooms into classrooms, wars that reminded us of the fragility of, peace and national racial tensions that called upon us to stand together for justice and equality.
[APPLAUSE]
And yet, through it all, you supported each other, creating a safe and inclusive environment that exemplifies the best of what we can be. Adaptability has been your greatest ally. When the world shifted beneath our feet, you remained steadfast. When research plans were disrupted, you found new ways to innovate.
When classrooms went virtual, you mastered new technologies and stayed connected. This capacity to adapt, to pivot when faced with the unexpected, is the true hallmark of your education. Let's take a trip down memory lane.
Remember that experiment that you planned and were about to start, and then you realize that your labmates used up all the supplies that you needed and forgot to replace them, or the many creative Zoom virtual backgrounds that transported you from your bedroom to a sunny beach in the Bahamas? How about the time you got confused regarding time zones and arrived to that conference in Asia a day after you were supposed to give your talk? No, wait, I think that was actually me who did that.
[LAUGHTER]
These moments brought humor and humanity to an otherwise very serious life. They also taught us that even in the most serious of situations, it's OK to laugh and find joy.
Through these experiences, you've developed more than just technical expertise. You've cultivated creativity, resilience, and a sense of community. You've learned to see challenges not as obstacles, but as opportunities for innovation.
You've approached problems with creativity and determination, and you've discovered that sometimes, the best solutions come from the most unexpected places. And let's be real-- sometimes those solutions came at 3:00 AM with the help of caffeine and maybe a little bit of desperation. There was a time when Thomas Edison was asked about his many unsuccessful attempts to create the light bulb, and he famously replied, I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
[LAUGHTER]
You, too, have faced your own versions of those 10,000 ways. Whether it was a stubborn piece of equipment, a software bug that refused to be squashed, a theory that just wouldn't hold up, you didn't give up. You adapted. You persisted. You innovated. And you thrived.
So today, we celebrate you-- your resilience, your adaptability, your creativity, and your unwavering spirit. You have not only completed a rigorous academic journey, but you have also demonstrated the power of community and support. You have created a legacy of inclusivity and strength that will inspire future generations of engineers.
You've made it through the wildest game of academic survivor ever played, and you're all winners. You are equipped not just with knowledge, but with the ability to navigate uncertainty. The world is full of unknowns-- technological advancements, global challenges, and opportunities we can't yet imagine.
But you are ready. You've proven that you can face the unexpected with confidence and ingenuity. If there's one thing we've learned, it's that you are more than capable of facing whatever comes your way. Make every challenge an opportunity for growth and every setback a chance to innovate. I know that I'm speaking for all the faculty and staff when I say that we are very proud of you. Congratulations.
[APPLAUSE]
And now, we will begin the hooding ceremony for our graduating PhD students. During this traditional ceremony, each graduating PhD student will have their doctoral hood placed over them by their doctoral dissertation advisor. This important moment signifies successful completion of their very hard-earned PhD degree. And so, without further delay, it gives me great pleasure to present to you our graduating PhD students.
[CROWD CHEERING]
Jennifer Bustillos.
[CROWD CHEERING]
Her field is mechanical engineering. Her advisor is Professor Atieh Moridi, and the title of her dissertation is "Engineering Unconventional Microstructures in Additive Manufactured Titanium Alloys."
[ONE CHEER]
You could do this, Professor Moridi.
[CROWD CHEERING]
Amy Fink. Her field is mechanical engineering. Her advisor is Professor Hadas Kress-Gazit, and the title of her dissertation is "High Level Collaborative Task Planning for Heterogeneous Robots."
[APPLAUSE]
[LAUGHTER]
Austin Hahn.
[CROWD CHEERING]
His field is mechanical engineering. His advisor is Professor Olivier Desjardins, and the title of his dissertation is "Numerical Modeling for Mesh Independent Simulations of Spray Atomization."
[APPLAUSE]
Sing-xe Wo. His field is mechanical engineering. His advisor is Professor Silvia Ferrari. And today, he'll be hooded by Professor Dmitry Savransky. The title of his dissertation is "Human Action, Change, Detection, and Prediction."
[APPLAUSE]
Nicholas Kincaid. His field is mechanical engineering. His advisor's professor Perrine Pepiot And the title of his dissertation is "Data-driven Dimensionality Reduction for Simulating Combustion Systems."
[APPLAUSE]
Joon Sang Lee. His field is mechanical engineering. His advisor is professor Christopher Hernandez. And today, he'll professor Dmitry Savransky. The title of his dissertation is "Deciphering Bacterial Cell Envelope Mechanics and Mechanosensing-- a Mechanical Engineering Approach."
[APPLAUSE]
Duan Lee. Her field is mechanical engineering. Her advisor is professor Dmitry Savransky. And the title of her dissertation is "Focal Wavefront Sensing and Control for Various Optical Applications."
[APPLAUSE]
Xong-xhan Leo. Her field is mechanical engineering. Her advisor is professor Christopher Hernandez. Today, she'll professor Dmitry Savransky. And the title of her dissertation is "Change in the Bone Matrix Mechanical Properties as a Result of Alteration to the Gut Microbiome."
[APPLAUSE]
[LAUGHTER]
Tszyu Leo. Her field is mechanical engineering. Her advisor is professor Robert Sheppard. And the title of her dissertation is "Advanced Manufacturing for Energy Systems and Functional Materials of Soft Machines."
[APPLAUSE]
Jason Mulderig. His field is mechanical engineering. His advisor is professor Nikolaos Bouklas and the title of his dissertation is "From Chain Statistics to Damage and Fracture in Elastomers."
[APPLAUSE]
Rachel Oliver. Her field is aerospace engineering. Her advisor is professor Dmitry Savransky. And the title of her dissertation is "Event-based Sensing, Modeling, and Tracking for Space Domain Awareness."
[CROWD CHEERING]
Hazel Rivera-Rosario. Her field is aerospace engineering. Her advisor's professor Gregory Bewley. Today, she'll professor Dmitry savransky. And the title of her dissertation is "Analysis of Compressibility through Density Gradient Statistics in a Turbulent Jet."
[APPLAUSE]
Alfredo Rodriguez. His field is mechanical engineering. His advisor is professor Max Zhang. And the title of his dissertation is "Improving Communities through Human-centered IoT-based Energy and Environmental Networks."
[CROWD CHEERING]
Dalton Schadle. His field is mechanical engineering. His advisors are professor Matthew Miller and Professor Kelly Nygren. And the title of his dissertation is "Exploring Grain Scale Cyclic Deformation by Coupling High Energy X-ray Diffraction with Signatures."
[APPLAUSE]
Hau Yu Wen Chu. His field is mechanical engineering. His advisor is Professor Jingjie Yeo. And the title of his dissertation is "From Molecular Mechanisms to Materials Innovation-- Multiscale Computational Insights into Bioinspired and Biological Materials for Advanced Materials Design and Disease Treatments."
[APPLAUSE]
Himani Sihimar. Her field is aerospace engineering. Her advisor is professor Hadas Kriss-Gazit. And the title of her dissertation is "Control Design for Minimalist Robotic Swarms."
[APPLAUSE]
Chen Xi Tien.
[APPLAUSE]
His field is mechanical engineering. His advisor's professor Atieh Moridi. And the title of his dissertation is "Expanding the Portfolio of Additive Manufacturing Capabilities through Novel Processing Techniques."
[APPLAUSE]
Akane Wakai.
[CROWD CHEERING]
Her field is mechanical engineering. Her advisor is professor Atieh Moridi. And the title of her dissertation is "Design of Metastable High Entropy Alloys for Additive Manufacturing."
[APPLAUSE]
Yujei Wang.
[CROWD CHEERING]
His field is mechanical engineering. His advisor is professor Thomas Avedisian. And the title of his dissertation is "The Physical Chemistry and Transport Dynamics of Enbutyl Acetate Droplet Combustion and its Mixtures with Diesel Fuel Surrogates-- Experiments and Detailed Numerical Modeling."
[APPLAUSE]
Wei Wong. His field is mechanical engineering. His advisor is professor Itay Cohen. And today, he'll Professor Nikoalas Bouklas. The title of his dissertation is "Intelligent Microscopic Structures from Actuators to Devices."
[APPLAUSE]
Let's give our PhD graduates one more round of applause.
[CROWD CHEERING]
And now, it's my honor to present our graduating MS students. Neel Bakshi. His field is mechanical engineering. His advisor is Professor Fabien Royer, and the title of his thesis is "Snap-Through Shaping of Thin Shell Deployable Structures."
[APPLAUSE]
Suyuan Cheng. Her field is mechanical engineering. Her adviser is professor Zhiting Tian, and the title of her thesis is "Enhancement of Electrical Conductivity in CNT Networks for Highly Stable N-type Thermoelectrics."
[CROWD CHEERING]
Chaithanya Dasuri. His field is mechanical engineering. His advisor is professor Elizabeth Farrell Helbling. And the title of his thesis is "Docking Mechanism for an Ambulatory Microrobot."
[APPLAUSE]
Sarvesh Joshi. His field is mechanical engineering. His advisor is professor Nikoalas Bouklas. And the title of his thesis is "Finite Element Implementation of Micropipette Aspiration Techniques."
[APPLAUSE]
Muthu Narayanan Kosaraju. His field is mechanical engineering. His advisor is professor Fabien Royer. And the title of his thesis is "In-space Bending of Multi-stable Booms."
[APPLAUSE]
Saksham Kaushik. His field is mechanical engineering. His advisor's professor Silvia Ferrari. And the title of his thesis-- "Biomimetic Flight-- Adaptive Control of Micro Aerial Vehicles and Insect Flight Exploration."
[APPLAUSE]
Rahmat Ashutosh Matchan. His field is mechanical engineering. His advisor is professor Sunhwan Jung. And the title of his thesis is "The Loudness of a Handclap-- Effect of Geometry and Elasticity."
[APPLAUSE]
Malcolm Shanen. His field is mechanical engineering. His advisor is Professor Mostafa Hassani. And the title of his thesis is "Influence of Chemical Strengthening in the Mechanical Behavior and Deformation Mechanisms in Soda Lime Silicate Glass at the Microscopic Level."
[APPLAUSE]
Huan He Chen. His field is mechanical engineering. His advisor's professor Max Zhang. And the title of his thesis, "A Feedback Control System-based Digital Twin for Optimization Agrivoltaic Solar Farm Efficiency."
[APPLAUSE]
Shubhangi Sinha. Her field is mechanical engineering. Her advisor's professor [INAUDIBLE]. And the title of her thesis is "A Handheld Device for a Large, Multi-modal Haptic Data Set."
[CROWD CHEERING]
Ipoh Wong. His field is mechanical engineering. His advisor's professor Max Zhang. And the title of his thesis is "Microclimate Monitoring Networks and Ray-tracing Simulation of Shading Irradiance for Agrivoltaic Systems."
[APPLAUSE]
Ye Yin. His field is mechanical engineering. His advisor is Professor Max Zhang. And the title of his thesis is "The Application of Computer Vision Models for Estimating the Emissions Level of Heavy Duty Vehicles."
[APPLAUSE]
Let's give another round of applause for our MS graduates.
[CROWD CHEERING]
I would now like to introduce Professor Matt Ulinski, our Master of Engineering Program Director, who will address the graduating Masters of Engineering class.
[CROWD CHEERING]
SPEAKER 2: Good morning, everybody. I'm pleased today to announce the 2024 graduates of our Master of Engineering program. These students represent the graduates in both our aerospace engineering and mechanical engineering programs here in the Sibley school.
The one-year MEng program allows students to develop greater competency in engineering, science, current technology, and engineering design. It's an intense program that builds on previous science and engineering education and is often the first time our students are able to focus on an area that is of interest to them.
My hope for our graduates when they came into the program was that they would be challenged-- they were-- and do something that inspired them. Getting to know the students and looking at their programs, I think that we've succeeded. My hope is also that this is just one step toward a fulfilling engineering career and a lifelong journey into learning.
My advice to our graduates going forward is to be open-minded and courageous, have a plan, and, above all, make a difference-- show the world that engineers can lead the change that it needs. The cornerstone of the MEng degree is the project. When I announce their names, I'll be announcing the title of each student's project.
Some of our students will also be receiving their undergraduate degrees at this time. And I'll be noting that for those students. I'm ready for students.
[LAUGHTER]
[CROWD CHEERING]
Our first graduate is in Inei Adeliay.
[CROWD CHEERING]
His project was "The Characterization of Alpha Case Development in Hot Isostatically-pressed Laser Powder-bed Fusion Titanium Alloys."
[CROWD CHEERING]
His advisor was Atieh Moridi, and Inei is also receiving his undergraduate degree.
[APPLAUSE]
Julia Adler.
[CROWD CHEERING]
"Assembly of a Robotic Bat and Finite Element Analysis of a Wing." Sunwang Jung, advisor.
[CROWD CHEERING]
So I know that all these are special to everybody here, but maybe we could wait and hold the applause until the end, or we may be here for a long time. Parabo I'll Altrade. "Pomopal-- A Novel Time Management Companion for Maximizing Student Productivity." Sirietta Simoncini and Robert Shepherd advisors.
[APPLAUSE]
Sadvick and Nunsum Ramen. "Embedded Cooling Solutions for Hall Effect Thrusters." Sadaf Sobhani, advisor.
[APPLAUSE]
Ken Raymond-Atlas. "Advec Vacuum Chamber Development." Elaine Petro advisor.
[APPLAUSE]
Sorry. Nicole Barreira. "Implementation of a Peridynamic Solver with Fluid Coupling in Model Deformation and Fracture of Solids." Olivier Desjardins, advisor.
[CROWD CHEERING]
David Bruque Rajik Rigis. "Modular Bus Shelter System." Sirietta Simoncini, advisor.
[CROWD CHEERING]
Christopher Cherobini, "Space Robotics." Timothy Sands, advisor.
[APPLAUSE]
Derek Cho. "Interoperable Continuum Arm, Lamp, and Table Robots for Assisted Living Care." Keith Green, advisor.
[APPLAUSE]
Cole Kendrick Dawson. "Theoretical Model Analysis of Stress and Strain in the Back and Spine." Jingje Yeo, advisor. Paul is also receiving his undergraduate degree.
[APPLAUSE]
Molly Drum. "Using Fourier Series and Spherical Harmonics to Smooth a beating Heart Model in Time and Space."
[APPLAUSE]
Mahdi Esmaily, advisor. Shirish Duta. "Magnus Ultralight eVTOL"-- that's electric vertical takeoff and landing-- quadcopter. Mason Peck, advisor. Shirish is also receiving his undergraduate degree.
[CROWD CHEERING]
Robert Christopher Dysart, "Design of a Super Long Wind Tunnel Test Section." Greg Bewley, advisor.
[APPLAUSE]
Mahika Goel.
[CROWD CHEERING]
"Preference-informed Whole Arm Manipulation for Human Robot Interaction." Tapomayukh Bhattacharjee , advisor. Rafael Gottlieb.
[CROWD CHEERING]
"Transient Motions and Static Poses in Soft, Viscous-driven Actuators." Kirstin Petersen, advisor.
[APPLAUSE]
Jiung Wo. "Magnus Ultralight Aircraft Design." Mason Peck, advisor.
[APPLAUSE]
Jiwa Wa. FEA of particle.
SPEAKER 3: Sorry, that's me.
SPEAKER 2: That's you.
SPEAKER 3: Yeah.
SPEAKER 2: OK. Did we miss somebody? Is somebody not here? OK.
Jiwa Wan. "FEA of Particle Splitting." Mostafa Hassani advisor. And this is Yijon Yu-guo-- "Magnus Ultralight Aircraft Design." Mason Peck, advisor. Is that correct?
SPEAKER 3: Yes.
SPEAKER 2: Thank you. I'm sorry.
[APPLAUSE]
You're just dazed. Ryan Hughes.
[CROWD CHEERING]
"Autonomous Evasion Satellite." Greg Falco, advisor.
[APPLAUSE]
Vi Huan, "CFD Modeling of Pollution over Anaheim, California." Max Zhang, advisor.
[APPLAUSE]
Hunter Khan.
[CROWD CHEERING]
"Mailboy Deployment Arm Test Apparatus and Simulation Software." Mason Peck, advisor.
[APPLAUSE]
Hunter's also receiving his undergraduate degree. Austereos Adam Cuneos, "Autonomous Evasion of Space Debris." Greg Falco, advisor.
[APPLAUSE]
Will Cooley-- "Six Degree of Freedom Drone." Greg Falco, advisor.
[APPLAUSE]
Brett Lowry III.
[CROWD CHEERING]
"Gain Scheduling Control for Two-link Robot." Timothy Sands, advisor.
[APPLAUSE]
Max Gordon-Lowe-- "Starlift." Elaine Petro, advisor.
[APPLAUSE]
Drake Rintoul-Morwood. "Cooling of a Hall Effect Thruster." Elaine Petro, advisor.
[APPLAUSE]
Isaac Dennis Newcomb. "Bat Robot." Sunghwan Jung, Advisor.
[APPLAUSE]
Cyrus Nolan-- "Magneto Altitude Propulsion." Mason Peck, advisor.
[APPLAUSE]
Attila Ozen. "Transient Motions and Static Poses in Soft, Viscous-driven Actuators." Kirstin Petersen, advisor.
[CROWD CHEERING]
Abdul Rahman. "Contributing to Exosims." Dmitry Savransky advisor. Abdul is also receiving his undergraduate degree.
Jin Ru. "Hexapod Robot for Plastic Bottle Connection." Sunghwan Jung, advisor.
[APPLAUSE]
Nicolas Sabella. "Drop On-demand 3D Printing." Mostafa Hassani, advisor.
[APPLAUSE]
Sagar Chennai. "Hot Pod-- Portable Jacket Heater." Sirietta Simoncini, advisor.
[APPLAUSE]
Jack Saint Louis. "Horizon-- Innovative Product Design." Sirietta Simoncini and Robert Shepherd advisors.
[APPLAUSE]
Jack's also receiving his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering. Danielle Tyubkan. "CSD Sustainable Mobility Shelter." Sirietta Simoncini, advisor.
[APPLAUSE]
Austin Townsaid. "Crops-- Automation of Downstream Plant Transformation." Robert Shepherd, advisor.
[APPLAUSE]
Austin is also receiving his undergraduate degree. Kimberly Vivar.
[CROWD CHEERING]
"Underwater Sonar Inspired by Fish Platters." Sunghwan Jung, advisor.
[APPLAUSE]
Preston Whaley. "Crops-- Automation of Downstream Plant Transformation.
[CROWD CHEERING]
Robert Shepherd, advisor.
[APPLAUSE]
Eric Xiu-- "Magnus Ultralight eVTOL, Quadcopter." Mason Peck, advisor. Eric is also receiving his undergraduate degree.
[APPLAUSE]
Please join me in congratulating our 2024 Master of Engineering graduates.
[CROWD CHEERING]
It's now my pleasure to pass the podium over to Professor Brian Kirby, Associate Director for Undergraduate Affairs, who will announce the undergraduate degrees.
BRIAN KIRBY: Well, good morning. My name is Brian Kirby, and I'm a professor here in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. I'm currently the Associate director for undergraduate affairs, which is why I'm here now. Before I go any further, I want to start by thanking Ashley Blank, Sam Benson, Judy Thurman, Nikki Babcock, Lisa Rogers, Trizka Monroe, and the many others who've worked for months to organize this event.
[CROWD CHEERING]
In addition to all of their work planning this event, this team has played a central role in advising our undergraduate and graduate students and providing support in countless ways. I hope that you'll join me in giving them not just applause, but a standing ovation.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you all for that. I'll now read the names of our BS graduates. And after that, I will make a few comments. For expediency and to make sure that we can hear the names of all the graduates, I have to ask you to hold your applause until the end. If everyone applauds, what happens is I go really, really long, and then at some point, security comes in and kicks us out.
So, again, I know how joyous the moment is, but I hope that you can hold your applause so that we can get through the names and so that all of these names are heard.
[READING NAMES]
Such a good boy.
[LAUGHTER]
[READING NAMES]
All right. Who am I missing? Hold on. I can't hear anything.
[LAUGHTER]
[READING NAMES]
I'm sorry, that looks like Ben. Right on.
[READING NAMES]
There are also a number of students that are graduating but aren't present today. Gabriel Baraclaw-Tan, Joshua Bates, William Campise, Hunter Kapner, Hojung Choi, Nikki Hart, Andrew Helwig, Brian Richards, Soon-mi Sugihara, and Jacob Wyrick. I hope that we can give an enormous round of applause for all of our BS graduates.
[CROWD CHEERING]
So I mentioned that I wanted to read names and then I want to make some comments. Mostly, I want to explain to you just how important and insightful I am.
[LAUGHTER]
I'm a professor here at Cornell. I have a variety of titles and awards. I stand before you wearing an extraordinarily goofy robe. It has crests and other adornments.
I'm wearing a hat. The hat is shaped like an octagon. My octagonal hat came with a cat toy attached to the front that I can't get off. What I'm trying to say is that I need to be taken very seriously this morning.
Professors are, without exception, wise and insightful. What we say is always correct. Predictions we make are always borne out in the end. Let me give you three examples.
In 1895, Lord Kelvin, a guy so famous and influential they named temperature after him, was a professor at the University of Glasgow. He was president of the Royal Society. At the time, he observed for the Australian Institute of Physics simply, this was 1895, that heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible. We know, of course, that eight years later, Orville Wright flew the first plane at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina.
Second piece of evidence-- in 1940, GH Hardy, he was a famous British number theorist and professor in Trinity College Cambridge. He was also a profound pacifist. In defense of the subjects he studied, he said, in an article he wrote in Eureka magazine, he said, no one has yet found any warlike purpose to be served by quantum mechanics. And it seems very unlikely that anybody will do so for many years. And of course, five years later, the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
The third piece of evidence is about me. In the summer of 1997, I think, when I was a graduate student at Stanford, I was approached by two weird dudes. It was an email. I was encouraged to apply to be what would have been employee number six at a small startup with a very, very stupid name.
Here was their idea-- they had made a search engine that ranked web pages based on how they were connected to other web pages. Their idea was that they were going to make money by selling ads to be displayed along with the results of this utterly useless product.
People were supposed to pay money to have a website, tell them whether there were other websites to look at. I, of course, had no interest. I said I would not be applying. In fact, I walked back to my lab and I pronounced to my friends that those two dudes were the two stupidest people I'd ever met.
[LAUGHTER]
And that company, of course, was Google.
[LAUGHTER]
So I hope that these three examples have convinced you that professors, myself, in particular, are always right.
[LAUGHTER]
And with that established, I'll ask you to endure eight pieces of professional advice. Number one, be a person who builds good bridges and builds good fences. Then forget how to build good fences and just build good bridges.
Two, follow at least one account on Instagram about each of the following animals-- cats, capybaras, manatees, turtles, and owls. Life is much better with cute animal pictures.
Number three, always remember the weapon-master. You might not know the weapon-master. If you remember the weapon-master, the weapon-master was a famous Cornell engineer-- they invented the light saber. You might know the light saber. It looks like a sword, but it's made of plasma contained by a force field. It goes vroom, vroom, vroom.
[LAUGHTER]
It is in movies.
[LAUGHTER]
It's light. It's well-balanced. It deflects blasters. It's the weapon of choice for a Jedi master. So when the weapon-master invented the light saber, they thought everyone would make green lightsabers, and they would make blue lightsabers, and they would be nice and they would be zen like Obi-Wan and Yoda.
But then what happened? Well, Count Dooku, and Darth Maul, and Darth Vader, and Kylo Ren, they made red lightsabers, and they were mean. So what's the moral of the story? An engineer always has to anticipate how the technology they develop can affect society and can affect the people around them.
Number four, touch your toes every day. You don't think you need to do back stretches. I'm here to tell you, you need to do back stretches.
[LAUGHTER]
You're going to wake up one morning, you're going to realize that you're 40 years old, you're not going to be able to bend over anymore, and it's going to be a bummer.
[LAUGHTER]
Number five, listen. Listen. And then listen some more. Listen to the people that you agree with. Listen to the people that you don't agree with. Challenge yourself to become the kind of person who listens longer, listens harder, and listens with more curiosity than anyone else. Number six, put hot sauce on everything.
[LAUGHTER]
[APPLAUSE]
And the two last ones-- never forget how much your family and friends helped you get where you are. And never forget how proud we are that you're a Cornell engineer.
[CROWD CHEERING]
And with that, I give my heartfelt congratulations to the graduating class of 2024. Let's give them one more round of applause.
[CROWD CHEERING]
DAVID ERICKSON: Thank you so much, Brian. And, again, congratulations to all our graduates. Now, we're going to ask all the graduates to get up and follow out the hall, where we'll take a picture in front. And we'll ask everybody else to sit down for a little bit, right, Judy? Just the undergrads to get up. Stand up. Follow out.
[CROWD CHEERING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Just hold on one minute.
Thank you so much to all the parents, and visitors, and everybody that came here today. This concludes the formal part of our ceremonies. But I invite everyone to come out and join us for something to eat in front of the building here. Thanks again.
