# Celebrating Commencement

Data: 11-01-2025 21:43:06

## Lista de Vídeos

1. [MIT Chancellor Melissa Nobles to the Class of 2024](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r89SZtsoZDo)
2. [2024 MIT Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fozcnzprdqk)
3. [MIT President Sally Kornbluth Charge to the Class of 2024](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNRhjOnqGw8)
4. [Noubar Afeyan Address to the Class of 2024](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw3Q6vIjnzA)
5. [2024 OneMIT Commencement Ceremony Live Webcast](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxCaGgAap5g)
6. [Congratulations, graduates!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8sh6kox8Ao)
7. [Mark Rober Address to MIT Class of 2023](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FGlsuTnt_U)
8. [2023 MIT Undergraduate Commencement Live Webcast](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0HX4lomP5E)
9. [MIT President Sally Kornbluth Charge to the Class of 2023](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re2LlLezzR8)
10. [2023 OneMIT Commencement Live Webcast](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdsDZCFAx0s)
11. [Congratulations, Class of 2023!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnV2maqw8Iw)
12. [Congratulations, Class of 2022!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXl87RNlyjk)
13. [Only one, but always different: The MIT Brass Rat](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozde0xdV_Xs)
14. [Precious Paper: Commencement and the MIT Diplomas](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdwPeNsMmGM)
15. [A Community Celebrates: Creating Commencement at MIT](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ2difJaGQs)
16. [Making Medallions at MIT](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJaryKnfPOQ)
17. [New officers, Old Ironsides](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IToHwWsVvN4)
18. [The Red Coats Are Coming: 50 Years of the Cardinal Blazer at MIT](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9URtzACOxE)
19. [MIT President L. Rafael Reif Charge to the Class of 2022](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kzfbMGPf-I)
20. [Poet Kealoha Wong '99 speaks to MIT graduates at special ceremony](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HFL2ho2p7M)
21. [Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Address to MIT Class of 2022](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYahSj_kC3E)
22. [Celebrating the SoE class of 2021](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePj_RsLn0hg)
23. [Diary Of A Pandemic Year](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8MnxTxxJ98)
24. [Celebrating the MIT MechE Class of 2020](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Brqy0U_bQ0E)
25. [MIT Commencement 2020 Pre-Program Show](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWxhLSgySDc)
26. [MIT's Virtual Commencement 2020](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsC4kBdXB20)
27. [Esther Duflo PhD ’99 Salute to the Advanced Degree Recipients at MIT Commencement 2020](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16sSGj8wA_Y)
28. [Admiral William H. McRaven at MIT Commencement 2020](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duwnFrqetek)
29. [To The Light, To The Flame](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFBURQd9gY8)
30. [Alum composer layers 55 remote student performances to open Commencement](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI2ulRsvLGQ)
31. [To the MIT Class of 2020: Welcome to the Alumni Association](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd0zqK1ERY0)
32. [Michael Bloomberg at MIT Commencement 2019](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucyduome8yw)
33. [Squire Booker PhD '94 at 2019 Investiture of Doctoral Hoods and Degree Conferral Ceremony](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rvqyverDWc)
34. [President L. Rafael Reif's charge to the Class of 2018](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kPFFRLgXO4)
35. [Sheryl Sandberg at MIT Commencement 2018](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w1d1TWxwec)
36. [I graduated from MIT](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urdkltg3oJM)
37. [Tim Cook's MIT Commencement Address 2017](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckjkz8zuMMs)
38. [President Reif's Charge to 2016 Graduates](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2k0Zomj8M4)
39. [Thank you MIT: The Class of 2014 says goodbye](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e5Lo-7DS9Y)
40. [Today MIT, tomorrow the world: The Class of 2013 says goodbye](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4P9xx9ysTI)
41. [MIT's 146th Commencement - by the numbers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rWcUKAImMs)
42. [MIT Commencement 2011](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I44aBO9hYUU)
43. [MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS) Advanced Degree Ceremony Interviews](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hyu-IpNgRHw)

## Transcrições

### MIT Chancellor Melissa Nobles to the Class of 2024
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r89SZtsoZDo

Idioma: en

MELISSA NOBLES: OK,
everyone, it's happening.
It's graduation day.
Congratulations to
you, you soon to be
graduates, and congratulations
to your loved ones.
What a day to the class of 2024.
You're here today graduating
from MIT on beautiful Killian
Court, thanks in part
to the many people who
believed in you, who
championed you, who boosted you
when you needed it.
Many of your loved
ones are here today
and others around the globe are
beaming with happiness as they
watch this ceremony online.
So soak up all of the love
and pride of your families
and friends and
champions here and afar.
It's a very special
day for them too.
Thank you, parents.
Thank you, families.
Thank you, friends.
Thank you to the professors
and staff here at MIT.
And Thank you to everyone who
has helped shape our graduates'
journey to this day.
And now let's talk about
you, the graduates of 2024.
Yes, you started at
MIT during COVID.
But don't worry, we
won't dwell on that.
But what I do want
to highlight is
because the world
turned upside down
because you didn't know
that typical rhythms of MIT
and the upper classes couldn't
show you all of the ropes.
You did what MIT
students do best.
You made stuff up.
You figured things out.
You experimented.
You iterated.
You engineered.
You stretched.
You created new traditions.
You bonded.
You used your heart and you
built your communities first
online and then on campus
because connections to people
never felt more important.
And I'm not trying
to glamorize this.
Surely, starting
from scratch can
be daunting, rocky,
inefficient, exhausting,
and filled with dead ends.
But it also creates
possibility, which
you filled with creativity,
strength, persistence,
and resilience.
And as a consequence, you
built a complete and fulfilling
college experience.
So as you wrap things up,
take a moment to pause
and to be present.
Look around at your classmates,
strangers who you met on Zoom
and became tight friends
under tough circumstances.
Think back to the fall, to the
fall of your sophomore year when
things literally
opened up on campus
and you too opened
yourselves up wholeheartedly
to your fellow students.
What wild adventures
you had as sophomores,
getting to know each other and
drinking from MIT's famed fire
hose together IRL.
And you feel the
pride of your care
that you've shown to classes who
will follow in your footsteps
by passing along the
institutional knowledge
that you painstakingly
unearthed, that you created
and refined so that future
students don't need to start
from scratch as you did.
Think about your houses, your
clubs, your mentors inside
and outside of the classroom,
your teams, your performances,
your research, your
coursework, and your creations.
Think about the
intellectual curiosity
that you arrive with, plus
all that you've learned since
and how your passions and
ambitions led you to even more
complex discoveries.
And, remember, all of the
piece sets that you completed,
it will never need to do again.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
While you'll soon leave behind
your beloved maker spaces
and favorite hangout
spots and the practice
fields where you
gave things your all,
you'll bring your problem
solving skills, your ingenuity,
your passions, and drive
to new spaces, new spots,
and new fields.
You'll forge new friendships
while staying in touch
with your MIT besties.
You'll buy bananas at the
grocery store and reminisce when
you get them 24/7 at the
Banana Lounge back in the day.
You'll trek through the unknown
with an adventurous and generous
spirit.
You'll ask for help
when you need it,
and you'll continue to
inspire others and give
to others that follow.
Above all, you'll be confident
about what's possible,
what you can achieve, how
you can apply your talents
and skills in this
complex world because you
have a hard-earned MIT degree.
Your degree is an extra
special accomplishment
because you faced so many
adversities along the way,
individually and
together as a class.
But you did it.
And you are all
here today and we're
celebrating with you here
and around the globe.
And we are all so
very proud of you.
So now let's take time to
listen to some soulful music
and then get to those
diplomas to you.
And then we're going to
make things official.
Congratulations,
MIT class of 2024.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]

---

### 2024 MIT Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fozcnzprdqk

Idioma: en

[MUSIC PLAYING]
ANNOUNCER: Please rise and
welcome the academic procession.
["POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE"]
And now, please
welcome the guests
of honor, the graduates of 2024.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Good morning, everyone.
Please be seated, and welcome
MIT President, Sally Kornbluth.
[APPLAUSE]
SALLY KORNBLUTH: Good
morning and welcome
to the most beautiful
day of the year at MIT.
I have a feeling that none
of you are in the mood
this morning for half a dozen
long, detailed speeches.
So you're in luck.
We have only one, not long
speech from Chancellor Nobles,
and some music from two of
your very talented classmates,
and a whole lot of
hard earned diplomas.
I'm absolutely thrilled to
be here with all of you,
and your families,
and your friends.
From where I'm standing,
they look excited, proud,
and maybe a little bit relieved.
They can't wait to see you
transform from MIT students
to MIT graduates.
So let's get started.
[APPLAUSE]
PENNY BRANT: Good
morning, everyone.
I'm Penny Brant, President
of the senior class of 2024.
[APPLAUSE]
And today it is my privilege to
introduce two of our classmates
who will honor us with
musical performances.
The recipient of this year's
Lewis Sutler prize in the arts,
Phoebe Lin, is a
California native,
graduating with a degree
in earth, atmospheric,
and planetary Sciences.
At MIT she has had
the opportunity
to blend her interests in
music and atmospheric sciences.
As an Emerson Harris fellow,
she performed two solo recitals
that featured music
related to the environment.
And as a member of
the MIT wind ensemble,
she traveled to the
Brazilian Amazon
to perform and learn about
cultural and environmental
sustainability.
Today, Phoebe will
be joined on stage
by pianist, William Wang, who
is pursuing a PhD in computer
science at MIT.
And together, they
will perform a movement
from Carl Reinecke
Undine Sonata,
named for the
mythological water nymph.
Following the address
by Chancellor Nobles,
Adanna Abraham-Igwe
will take the stage
to sing lead vocals in
a performance of Lean
On Me, written and
recorded by Bill Withers
and arranged by
Laura Grill Jaye.
Adanna, a veteran of the
MIT vocal jazz ensemble,
is from the San
Francisco Bay area,
where her interest in singing
started at home with her family
listening and playing
music together.
She studied both computer
science and music
at MIT, and after
graduation, will be
working as a software engineer.
Now, please welcome flutist
Phoebe Lynn and pianist William
Wang.
[APPLAUSE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MELISSA NOBLES: Thank
you, Phoebe and William.
OK, everyone, it's happening.
It's graduation day.
Congratulations to you,
you soon to be graduates.
And congratulations
to your loved ones.
What a day.
To the class of 2024,
you're here today
graduating from MIT on beautiful
Killian Court, thanks in part
to the many people who believed
in you, who championed you, who
boosted you when you needed it.
Many of your loved
ones are here today.
And others around the globe
are beaming with happiness
as they watch the
ceremony online.
So soak up all of the love
and pride of your families,
and friends, and
champions here and afar.
It's a very special
day for them, too.
Thank you, parents.
Thank you, families.
Thank you, friends.
Thank you to the professors
and staff here at MIT.
And thank you to everyone who
has helped shape our graduates'
journey to this day.
And now let's talk about
you, the graduates of 2024.
Yes, you started at MIT--
[APPLAUSE]
You started at MIT during COVID.
But don't worry, we
won't dwell on that.
But what I do want to highlight
is because the world turned
upside down, because you didn't
know the typical rhythms of MIT
and the upper classes couldn't
show you all of the ropes,
you did what MIT
students do best.
You made stuff up.
You figured things out.
You experimented.
You iterated.
You engineered.
You stretched.
You created new traditions.
You bonded.
You used your heart.
And you built your communities
first online, and then on campus
because connections to people
never felt more important.
And I'm not trying
to glamorize this.
Surely, starting
from scratch can
be daunting, rocky,
inefficient, exhausting,
and filled with dead ends.
But it also creates
possibility, which
you filled with creativity,
strength, persistence,
and resilience.
And as a consequence, you
built a complete and fulfilling
college experience.
So as you wrap things up,
take a moment to pause
and to be present.
Look around at your classmates,
strangers who you met on Zoom
and became tight friends
under tough circumstances.
Think back to the fall
of your sophomore year,
when things literally
opened up on campus,
and you too opened
yourselves up wholeheartedly
to your fellow students.
What wild adventures
you had as sophomores
getting to know each other and
drinking from MIT's famed fire
hose together IRL.
And feel the pride,
the pride of your care
that you've shown to classes who
will follow in your footsteps
by passing along the
institutional knowledge
that you painstakingly
unearthed,
that you created and refined
so that future students don't
need to start from
scratch as you did.
Think about your houses, your
clubs, your mentors inside
and outside of the classroom,
your teams, your performances,
your research, your
coursework, and your creations.
Think about the
intellectual curiosity
that you arrive with, plus
all that you've learned since,
and how your passions and
ambitions led you to even more
complex discoveries.
And remember, all of the
P sets that you completed,
it will never need to do again.
[APPLAUSE AND CHEERING]
Well, you'll soon leave behind
your beloved maker spaces
and favorite hangout spots
in the practice fields
where you gave things your all.
You'll bring your problem
solving skills, your ingenuity,
your passions and drive
to new spaces, new spots,
and new fields.
You'll forge new friendships
while staying in touch
with your MIT besties.
You'll buy bananas at the
grocery store and reminisce when
you get them 24/7 at the
Banana Lounge back in the day.
You'll trek through the unknown
with an adventurous and generous
spirit.
You'll ask for help
when you need it.
And you'll continue to
inspire others and give
to others that follow.
Above all, you'll be confident
about what's possible,
what you can achieve, how
you can apply your talents
and skills in this
complex world because you
have a hard-earned MIT degree.
Your degree is an extra
special accomplishment
because you faced so many
adversities along the way
individually and
together as a class.
But you did it.
And you are all here today.
And we're celebrating with
you here and around the globe.
And we are all so
very proud of you.
So now let's take time to
listen to some soulful music,
and then get those
diplomas to you.
And then we're going to
make things official.
Congratulations,
MIT class of 2024.
[APPLAUSE]
Adanna, take it away.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
["LEAN ON ME"] Lean on me.
Lean on me.
Lean on me.
Some times in my life
we all have pain.
We all have sorrow.
But if we are wise, we know
that there's always tomorrow.
Lean on me.
Lean on me.
Lean on me.
When you're not strong.
I'll be your friend.
I'll help you carry on.
For it won't be long til I'm
gonna need somebody to lean on.
Please swallow your pride if I
have things you need to borrow.
For no one can fill
those of your needs
that you won't let show.
So just call on me, brother,
when you need a hand.
We all need somebody to lean on.
I just might have a problem
that you understand.
We all need somebody to lean on.
If there is a load you have
to bear that you can't carry,
I'm right, right up the road.
I'll share your load
if you just call me.
Just call on me, brother,
when you need a hand.
We all need somebody to lean on.
I just might have a problem
that you understand.
We all need somebody to lean on.
Lean on me.
Lean on me.
When you're not strong.
I'll be your friend.
Wanna be your friend.
I'll help you carry on.
Lean on me.
It won't be long till I'm
gonna need somebody to lean on.
I'm going to need
somebody to lean on.
I'm gonna need
somebody to lean on.
I'm going to need
somebody to lean on.
I'm gonna need
somebody to lean on me.
Somebody to lean on me.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE AND CHEERING]
CYNTHIA BARNHART: On the
recommendation of the faculty
and pursuant to the
vote of the corporation,
diplomas for the achievement
of Bachelor of Science
will now be presented.
President Kornbluth will
open the graduate recognition
by presenting
diplomas to the class
marshals and senior soloists.
SALLY KORNBLUTH:
Recognition will now
be given to the
graduates on the stage.
[READING NAMES]
CYNTHIA BARNHART: Diplomas
for the class of 2024
will be presented
by school deans.
For the School of
Architecture and Planning,
Dean Hashim Sarkis.
For the School of Engineering,
Dean Anantha Chandrakasan
and Dean Dan Huttenlocker.
For the School of Humanities,
Arts, and Social Sciences,
Dean Augustine Rayo.
For the School of Science,
Dean Nergis Mavalvala.
And for the Sloan
School of Management,
Professor Rodrigo Verdi, Deputy
Dean for Degree Programs,
Teaching, and Learning.
SALLY KORNBLUTH: Bachelor
of science diplomas
will now be
presented to students
in the School of
Architecture and Planning
who have completed the
specified degree requirements.
[READING NAMES]
- Bachelor of Science
diplomas will now be presented
to students in the School of
Engineering who have completed
the specified degree
requirements [READING NAMES]
SALLY KORNBLUTH: 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.
[READING NAMES]
SALLY KORNBLUTH: Bachelor
of Science diplomas
will now be presented
to students in the Sloan
School of Management who have
completed the specified degree
requirements.
[READING NAMES]
SALLY KORNBLUTH: Bachelor
of Science diplomas
will now be
presented to students
in the School of science who
have completed the specified
degree requirements.
[READING NAMES]
SALLY KORNBLUTH:
The presentation
of bachelor's
degrees to the 2024
graduates of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology
is now concluded.
Congratulations!
[APPLAUSE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Congratulations, class of
2024 family and friends,
please exit the court
at Memorial Drive.
Thank you.

---

### MIT President Sally Kornbluth Charge to the Class of 2024
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNRhjOnqGw8

Idioma: en

SALLY KORNBLUTH:
Penny and Michaela,
thank you both for
your reflections today
and for your leadership
in our community.
Good afternoon, everyone.
It is customary on this day of
celebration for the president
to deliver a charge to
the graduating class.
[DISTANT CHANTING]
AUDIENCE: (CHANTING) Sally,
Sally, Sally, Sally, Sally,
Sally, Sally, Sally,
Sally, Sally, Sally, Sally.
[APPLAUSE]
SALLY KORNBLUTH: Wow.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Really, thank you.
In a year when there has
been so much campus turmoil,
I may not be able to offer you
either advice or inspiration,
but I would like to
acknowledge a few things
that I've learned since I
came to MIT 17 months ago.
And I want to
start by addressing
your parents and your families.
As all of you know,
the education we
offer students is famous
for its depth and its rigor,
and we're proud of the bursting
satchel of skills and knowledge
that every MIT graduate
carries out into the world.
But the truth is that the
young people you sent us,
whom you trusted us to
educate and care for,
were remarkable before
we even met them.
You certainly know this
about them as individuals,
and you know the specific
challenges they had to overcome.
For some of you,
the young person
whose graduation you're
here to celebrate
is the first in your
family to go to college.
For some, coming here meant
leaving home many thousands
of miles away.
For some, it meant
overcoming language barriers
or personal hardships.
Some faced all the normal
rigors of the MIT curriculum
on top of family
responsibilities
and even tragic losses.
You also know their
individual achievements,
how much they learned and
grew and stretched and pushed
themselves long before
they came to MIT.
You know how delightful and
inspiring and thoughtful they
are, and I expect at least most
of know the particular thrill
of the day you realized that
they now understood things that
you just cannot understand, the
day when it would be no longer
possible for you even
theoretically to help them with
their homework.
So you know them well as
exceptional individuals,
but at MIT, we also get
to see them all together.
Taken together in
their critical mass,
they are a natural wonder as awe
inspiring as a visitation of 17
year cicadas, as miraculous
as a total eclipse of the sun.
It's been our
privilege to teach them
and to learn together with
them, and we share with you
the highest hopes for
what they will do next.
Now to those of you
graduating today,
with the exception of a few
master's students, nearly all
of you have been part of the MIT
community longer than I have.
You know it's culture and
quality so well that they may
not stand out to you anymore.
But I've spent my whole
career in higher education,
and I have never seen a
community quite like this one,
a community founded on
wonder and wondering
why, a community whose
version of March Madness
is a thousand people staring
upward spontaneously sharing
the wondrous sight
of a solar eclipse
and actually being
able to explain it,
a community that runs on an
irrepressible combination
of curiosity and
creativity and drive,
a community in which
everyone you meet
has something important to teach
you, a community in which people
expect excellence of
themselves and take
great care of one another.
I have no doubt that
you're tired of hearing
how resilient you are
because of the pandemic,
but I mentioned that
long drawn out challenge
as another illustration of
what it means to be part
of this particular community,
a community that fought
the virus with the
tools of measurement
and questioning and
analysis and self-discipline
and was therefore able to pursue
its mission almost undeterred,
a community that
understands in a deep way
that the vaccines
as Noubar just said
were not some overnight miracle
but rather the final flowering
of decades of work by
thousands of people pushing
the boundaries of fundamental
science, a place that does not
shy away from complexity,
a place that embraces
the hardest problems.
You may not ever find
another community like it,
but I hope you'll
keep us in mind
as you design and invent
creative communities
of your own.
All of you graduating
here today have
been tested by the repercussions
of a relentless virus,
by societal upheaval here, and
by violent conflict and the most
terrible human suffering abroad.
And, of course, you have been
tested many, many, many times
by the faculty of MIT.
At MIT, an education
is sort of a test
of endurance, a grand set made
of P sets, a test made of tests.
MIT is famous for
testing its students.
But you have tested us,
too, from the moment
you arrived to the present.
You have tested our systems,
our assumptions, our practices.
You've revealed places where our
understanding may fall short.
You've shown us that we
need to reflect more deeply
and be willing to assess and
reconsider long-held beliefs.
In short, the Institute
you are graduating from
is thanks in part to you always
reflecting, always changing,
and I take that as
your charge to us.
So thank you.
Congratulations and best
wishes to each of you
for a wonderful future.
[APPLAUSE]

---

### Noubar Afeyan Address to the Class of 2024
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw3Q6vIjnzA

Idioma: en

[APPLAUSE]
NOUBAR AFEYAN: Thank you.
Thank you, Mark, for that
generous but somewhat
embarrassing introduction.
President Kornbluth, trustees,
and faculty, students
and families, alumni and members
of this remarkable community
of scholars and solvers,
it's a special honor
to be with you today.
Graduates, I once sat
where you now sit,
brimming with excitement and
the sense of accomplishment that
comes with a
hard-won MIT diploma.
Congratulations to all of you.
[APPLAUSE]
Families, as the father of two
MIT alums, Taleen and Lena,
I know firsthand the pride
and emotion you feel today.
Faculty members, as a senior
lecturer here for 16 years,
I saw up close how well
you prepare these graduates
for what lies ahead.
And fellow trustees,
it is a great privilege
to serve alongside you.
I spent my childhood
in Beirut, Lebanon.
Three generations of my
proud Armenian family
shared an apartment on the
ninth floor of our building.
The window in the bedroom
I shared with my great aunt
looked out over the red tiled
roofs of Roman, Ottoman,
and Byzantine buildings and
beyond to the Mediterranean Sea.
When Civil War erupted in 1975,
and the government imposed
strict curfews, the
state broadcaster
often shifted from airing
three hours of TV a day
to offering around-the-clock
programming of mostly American
television shows, a
diversion for my brothers
and me when we were
forced to stay inside.
One show in particular
had me captivated.
Just hearing the theme song
would set my heart racing.
Perhaps you know too.
["MISSION IMPOSSIBLE" THEME
SONG]
NOUBAR AFEYAN:
That's right, Mission
Impossible, even if you
never saw the TV show,
you likely know the movies with
Tom Cruise as agent Ethan Hunt.
The encoded self-destructing
message to the agents
always began the same way.
Your mission, should you
choose to accept it--
no matter how long the
odds or how great the risk,
the agents always
took the assignments.
In the 50 years since, I
have been consistently drawn
to impossible missions.
And today I hope to convince
each and every one of you
that you should be too.
Class of 2024, one incredibly
challenging mission
is already under your belt.
You are given the assignment
to begin your studies at
MIT without being at MIT.
Going to college
without going to college
was not a mission
you'd signed up for.
But it is what you got.
A handful of you
did move to campus.
But even for you, masking,
testing, social distancing,
and virtual classes meant
orienting to a foreign land.
You even learned a new language
as terms like Q-Week and SCUFFY
entered your MIT lexicon.
No one knew what would happen
next or when it would end.
And yet, you found
ways to thrive.
You dove into your
coursework and started
to build mostly
virtual friendships.
In the words of your
classmate, Amber Velez,
who rented a Cambridge apartment
with three MIT roommates,
you patched together
a little lifeboat
in this vast sea of students
spread out all over the world.
Earlier that year,
just up the road
in Kendall Square, my
colleagues and I at Moderna
had received another mission
that seemed impossible.
Develop a safe and effective
vaccine that could save lives,
restart the economy, and
do so in less than a year.
Oh, and while you're at it, get
a billion doses manufactured,
distribute them
around the world,
and get them into
the arms of people.
It was clear that if we
accepted this challenge,
it would take everything we had.
We would have to slow 20 ongoing
drug development projects
and focus on solving COVID.
We embrace this mission.
And I'm so proud that my
colleague and friend, Professor
Langer, is here.
He was a main driver
of this as well.
Just 48 hours after Moderna
obtained the sequence
for the SARS-COV-2
spike protein,
we deployed our mRNA technology
to produce a potent vaccine.
Less than two months later,
we enrolled the first patient
in a clinical trial.
And on November 16th, the
vaccine was determined to be
94.5% effective
against COVID-19.
By some estimates,
Moderna's vaccine
saved over 2 million
lives during the pandemic.
[APPLAUSE]
How did we do it?
Well, that's another
speech for another day.
But what I do want
to talk about is
what it takes to accept
your own impossible missions
and why you as graduates of MIT
are uniquely prepared to do so,
uniquely prepared
and also obligated.
At a time when the world
is beset by crises,
your mission is nothing less
than to salvage what seems lost,
reverse what seems inevitable,
and save the planet.
And just like the
agents in the movies,
you need to accept the mission,
even if it seems impossible.
I know the odds don't
appear to be in your favor.
But this age of
polycrisis is also
a moment of poly
opportunity fueled
by artificial intelligence,
machine learning, quantum
computing, and other
modern technologies
that are changing the
world faster than people
believe is possible.
Now, you are uniquely equipped
to turn science fiction
into science reality.
With the right mindsets,
Mission Impossible
can become mission improbable
as you overcome obstacles
and seemingly long odds by
imagining and innovating
your way to novel solutions.
So how do you go
about doing that?
How do you become the
agents the world needs
you to be starting from today?
Well, you already have
a head start, Quite.
A significant one.
You graduate today from MIT.
And that says volumes about
your knowledge, talent, vision,
passion, and perseverance,
all essential attributes
of the elite 21st century agent.
And I forgot to mention our
relaxed, uncompetitive nature,
our outstanding social skills,
and the overall coolness that
characterizes each
and every MIT grad.
But more seriously, you are
trained in science, mathematics,
engineer, and technology, fields
that when properly harnessed
and supported, can be deployed
against almost any seemingly
impossible challenge.
You may not realize it yet.
But your MIT education
has given you
a superpower, like
X-ray vision, that
lets you see through the
illusion of impossibility
and surface the
blueprints for solutions.
And as of today, you even have
a secret decoder ring, better
known as the Brass Rat.
MIT'S history underscores
these special powers.
The telephone, digital circuits,
radar, email, internet,
the human genome project,
controlled drug delivery,
magnetic confinement fusion
energy, artificial intelligence,
and all that is enabling, these
and many more breakthroughs
emerged from the work of
extraordinary change agents
tied to MIT.
Now, let me ask you a question.
Aside from MIT, what do
such agents have in common?
What equips them to accomplish
seemingly impossible missions?
I'd argue they do three things
that make leaps possible.
They imagine.
They innovate.
And they emigrate.
And now, it's your turn.
Start by unleashing
your imagination.
People often see imagination
as the exclusive province
of the arts, of moviemaking,
of literature, painting.
I think that's nonsense.
Imagination, to my mind, is
the foundational building block
of breakthrough science.
I'm not making an argument
against reason, let alone,
at MIT.
Reason has a role to play.
But in accomplishing
impossible missions,
it's the servant,
not the master.
You can't expect reasoning to
do the work of imagination.
At its best, scientific research
is a profoundly creative
endeavor.
You have mastered
proofs, problem sets,
and design projects.
But in the words of
mathematician and author Lewis
Carroll, imagination is the only
weapon in the war with reality.
To the great Irish writer
George Bernard Shaw,
its role is even
more fundamental.
As he put it, imagination is
the beginning of creation.
You imagine what you desire.
You will what you imagine.
And at last, you
create what you will.
It is also your
turn to innovate.
Think of innovation as
imagination in action,
or perhaps, mens et
manus or mind and hand.
But I hear that
lines already taken.
MIT did not prepare you to
shy away from the unknown.
Quite the contrary, you are now
prepared to leap for the stars,
sometimes, quite literally.
Just ask the more than 40 NASA
astronauts with MIT degrees.
Leaps often involve unreasonable
or even seemingly crazy ideas.
Ordinary innovations
are often judged
by how reasonable the
idea is and an extension
of what already exists and how
reasonable the person proposing
it is.
But ask yourself
central question.
Why do we expect
extraordinary results
from reasonable people
doing reasonable things?
As you've probably
guessed by now,
I'm utterly unreasonable
and an eternal optimist.
As a lifelong entrepreneur
and innovator, I have to be.
But I've always practiced
a special kind of optimism.
I call it paranoid optimism.
This means toggling back and
forth between extreme optimism
and deep seated doubt.
The kind of paranoid
optimism needed
to make scientific or
technological leaps
often starts with
an act of faith.
By that, I mean,
belief without facts,
the very definition of faith.
Now, I know faith is generally
associated with religion.
But interestingly,
in my experience,
pioneering science
also starts with faith.
You take leaps of faith,
and then you do experiments.
And on rare occasions,
the experiments
work, converting your leap of
faith into scientific reality.
What a thrill when that happens.
On your innovation journey
beyond optimism and faith,
you will also need the
courage of your convictions.
Make no mistake, you leave MIT
as special agents in demand.
As you consider
your many options,
I urge you to think hard
about what legacy you
want to leave and to
do this periodically
throughout your life.
Not every mission
you are qualified
for is a mission
worth accepting.
You are far more
than technologists.
You are moral actors.
The choice to maximize
solely for profits and power
will, in the end,
leave you hollow.
To forget this is
to fail the world,
and ultimately,
to fail yourself.
I know many of you here and
some in the class of 2024
not with us here
today are deeply
troubled by the conflicts and
tragedies we are witnessing.
As an Armenian descended
from genocide survivors
and co-founder of the Aurora
humanitarian initiative,
I feel deeply the wounds
of these conflicts.
I wish I had answers for all
of us, but of course, I don't.
But I do know this, having
conviction should not
be confused with
having all the answers.
Over my many years engaged
in entrepreneurship
and humanitarian
philanthropy, I have
learned that there is enormous
benefit in questioning what you
think you know, listening to
people who think differently,
and seeking common ground.
As you grapple with today's--
[APPLAUSE]
As you grapple with today's
hard choices and the many that
lie ahead, rely again
on your imagination.
Imagine the world you
want to create and work
backwards from there.
Be open to the many paths
that could carry you
towards this goal,
and let the journey
inform which ones will succeed.
Now, I've urged you to
imagine and to innovate.
The last thing I want
to leave you with
is the need to emigrate.
I'll say more about what I
mean by emigrate in a second.
But first, I want
to give a shout out
to others who, like me,
have left their homelands.
For those of you who have--
thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
For those of you who have
emigrated here from far away
or whose parents did or whose
grandparents did, please stand.
[APPLAUSE]
I applaud you.
It may often feel
like a disadvantage.
But you will soon learn,
it is quite the opposite.
When I first arrived at MIT, I
worried I did not belong here.
I spoke with an accent.
I still speak with
a little accent.
My pastime wasn't
hockey or lacrosse.
But it was Armenian folk dance.
Then one afternoon,
late in my first year
here, I was walking down
the Infinite Corridor
when a poster caught my eye.
Staring back from the poster
was a Native American chief
in full headdress, eyes defiant,
fingers pointed seemingly right
at me.
The poster read, who are you
calling immigrant, pilgrim?
[LAUGHTER]
I can't tell you what an
impact that had on me.
Aside from Native Americans,
we all, at some point,
come from somewhere else.
It helped me realize
that I belonged here
at MIT, in the United States.
And graduates and
families, you do, too.
But here's the really
interesting thing
that I've learned
over the years.
You need not be from
elsewhere to immigrate.
If the immigrant
experience can be described
as leaving familiar
circumstances
and being dropped into
unknown territory,
I would argue that
every one of you
also arrived at MIT
as an immigrant,
no matter where you grew up.
And as immigrants, you are
all at an advantage when it
comes to impossible missions.
Why?
You've left your comfort zone.
You've entered
uncharted territory.
You've forgone the
safety of the familiar,
yet you persist and you survive.
You figure out how to
accomplish your mission.
Like elite agents, immigrants
are the ultimate innovators,
equipped to navigate
obstacles, to never say never.
In fact, I often
describe innovation
as intellectual immigration.
Just like those of us who
emigrate from other countries,
innovators pioneered
new environments,
seeking a better future, not
just for themselves, but also
for the larger world.
So whether you grew up in
Cambodia or in California
or right here in Cambridge,
you can immigrate.
You need to keep immigrating.
You need to leave your comfort
zone, to think in new ways,
to acclimate to the unfamiliar,
and embrace uncertainty.
If you imagine,
innovate, and immigrate,
you are destined to a
life of uncertainty.
Being surrounded by uncertainty
can definitely be unnerving.
But it's where you need to be.
This is where the treasure lies.
It's ground zero
for breakthroughs.
Don't conflate
uncertainty as risk
or think of it as extreme risk.
Uncertainty isn't high risk.
It's unknown risk.
It is, in the
essence, opportunity.
Now, I began with a show.
I'll end with a movie, the
most recent Mission Impossible
film released just last summer.
The film is a daunting
reminder of all
that your generation
is up against,
complicated geopolitics, climate
and technological pressures,
and AI tools that
will both simplify
and complicate our world.
But graduates, as I
look at all of you,
I see a large team
of agents who are
entirely capable of
completing your missions.
I see agents for good,
agents for change.
MIT has prepared you to
tackle impossible missions,
to harness the future, and
bend it towards the light.
My wish for you,
my fervent hope,
is that you not only choose
to accept impossible missions,
but you embrace them.
Welcome long odds.
Embrace uncertainty.
And lead with imagination.
Approach the unknown with
the courage, the confidence,
and the curiosity of an
immigrant with paranoia
and optimism.
And always remember the
strength of working in teams.
Show the world why Mission
Impossible Teams inevitably
shorthands for MIT.
[APPLAUSE]
Graduates, set forth on
your impossible missions.
Accept them.
Embrace them.
The world needs you.
And it's your turn to star in
the action adventure called
your life.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]

---

### 2024 OneMIT Commencement Ceremony Live Webcast
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxCaGgAap5g

Idioma: en

SPEAKER 1: Center of
the stage right now
with our commencement speaker
and President Emeritus
Reif to the right there.
The final faculty are just
about to ascend to their seats
on the stage, and in
just a couple of moments,
we're going to be
turning the program over
to the corporation chair, to
the president, and our guest
speakers.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
It's been a pleasure being
with you once again, Deb.
We hope everybody enjoys the
ceremony today, and, of course,
we'll be back tomorrow live
with the undergraduate ceremony.
SPEAKER 2: Again,
thank you very much.
We wish you well this
afternoon here from Cambridge.
And congratulations
to all the family
and friends of the 2024
graduates of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MARK P. GORENBERG: The
corporation and the faculty
of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology
are now declared
convened together
with this assembly on the
occasion of the one MIT
commencement ceremony
of this institution
and in recognition
of the degrees being
conferred on the Class of 2024.
The stage assembly and audience
will please remain standing
for the invocation by
Reverend Thea Keith-Lucas,
chaplain to the institute, and
join the Chorallaries of MIT
and singing of one verse of
the "Star Spangled Banner."
THEA KEITH-LUCAS: One
day I stood in lobby 10
and watched people rush
down the corridor solving
for the quickest route from
point A to point B. Sometimes
we move through the
world but do not join it.
We stay behind the high
tower walls of ourselves
and only hear the echo back
of our own hopes and fears.
We put on our headphones and
live inside the tiny rooms
we have built between
stereo right and stereo
left, our own stories
whispered into our ears
unheard by the strangers
we pass in the halls.
I want to bless the moments
when the clock stops
and the machine of
productivity lurches
to a halt, when the
path of your day
spools out towards the infinite
and your humanity awakens.
Can you feel your soul
leaving its slumber
and stretching out
ready for a new day?
Can you hear the melody
of your heart rise
like birds trilling at
the rosy aurora of dawn?
Come, crack open the window
and let the sound flow out
into the space between
you and your neighbor.
Hear how it creates an
unexpected harmony, a new song
of creativity that does
not belong to you or to me
but dances between us.
Imagine the thread that ties
you to all the people you know
and love like a
satin ribbon that you
can pull through your hand.
We have a choice.
We can wrap it
tighter and tighter
around the spindle of some
perfect core of truth,
or we can open ourselves
to the chaos and the beauty
of unexpected connection.
We can let our souls
fly free together.
[APPLAUSE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
CHORALLARIES:
(SINGING) O say can you
see by the dawn's early light.
What so proudly we hailed by
the twilight's last gleaming
Whose broad stripes and bright
stars through the perilous fight
O'er the ramparts we watched
were so gallantly streaming
And the rockets red glare
The bombs bursting in air
Gave proof through the night
that our flag was still there
O say does that star
spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free
And the home of the brave
[APPLAUSE]
MARK P. GORENBERG:
Please be seated.
It's my privilege to
welcome to the stage
our guest speaker,
Dr. Noubar Afeyan.
We're also pleased to welcome
our alumni celebrating
their 50th reunion
in their red jackets.
[APPLAUSE]
In their red jackets for the
first time, the Class of 1974.
[APPLAUSE]
Now you were juniors and
seniors when I looked up to you.
I was a freshman and
sophomore at MIT then.
So let me just say I know your
hair was a little bit longer,
but I know you're
just as brilliant
and you're just as
mischievous as I remember
and your eyes and your
smiles are just as bright.
Welcome back to MIT.
[APPLAUSE]
And now I have the
honor of introducing you
to our commencement speaker.
Noubar Afeyan has built
his remarkable career
by trusting his crazy
ideas, and he thinks
you should trust yours, too.
Born in Lebanon to
Armenian parents,
he emigrated with
them to Canada.
Later, after
graduating from McGill
with a degree in
chemical engineering,
he made his way to MIT.
In the late 1980s, Noubar
earned a PhD here in biochemical
engineering just as the Boston
biotech was just beginning
to boom.
And after taking his
way into the class
in corporate entrepreneurship,
Noubar was off and running,
on his way to a
career that embodied
the kind of bold, science-based
problem solving and fearless
creativity we all
think of as very MIT.
A brilliant and charismatic
teacher, he taught for 16 years
at the MIT Sloan
School, and as well, he
taught at another business
school on the Charles
up the river.
A scientist, an
inventor, a member
of the National
Academy of Engineering,
Dr. Afeyan holds more
than 100 patents.
A parallel entrepreneur who
founded and leads flagship
pioneering, he has co-founded
more than 70 life science
and technology startups.
His first biotech
company was in 1987 right
after he graduated from MIT.
His most famous company, where
he is still chairman today,
is Moderna, whose path-breaking
messenger RNA vaccine
was instrumental in helping turn
back the pandemic of COVID-19.
And in his spare time--
[CHEERING]
Yes, please.
[APPLAUSE]
And in his spare
time, Noubar has also
built an extraordinary record
as a humanitarian including
co-founding the Aurora Prize
for Awakening Humanity.
He's also served
MIT in many ways
including as a member of our
corporation executive committee.
I've therefore had the pleasure
of being in many meetings
with him, and every
time, I am amazed
by his clarity and his vision
and his strategic thinking.
When Noubar speaks, people
stop and want to listen,
so I know we're in for
a real treat today.
Please join me in
offering a warm welcome
to Dr. Noubar Afeyan.
[APPLAUSE]
[BOOING AND YELLING]
[CHANTING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[APPLAUSE]
NOUBAR AFEYAN: Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mark, for that
generous but somewhat
embarrassing introduction.
President Kornbluth,
trustees and faculty,
students and families,
alumni, and members
of this remarkable community
of scholars and solvers,
it's a special honor
to be with you today.
Graduates, I once sat
where you now sit,
brimming with excitement and
the sense of accomplishment that
comes with a hard
won MIT diploma.
Congratulations to all of you.
[APPLAUSE]
Families, as the father of two
MIT alums, Taleen and Lena,
I know firsthand the pride
and emotion you feel today.
Faculty members, as a senior
lecturer here for 16 years,
I saw up close how well
you prepare these graduates
for what lies ahead.
And fellow trustees,
it is a great privilege
to serve alongside you.
I spent my childhood in Beirut,
Lebanon Three generations
of my proud Armenian
family shared an apartment
on the ninth floor
of our building.
The window in the bedroom
I shared with my great aunt
looked out over the red-tiled
roofs of Roman, Ottoman,
and Byzantine buildings and
beyond to the Mediterranean Sea.
When civil war erupted in 1975
and the government imposed
strict curfews, the
state broadcaster
often shifted from airing
three hours of TV a day
to offering round the
clock programming of mostly
American television shows,
a diversion from my brothers
and me when we were
forced to stay inside.
One show in particular
had me captivated.
Just hearing the theme song
would set my heart racing.
Perhaps you know it, too.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[APPLAUSE]
That's right,
Mission Impossible.
Even if you never
saw the TV show,
you likely know the movies with
Tom Cruise as agent Ethan Hunt.
The encoded self-destructing
message to the agents
always began the same way.
Your mission, should
you choose to accept it.
No matter how long the
odds or how great the risk,
the agents always
took the assignments.
In the 50 years since, I
have been consistently drawn
to impossible
missions, and today I
hope to convince each and every
one of you that you should be,
too.
Class of 2024, one incredibly
challenging mission
is already under your belt.
You were given the assignment
to begin your studies at
MIT without being at MIT.
Going to college
without going to college
was not a mission you'd signed
up for, but it is what you got.
A handful of you did
move to campus, but even
for you, masking, testing,
social distancing,
and virtual classes meant
orienting to a foreign land.
You even learned a new language
as terms like [INAUDIBLE]
and scuffy entered
your MIT lexicon.
No one knew what would happen
next or when it would end,
and yet you found
ways to thrive.
You dove into your
coursework and started
to build mostly
virtual friendships.
In the words of your
classmate, Amber Velez,
who rented a Cambridge apartment
with three MIT roommates,
you patched together
a little lifeboat
in this vast sea of students
spread out all over the world.
Earlier that year,
just up the road
in Kendall Square, my
colleagues and I at Moderna
had received another mission
that seemed impossible,
develop a safe and effective
vaccine that could save lives,
restart the economy, and
do so in less than a year.
Oh, and while you're at it, get
a billion doses manufactured,
distribute them
around the world,
and get them into
the arms of people.
It was clear that if we
accepted this challenge,
it would take everything we had.
We would have to show 20--
slow 20 ongoing drug
development projects
and focus on solving COVID.
We embraced this
mission, and I'm
so proud that my colleague and
friend Professor Langer is here.
He was a main driver
of this as well.
Just 48 hours after Moderna
obtained the sequence
for the SARS-COV-2
spike protein,
we deployed our mRNA technology
to produce a potent vaccine.
Less than two months later,
we enrolled the first patient
in a clinical trial,
and on November 16th,
the vaccine was determined
to be 94.5% effective against
COVID-19.
By some estimates,
Moderna's vaccine
saved over 2 million
lives during the pandemic.
[APPLAUSE]
How did we do it?
Well, that's another
speech for another day,
but what I do want
to talk about is
what it takes to accept
your own impossible missions
and why you as graduates of MIT
are uniquely prepared to do so,
uniquely prepared
and also obligated.
At a time when the world
is beset by crises,
your mission is nothing less
than to salvage what seems lost,
reverse what seems inevitable,
and save the planet.
And just like the
agents in the movies,
you need to accept the mission
even if it seems impossible.
I know the odds don't
appear to be in your favor,
but this age of
polycrisis is also
a moment of poly
opportunity fueled
by artificial intelligence,
machine learning, quantum
computing, and other
modern technologies
that are changing the
world faster than people
believe is possible.
Now you are uniquely equipped
to turn science fiction
into science reality.
With the right mindsets,
mission impossible
can become mission improbable
as you overcome obstacles
and seemingly long odds by
imagining and innovating
your way to novel solutions.
So how do you go
about doing that?
How do you become the
agents the world needs
you to be starting from today?
Well, you already have a head
start, quite a significant one.
You graduate today from MIT,
and that says volumes about
your knowledge, talent, vision,
passion, and perseverance,
all essential attributes of
the elite 21st century agent.
Oh, and I forgot to mention our
relaxed, uncompetitive nature,
our outstanding social skills,
and the overall coolness that
characterizes each
and every MIT grad.
But more seriously, you are
trained in science, mathematics,
engineering, and
technology, fields
that when properly
harnessed and supported
can be deployed against
almost any seemingly
impossible challenge.
You may not realize it
yet, but your MIT education
has given you a superpower
like X-ray vision
that lets you see through
the illusion of impossibility
and surface the
blueprints for solutions.
And as of today, you even have
a secret decoder ring, better
known as the Brass Rat.
MIT's history underscores
these special powers.
The telephone, digital circuits,
radar, email, internet,
the Human Genome Project,
controlled drug delivery,
magnetic confinement fusion
energy, artificial intelligence,
and all that is enabling, these
and many more breakthroughs
emerged from the work of
extraordinary change agents
tied to MIT.
Now let me ask you a question.
Aside from MIT, what do
such agents have in common?
What equips them to accomplish
seemingly impossible missions?
I d they do three things
that make leaps possible.
They imagine, they
innovate, and they emigrate.
And now it's your turn.
Start by unleashing
your imagination.
People often see imagination
as the exclusive province
of the arts, of moviemaking,
of literature, painting.
I think that's nonsense.
Imagination to my mind is the
foundational building block
of breakthrough science.
I'm not making an argument
against reason let alone at MIT.
Reason has a role to play, but
in accomplishing impossible
missions, it's the
servant, not the master.
You can't expect reasoning to
do the work of imagination.
At its best, scientific research
is a profoundly creative
endeavor.
You have mastered proofs,
problem sets, and design
projects, but in the words of
mathematician and author Lewis
Carroll, imagination is the only
weapon in the war with reality.
To the great Irish writer
George Bernard Shaw,
its role is even
more fundamental.
As he put it, imagination is
the beginning of creation.
You imagine what you desire,
what will you imagine,
and at last you
create what you will.
It is also your
turn to innovate.
Think of innovation as
imagination in action
or perhaps men et
manus or mind and hand.
But I hear that
lines already taken.
MIT did not prepare you to
shy away from the unknown.
Quite the contrary.
You are now prepared
to leap for the stars,
sometimes quite literally.
Just ask the more than 40 NASA
astronauts with MIT degrees.
Leaps often involve unreasonable
or even seemingly crazy ideas.
Ordinary innovations
are often judged
by how reasonable the idea is
and an extension of what already
exists and how reasonable
the purpose-- the person
proposing it is.
But ask yourself one
central question.
Why do we expect
extraordinary results
from reasonable people
doing reasonable things?
As you've probably
guessed by now,
I'm utterly unreasonable
and an eternal optimist.
As a lifelong entrepreneur
and innovator, I have to be.
But I've always practiced
a special kind of optimism.
I call it paranoid optimism.
This means toggling back and
forth between extreme optimism
and deep seated doubt.
The kind of paranoid
optimism needed
to make scientific or
technological leaps
often starts with
an act of faith.
By that I mean
belief without facts,
the very definition of faith.
Now I know faith is generally
associated with religion,
but interestingly,
in my experience,
pioneering science
also starts with faith.
You take leaps of faith
and then you do experiments
and on rare occasions,
the experiments
work, converting your leap of
faith into scientific reality.
What a thrill when that happens.
On your innovation journey
beyond optimism and faith,
you will also need the
courage of your convictions.
Make no mistake.
You leave MIT as special
agents in demand.
As you consider
your many options,
I urge you to think hard
about what legacy you
want to leave and to
do this periodically
throughout your life.
Not every mission
you are qualified
for is a mission
worth accepting.
You are far more
than technologists.
You are moral actors.
The choice to maximize
solely for profits and power
will in the end
leave you hollow.
To forget this is
to fail the world
and ultimately to fail yourself.
I know many of you here and
some in the Class of 2024
not with us here
today are deeply
troubled by the conflicts and
tragedies we are witnessing.
As an Armenian descended
from genocide survivors
and co-founder of the Aurora
Humanitarian Initiative,
I feel deeply the wounds
of these conflicts.
I wish I had answers for all
of us, but, of course, I don't.
But I do know this.
Having conviction
should not be confused
with having all the answers.
Over my many years engaged
in entrepreneurship
and humanitarian
philanthropy, I have
learned that there is enormous
benefit in questioning what you
think you know, listening to
people who think differently,
and seeking common ground.
As you grapple with today's--
[APPLAUSE]
As you grapple with today's
hard choices and the many that
lie ahead, rely again
on your imagination.
Imagine the world you
want to create and work
backwards from there.
Be open to the many paths
that could carry you
towards this goal
and let the journey
inform which ones will succeed.
Now I've urged you to
imagine and to innovate.
The last thing I want
to leave you with
is the need to emigrate.
I'll say more about what I
mean by emigrate in a second,
but first I want
to give a shout out
to others who like me
have left their homelands.
For those of you who have--
thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
For those of you who have
emigrated here from far away
or whose parents did or whose
grandparents did, please stand.
[APPLAUSE]
I applaud you.
It may often feel
like a disadvantage,
but you will soon learn
it is quite the opposite.
When I first arrived at MIT, I
worried I did not belong here.
I spoke with an accent.
I still speak with
a little accent.
My pastime wasn't
hockey or lacrosse,
but it was Armenian folk dance.
Then one afternoon,
late in my first year
here, I was walking down
the Infinite Corridor
when a poster caught my eye.
Staring back from the poster
was a Native American chief
in full headdress, eyes defiant,
fingers pointed seemingly right
at me.
The poster read who are you
calling immigrant, pilgrim.
I can't tell you what an
impact that had on me.
Aside from Native Americans,
we all at some point
come from somewhere else.
It helped me realize
that I belonged here
at MIT, in the United States,
and graduates and families,
you do, too.
But here's the really
interesting thing
that I've learned
over the years.
You need not be from
elsewhere to immigrate.
If the immigrant
experience can be described
as leaving familiar
circumstances
and being dropped into
unknown territory,
I would argue that
every one of you
also arrived at
MIT as an immigrant
no matter where you grew
up, and as immigrants, you
are all at an advantage when it
comes to impossible missions.
Why?
You've left your comfort zone.
You've entered
uncharted territory.
You've gotten-- you've forgone
the safety of the familiar.
Yet you persist,
and you survive.
You figure out how to
accomplish your mission.
Like elite agents, immigrants
are the ultimate innovators,
equipped to navigate
obstacles to never say never.
In fact, I often
describe innovation
as intellectual immigration.
Just like those of us who
emigrate from other countries,
innovators pioneer
new environments,
seeking a better future not
just for themselves but also
for the larger world.
So whether you grew up in
Cambodia or in California
or right here in Cambridge,
you can immigrate.
You need to keep immigrating.
You need to leave your comfort
zone, to think in new ways,
to acclimate to the unfamiliar,
and embrace uncertainty.
If you imagine,
innovate, and immigrate
you are destined to a
life of uncertainty.
Being surrounded by uncertainty
can definitely be unnerving,
but it's where you need to be.
This is where the treasure lies.
It's ground zero
for breakthroughs.
Don't conflate
uncertainty as risk
or think of it as extreme risk.
Uncertainty isn't high risk.
It's unknown risk.
It is in the
essence opportunity.
Now I began with a show.
I'll end with a movie, the
most recent Mission Impossible
film released just last summer.
The film is a daunting
reminder of all
that your generation
is up against--
complicated geopolitics, climate
and technological pressures,
and AI tools that
will both simplify
and complicate our world.
But, graduates, as I
look at all of you,
I see a large team
of agents who are
entirely capable of
completing your missions.
I see agents for good,
agents for change.
MIT has prepared you to
tackle impossible missions,
to harness the future and
bend it towards the light.
My wish for you,
my fervent hope,
is that you not only choose
to accept impossible missions,
but you embrace them.
Welcome long odds,
embrace uncertainty,
and lead with imagination.
Approach the unknown with
the courage, the confidence,
and the curiosity of an
immigrant with paranoia
and optimism.
And always remember the
strength of working in teams.
Show the world why. mission
impossible teams inevitably
shorthands for MIT.
[APPLAUSE]
Graduates, set forth on
your impossible missions.
Accept them, embrace them.
The world needs you,
and it's your turn
to star in the action
adventure called your life.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
MARK P. GORENBERG: Noubar, thank
you for such an inspiring talk.
Thank you for picking
up the mission
when it was in front of you to
do so much good for society.
And by the way, thank you for
bringing the sun out today.
Here we are.
It's going to be
a fantastic day.
Lieutenant Mikala Nikole Molina
is president of the Graduate
Student Council, and she
will now give a salute
from the graduate student body.
Following this,
Miss Penny Brandt,
president of the
undergraduate Class of 2024--
there's some Penny fans here--
will offer a salute after which
President Kornbluth will deliver
her charge to the graduates.
Mikala.
[APPLAUSE]
MIKALA NIKOLE MOLINA:
Good afternoon
esteemed faculty,
proud families,
friends, and, most importantly,
my fellow graduates of MIT.
Today, as we gather to celebrate
this monumental achievement,
I am honored to represent
the graduate students
as a former president of the
Graduate Student Council.
As graduate students, we often
move unseen, deeply immersed
in our fields of study.
We tend to under celebrate
our accomplishments, perhaps
because our work often
pushes us to constantly look
at what is next and
all the questions that
remain unanswered.
I urge us all not to let this
accomplishment be another
that passes without remark.
A professor here in
mechanical engineering
who, among friends, I won't name
started many of his lectures
by stating that there are two
kinds of people in the world.
Today please allow
me to steal his line
and point out that there
are two kinds of people
in the world, those who
have not graduated from MIT
and those who have.
[APPLAUSE]
I think he would
agree that it is worth
pausing work to celebrate
joining the latter group.
It is crucial to acknowledge
that while our degrees bear
our names, the journey to this
moment has hardly been solitary.
We have been part of an
intricate web of support,
mentors who guided us,
peers who challenged us,
families who sustained
us, and friends
who have lifted our spirits.
Yet it is equally important
to recognize that the drive,
the countless hours
of study and research,
and the resilience in the face
of seemingly insurmountable
obstacles, those were all you.
Though we did not do this
alone, no one did it for us.
Holding a degree
from an institution
as esteemed as MIT
is a privilege.
You could say that it is
a great power that comes
with great responsibility.
Now more than ever, the
world is looking for leaders
and innovators it can trust.
We are equipped not just
with knowledge and skills
but with the power to influence,
innovate, and inspire change.
We are the new stewards of
technology, policy, and science,
and we are well-equipped
to tackle the problems that
will define our generation.
Let us step forward from
today with a commitment
not only to further
our own goals
but also to use our skills
and knowledge to contribute
positively to our
communities and the world.
May our actions reflect the
excellence and integrity
that MIT has instilled in us.
I urge us all to take
a moment to truly
appreciate what we
have accomplished
and to embrace the exciting
challenges that lie ahead.
We will further be
building the legacy of MIT
and honoring everyone who
helped us reach this point.
[APPLAUSE]
PENNY E. BRANT: Good
afternoon, families,
friends, guests, and,
most importantly,
the graduating Class of 2024.
[APPLAUSE]
I am beyond honored to
be here with you today,
and I'd like to take this time
to reflect on three things
that I'm most thankful for.
Firstly, I'm thankful for my
family and support community
for their unconditional
trust that
allowed me to explore
my curiosity starting
at a young age.
I know that this may be
the case for you, too,
and that without the support
of many people here today,
we would not be here.
Secondly, I'm thankful for
the difficult obstacles
that we encountered
along the way.
For me, I think,
of the challenges
that I faced when moving
to the US at age 11
and learning English.
Every one of us here have
overcome great obstacles,
and without the
strength and trust
we gained in ourselves
through the process,
we would not be here today.
And thirdly and
most importantly, I
am thankful for all of you.
When I first arrived in
Cambridge four years ago,
the city felt like
a big maze shrouded
in snow of stark
brutalist architecture
of concrete buildings
and metal pipes.
I expected my time at MIT
to be similarly solitary,
and, in fact, I even
considered transferring out
during my first year due to
the intense academic pressure.
However, thanks to all of you,
this is not the case today.
I can confidently say that
none of the achievements I've
had at MIT are by myself.
I encourage all of you to
look around at your peers
and just think of one
way that they helped you
in your MIT journey.
For me, I think of the many 4:00
AM problem sets I wouldn't have
finished if not for the
supportive friends cheering me
on.
It's the many late
night conversations
in our living communities that
guide me through difficult life
situations.
I know I would not be
graduating here today
if not for all of you who
have helped me along the way.
You all have had such a
profound and positive impact
on me, our community,
and the world.
I'd now like to invite
the class of 2024
to participate in
a long-standing MIT
tradition with me.
I'd like all of you to take out
your MIT class ring, the Brass
Rat or the Grad Rat, take
the ring off and turn it
over so that the beaver is
now facing the world instead
of facing you.
[APPLAUSE]
To me, this represents
a transition
where we take the
memories, lessons,
and spirit of the MIT
community and bring them
with us to the world.
With this turn, I
now give all of you
my unconditional trust that
you will do good for the world.
I cannot wait to see all the
amazing things you'll create
in the coming
decades of our lives.
Congratulations again
to the Class of 2024.
[APPLAUSE]
SALLY KORNBLUTH:
Penny and Mikala,
thank you both for
your reflections today
and for your leadership
in our community.
Good afternoon, everyone.
It is customary on this day of
celebration for the president
to deliver a charge to
the graduating class.
[DISTANT CHANTING]
AUDIENCE: (CHANTING) Sally,
Sally, Sally, Sally, Sally,
Sally, Sally, Sally,
Sally, Sally, Sally, Sally.
[CHEERING]
SALLY KORNBLUTH: Wow.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Really.
Thank you.
All right.
All right.
In a year when there has
been so much campus turmoil,
I may not be able to offer you
either advice or inspiration,
but I would like to
acknowledge a few things
that I've learned since I
came to MIT 17 months ago.
And I want to
start by addressing
your parents and your families.
As all of you know,
the education we
offer students is famous
for its depth and its rigor,
and we're proud of the bursting
satchel of skills and knowledge
that every MIT graduate
carries out into the world.
But the truth is that the
young people you sent us,
whom you trusted us to
educate and care for,
were remarkable before
we even met them.
You certainly know this
about them as individuals,
and you know the specific
challenges they had to overcome.
For some of you,
the young person
whose graduation you're
here to celebrate
is the first in your
family to go to college.
For some, coming here meant
leaving home many thousands
of miles away.
For some, it meant
overcoming language barriers
or personal hardships.
Some faced all the normal
rigors of the MIT curriculum
on top of family
responsibilities
and even tragic losses.
You also know their
individual achievements,
how much they learned and
grew and stretched and pushed
themselves long before
they came to MIT.
You know how delightful and
inspiring and thoughtful they
are, and I expect at least most
of know the particular thrill
of the day you realized that
they now understood things that
you just cannot understand, the
day when it would be no longer
possible for you even
theoretically to help them with
their homework.
So you know them well as
exceptional individuals,
but at MIT, we also get
to see them all together.
Taken together in
their critical mass,
they are a natural wonder as
awe inspiring as a visitation
of 17-year cicadas, as
miraculous as a total eclipse
of the sun.
It's been our
privilege to teach them
and to learn together with
them, and we share with you
the highest hopes for
what they will do next.
Now to those of you
graduating today,
with the exception of a few
master's students, nearly all
of you have been part of the MIT
community longer than I have.
You know its culture and quality
so well that they may not
stand out to you anymore.
But I've spent my whole
career in higher education,
and I have never seen a
community quite like this one,
a community founded on
wonder and wondering
why, a community whose
version of March Madness
is a thousand people staring
upward spontaneously sharing
the wondrous sight
of a solar eclipse
and actually being
able to explain it,
a community that runs on an
irrepressible combination
of curiosity and
creativity and drive,
a community in which
everyone you meet
has something important to teach
you, a community in which people
expect excellence of
themselves and take
great care of one another.
I have no doubt that
you're tired of hearing
how resilient you are
because of the pandemic,
but I mentioned that
long drawn out challenge
as another illustration of
what it means to be part
of this particular community,
a community that fought
the virus with the
tools of measurement
and questioning and
analysis and self-discipline
and was therefore able to pursue
its mission almost undeterred,
a community that
understands in a deep way
that the vaccines,
as Noubar just said,
were not some overnight miracle
but rather the final flowering
of decades of work by
thousands of people pushing
the boundaries of fundamental
science, a place that does not
shy away from complexity,
a place that embraces
the hardest problems.
You may not ever find
another community like it,
but I hope you'll
keep us in mind
as you design and invent
creative communities
of your own.
All of you graduating
here today have
been tested by the repercussions
of a relentless virus,
by societal upheaval here, and
by violent conflict and the most
terrible human suffering abroad.
And, of course, you have been
tested many, many, many times
by the faculty of MIT.
At MIT, an education
is sort of a test
of endurance, a grand P set made
of P sets, a test made of tests.
MIT is famous for
testing its students,
but you have tested us,
too, from the moment
you arrived to the present.
You have tested our systems,
our assumptions, our practices.
You've revealed places where our
understanding may fall short.
You've shown us that we
need to reflect more deeply
and be willing to assess and
reconsider long-held beliefs.
In short, the institute
you are graduating from
is thanks in part to you always
reflecting, always changing,
and I take that as
your charge to us.
So thank you.
Congratulations and best
wishes to each of you
for a wonderful future.
[APPLAUSE]
MARK P. GORENBERG:
President Kornbluth,
thank you for an incredibly
inspiring charge.
And thank you for being here.
It's now my pleasure
to introduce
Robert Wickham, the
chief marshal, who
will greet the graduates.
Mr. Wickham is a
two-time graduate
of MIT, himself
currently serving
as the president of the
MIT Alumni Association.
Robert.
[APPLAUSE]
ROBERT WICKHAM: It is my honor
to recognize the Class of 2024,
the newest alumni of MIT.
The entire alumni body,
nearly 147,000 strong,
joins me in congratulating
all of the 2024 graduates
and officially welcoming
you into our alumni family,
your infinite connection to MIT.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MARK P. GORENBERG:
Thank you, Robert.
And to all our speakers,
President Kornbluth, Dr. Afeyan,
Reverend Keith-Lucas,
Ms. Molina, Ms. Brandt,
congratulations and
best wishes to all
of the families, friends,
and, of course, the graduates
of the Class of 2024.
The one MIT
commencement ceremony
of the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology is now concluded.
At this time, would everyone
please rise and join
the corollaries Chorallaries
of MIT in singing
the school song followed
by take me back to Tech.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
CHORALLARIES:
(SINGING) Arise all ye
of MIT in loyal fellowship
The future beckons unto me
And life is full and gracious.
Rise and raise
your glass on high
Tonight shall never be
A memory that will
never die for ye of MIT
Thy sons and daughters MIT
reserve from far and wide
And gather here once more to be
Green, orange by thy side
And as we raise our glasses
high to pledge our love for thee
We join all hopes of days
gone by in praise of MIT
[CHEERING]
[INAUDIBLE]
I'm crazy after calculus
I never had enough to talk
to be dragged away so young
was horribly, awfully tough
Hurrah for technology.
Hurrah, geology [INAUDIBLE]
All technology [INAUDIBLE]
The differentiation of
the trigonometric cos
The constant by the name
the signs [INAUDIBLE]
Hurrah for technology
[INAUDIBLE] geology [INAUDIBLE]
Technology [INAUDIBLE]
Take me back to
take me back to tech
[VOCALIZING]
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 C-H-N-O-L-O-
and Y comes after G
Is the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.
Hey!
[APPLAUSE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
SPEAKER 1: Good
afternoon, everybody.
We thank you for coming
to today's ceremony.
Please exit Killian Court
through the Memorial Drive
entrance tents.
All building entrance
doors are closed.
Once again, please exit Killian
Court through the Memorial Drive
entrance tents .
All building entrance
doors are closed.
Thank you again for coming.
[MUSIC PLAYING]

---

### Congratulations, graduates!
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8sh6kox8Ao

Idioma: en

[MUSIC PLAYING]  
[CHEERING AND CLAPPING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]

---

### Mark Rober Address to MIT Class of 2023
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FGlsuTnt_U

Idioma: en

[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
MARK ROBER: All right.
Good afternoon, esteemed
faculty, distinguished guests,
relieved parents, bored
siblings, confused pets,
and, of course, the 2023
graduating class of MIT.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
It is indeed a warm welcome.
It's hot.
And you know what I love to
do on a beautiful, sunny,
95-degree summer day?
Where a big black blanket.
[LAUGHTER]
At least I'm up
here in the shade.
You'd think the best
engineering school on the planet
could design a bigger
awning for everyone.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
It's for next year.
[LAUGHTER]
Standing here
before you is weird.
I feel this pressure
to give some timeless
advice that will endure,
despite our world changing
at an unprecedented pace.
The world is so different,
even from four years ago.
For example, for
the undergrads, you
are the first graduating
class to have persevered
through a global
pandemic, just as this
is the first commencement speech
written entirely by ChatGPT.
[LAUGHTER]
The tech is still very new.
So if I make any
grammatical errors
or threaten to end all human
life, that did not come for me.
That's the robot.
[LAUGHTER]
At this point, I should probably
tell your parents who I am.
I'm Mark Rober, a former
Apple and NASA mechanical
engineer who became a YouTuber.
And, yes, I know,
to some of you,
it sounds like I
just said I quit
the NBA to work at Foot Locker.
[LAUGHTER]
Or I traded a Picasso for
an NFT of a stoned monkey.
[LAUGHTER]
But I wouldn't have
it any other way.
I sort of feel at home
here, because Buzz Aldrin
went to MIT.
And just like me, Buzz
was a NASA engineer.
Only Buzz stuck with it and
became one of the first humans
to set foot on the moon.
Whereas I quit to become
the first human to
sprinkle porch pirates with
glitter and fart spray.
[LAUGHTER]
It's on YouTube.
Your kids will
explain it at dinner.
[LAUGHTER]
But whether it's seeking karmic
justice for package thieves,
or building an obstacle course
for squirrels in my backyard,
I plan my monthly YouTube videos
really far out in advance.
In fact, I've already
decided what my June 2053
video will be.
And it's going to be a
collab with all of you.
It's going to be a retrospective
look at all the amazing things
this MIT graduating class
of 2023 has accomplished.
In fact, this right
now is the video intro.
So if you've ever wanted
to be in one of my videos,
this is your chance.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
Now, will YouTube still
be around in 30 years?
Hopefully, unless Elon buys it.
[LAUGHTER]
But here's the thing.
The degree to which you
positively impact the world
is the degree to which you'll
be featured in the video.
So in order to increase your
chances of making the cut,
I want to give you three
pieces of advice based off
my life experience.
The first bit of advice--
is to moisturize when giving
a commencement speech--
is to embrace naive optimism.
What do I mean by
naive optimism?
Actually, before
I go any further,
usually in my YouTube videos,
when I get to the juicy part,
I'm not really used to
this public speaking thing,
so the music kicks in.
So if you'll just give me a
moment and hit this button.
Trust me, this is going to
be better for both of us.
Here we go.
Right here.
Let's see.
There we go.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
All right.
That's better.
What do I mean by
naive optimism?
[LAUGHTER]
Naive optimism means
it's easier to be
optimistic about your
future when you're
sort of naive about
what lies ahead,
when you don't know
what you don't know.
As an example, think back
on the first week at MIT,
how naive you were about the
number of all-nighters and cans
of Red Bull that would be
required to be sitting where
you are right now.
In fact, you guys drank so
much caffeine I'm surprised
you're even sitting at all.
[LAUGHTER]
If you truly understood
what would be required,
that discouragement
might have prevented you
from even starting.
Sometimes it's an advantage
not to be the expert with all
the experience.
There's no reputational risk.
So it's easier to try new
things and approach them
from a fresh first
principles approach.
Naive optimism
can also help when
faced with a big life decision,
when you feel like you want
to know the results
before you decide,
but the true outcome
is simply unknowable.
Naive optimism means you have
irrational-- naive optimism
means you have the irrational
confidence of a child learning
to walk or a mom
learning to TikTok.
[LAUGHTER]
And you pick what you think
is the best path and just move
forward, knowing there's
more than one trail that
leads to the top of Mount Fuji.
It's OK that you don't
know exactly what you
want to be doing
20 years from now
or what you want to
have accomplished.
And by the way,
even if you do know,
it doesn't matter,
because you're wrong.
Anyone who tells you they
knew where they'd be,
where they're at,
20 years ago is
either lying, or delusional, or
a time-traveler, or Pat Sajak.
[LAUGHTER]
Life is like trying
to cross a big flowing
river with lots of rocks
and boulders strewn about.
If you want to cross the river,
you have to start on the bank
and look at the first several
rocks in front of you.
You can wiggle
them with your toe
and scan a few boulders out.
But at some point, you've
just got to pick one and jump,
because the river is
dynamic and always changing.
If the first rock in
this metaphor is a hobby,
let curiosity and passion
guide your initial step.
If the first rock represents
your professional career,
take curiosity and
passion into account,
but you should also
weigh what you're good at
and what the world needs,
even if the world might not
know they need it yet.
Whichever one you'd pick, the
real secret is to dominate it.
Obsessively study
it from every angle.
Master it.
Now, from your position
of more secure footing,
you can reevaluate the river.
And you'll find you've got a few
more rocks available that you
couldn't even see from
where you started,
so you could continue
on your journey.
Instead of putting
the pressure on myself
to create some master life plan,
this attitude of naive optimism
combined with
dedication, enthusiasm,
and the willingness to jump
from my current safe rock
to the next is what
I feel has led me
from college, to NASA,
to YouTube, to eventually
landing on this rock of giving
the commencement speech at MI
frickin' T.
[LAUGHTER]
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
There's no way I could have
predicted that path when
I was exactly in your
shoes 20 years ago.
So cross your river
one rock at a time,
but do it with a naive
optimism that it's all
going to work out.
Let that be your North Star.
If you actually knew how
cold the river can get,
or how long it takes to
recover from a sprained ankle
if you slipped, your knowledge
might get in the way.
So have faith in yourself.
You're about to get
a degree from MIT.
So you've obviously made some
pretty great decisions so far.
Embrace your inexperience,
and keep taking leaps forward.
And apologies to all
the civil engineering
majors who have been grumbling
sitting there saying, if he
wants to cross
this river so bad,
why doesn't he just build
a suspension bridge?
Because it's my
metaphor, all right?
Back off.
[LAUGHTER]
And now, for some real talk.
You're going to take
that leap of faith,
land on a rock, and
only then realize
it's not as stable as your
foot wiggle have predicted,
and you're going to fall
into the river sometimes.
That leads to my second
of three pieces of advice
to maximize your chance of
positively impacting the world
and making the video cut, which
is to frame your failures.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Ah.
[LAUGHTER]
You can tell, it's the juicy
part, because the music's back.
To illustrate what
I mean by this,
I asked 50,000 of
my YouTube followers
that subscribe to my channel
to play a simple computer
programming puzzle that I made.
But what they didn't
know is that I
had served up two slightly
different versions
of the puzzle.
In one, if you
failed the puzzle,
you didn't lose any of
your starting 200 points,
and you were prompted
to try again.
Whereas in the other,
if you didn't succeed,
you were also prompted
to try again, but I said
I was taking away five of
those starting 200 points.
That was the only difference.
And even though they were
no value in the real world,
no one will ever see
these completely fake
meaningless internet
points, those
who didn't lose those
points attempted
to solve the puzzle
two and 1/2 times more
and saw success 16%
more of the time.
And because 50,000
people took the test,
those results are super
statistically significant.
Basically, those
who didn't frame
losing in a negative light
stuck with it for longer,
saw more success,
and learned more.
And I think a great example
of this in real life
is video games.
When Super Mario
Brothers first came out,
my friends and I became obsessed
with making it to the castle
and rescuing Princess
Peach from the evil Bowser.
Water break.
We'd get to school
and ask each other,
dude, what level
did you make it to?
Did you pass the game?
We never asked each
other for details
on all the different
ways we might have died.
This was before Call of Duty.
When it comes to video games
like, this no one ever picks up
the controller for
the first time,
falls in the pit right away,
and thinks, I'm so ashamed.
That was such a failure.
I'm never doing this again.
How am I going to
break it to Luigi?
I murdered his brother.
[LAUGHTER]
What really happens is you
think, OK, I got to remember,
there's a pit there.
Next time, I'm going to come
at it with a bit more speed.
The focus and obsession is about
beating the game, not how dumb
you might look if you get
hit by a sliding green shell.
And as a direct result
of that attitude,
of learning from but not
being focused on the failures,
we got really good
and learned a ton
in a very short amount of time.
And in my personal
and work life,
I've dealt with my share
of sliding green shells.
I still feel like every video
we make each month there's
a moment where it seems
everything that can go wrong
has gone wrong.
And those failures
can be gut-wrenching.
And they can sting real bad.
But they sting like missing
that one key Mario long-jump
right at the end of level 8-1.
And then, right after
that, really quickly it
turns in, OK, what did
we just learn from that?
What should we try
differently for next time?
And this concept
of life imitation
is more than just have
a positive attitude
or never give up.
Because those imply you have to
fight against your true desire
to quit.
And I feel like when you frame
a challenge or a learning
process in this way, you
actually want to do it.
It feels natural to ignore
the failure and try again.
In the same way a
toddler will want
to keep trying to stand
up, or in the same way
you want to keep playing
Super Mario Brothers,
or in the same way
half the people who
attempted my coding puzzle had
a desire to stick with it two
and 1/2 times longer.
The framing of their
failures made it
so they wanted to keep
trying and learning.
And that's exactly why the
most meaningful high-fives
of my adolescence
were when I said,
dude, I finally beat
Bowser last night.
It probably goes without saying,
but girls didn't talk to me
till I was much older.
[LAUGHTER]
And in case you're like,
yeah, but my real life
would just be so much better
if my top five challenges
disappear.
Would it?
I'd like to point out that if
Super Mario Brothers was just
jumping over one pit, and then
you rescued Princess Peach,
no one would play it.
Where's the risk and the reward?
Where's the challenge?
There's no ultimate
feeling of satisfaction.
The degree you're getting
today means so much to you
precisely because of all
the struggle and setbacks
that you've had to endure.
If you want to cross
the river of life,
you're going to get wet.
You're going to
have to backtrack.
And that's not a bug,
that's a feature.
Frame those failures and
slips like a video game.
And not only will you learn
more and do it faster,
but it will make all
the successful jumps
along the way that much sweeter.
All right, now, I've
got some good news,
which is that you're not
crossing the river alone.
For my third and
final bit of advice
is to foster your relationships.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Nice.
A sad truth about getting older
is life gets busier and busier.
And it gets harder and harder
to make really close friends
like you did here at school.
And this isn't great,
because we evolved
to be social
cooperative creatures.
50,000 years ago, conditions
were much harsher.
So those who were more
inclined to cooperate
with their fellow
humans were also
much more likely
to succeed and pass
on those cooperation genes.
So we've inherited
these brains designed
for social interaction.
And we are hardwired to
cooperate with other people.
And, look, I don't blame you if
you want to cast aside advice
from a guy who makes a living
trying to outwit squirrels.
But I wouldn't
recommend doing that
to six million years of
evolutionary programming.
Because in today's society,
it's really convenient
just to isolate yourself.
You can attend the board
meeting from your kitchen table.
You can order food
in the shower.
You can bank on the toilet.
You can even look
for a new apartment
without leaving your apartment.
It's easier to stay
anonymous in our big cities
versus the small
tribes of our ancestors
where everyone knew each other.
Which means we've got to
actively work at fostering
meaningful relationships.
And because I know
this can be harder
for some more than
others, here's
a life fact I've found
that really helps.
Confirmation bias is when your
brain ignores evidence that
doesn't support your beliefs.
And then it cherry-picks
the evidence that does.
And, generally, when
people hear this term,
they think it's a broken
unscientific way for our brains
to approach the world.
And this is true.
But you could judo-flip
it to your advantage.
The trick is to positively
apply confirmation bias
to your relationships.
If you assume good intentions
on the part of your friends
and family, and
you tell yourself
you're lucky to have
them, your brain
will naturally work to find
evidence to support that.
That's just how our brains work.
If you tell yourself that
your fellow humans are
inherently good, your brain will
find examples of it everywhere.
And that will
reinforce your outlook.
The opposite,
unfortunately, is also true.
Basically, whether you think
the world and everyone in it
is out to hurt you or
help you, you're right.
Studies have shown that the
best predictor of divorce
is if the couple assumes bad
intentions in their partner's
actions, or if you marry Kanye.
[LAUGHTER]
But if you get it in your head
that your partner is selfish,
or inconsiderate, or
willfully refusing to take out
the garbage, that creates
a negative feedback loop
of confirmation bias, seeking
to find further evidence
that your spouse is a jerk,
even when good faith efforts are
being made.
And this hack works not just for
spouses, friends, and family,
but even total strangers
who might infuriate you.
And, look, I agree with
you, they're wrong.
But don't forget, as
George Carlin pointed out,
anyone who's driving slower
than you is an idiot,
and anyone driving faster
than you is a maniac.
Fostering your
relationship closes out
my list of three bits of advice,
because that may be where
your impact is the greatest.
Due to a challenging
upbringing, my mom
barely graduated high school.
But she took being
a mom and instilling
values in her children
really seriously.
As such, she's the single
biggest influence on my life
by far.
She passed away
over a decade ago
from ALS, six months before I
ever released my first YouTube
video.
But I love the idea that the
ripples from her influence
are still being felt as
strongly as they ever
have through the work
that I try and do today.
If there's anything I've
said today has resonated
with you in my mind, it's a
direct result of her commitment
to this third piece of advice.
So leverage concrete
means to confirmation bias
to enhance your
relationships as you
cooperate to cross the river.
Train your brain to
assume good intentions.
And try to remember if someone
cuts you off on the freeway,
maybe they're not
out to get you.
Maybe they just have diarrhea.
[LAUGHTER]
[MUSIC - RICHARD STRAUSS, "ALSO
 SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA"]
Now, for piece of
advice number four,
engage in occasional
playful anarchy.
But, Mark, you told us
were only going to give us
three pieces of advice.
Boom!
Here's a fourth,
because, why not?
I am playing music
in a commencement
speech because why not?
Is not ending your
speech with pump up music
just objectively better?
Or like how these
graduation robes and hats
are just objectively silly?
Why shouldn't I take my
own fourth piece of advice
right now and engage in
some playful anarchy?
Anybody can toss
their hat in the air.
We see it at every graduation.
But few have dared to
make it actually fly.
I bet Buzz Aldrin
never tried this.
You know what?
Time out.
This is actually a
great opportunity
to review everything
we just talked about.
[LAUGHTER]
To my first point, I will
embrace my naive optimism
that my hat will
actually get airborne.
But if not, to my
second point, if it goes
haywire, and I
accidentally blow up E-53,
I can reframe the
failure as an opportunity
to renovate a very old
and sketchy building.
[LAUGHTER]
Maybe this time we'll
even add a few windows.
[LAUGHTER]
And then, to my third point,
when I get sued by the faculty,
I will foster the relationship
I have with my defense lawyers.
[LAUGHTER]
Because settling
with MIT over damages
will bring us all
closer together.
[LAUGHTER]
[CHEERING]
And so, now, after
turning on my hat--
[MUSIC - RICHARD STRAUSS, "ALSO
 SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA"]
--I've done my part and
filmed a banger of an intro
to our upcoming collab
30 years from now.
Which means all
that's left to do
is your part, to
go out and change
the world for the better.
Congratulations,
MIT class of 2023.
You totally got this.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
Thank you.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]

---

### 2023 MIT Undergraduate Commencement Live Webcast
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0HX4lomP5E

Idioma: en

[MUSIC PLAYING]
SPEAKER: Good morning.
Please, rise, and welcome
the academic procession.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
And now, please, welcome
the guests of honor,
the graduates of 2023.
[CHEERING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[APPLAUSE]
Good morning, everyone.
Please, be seated, and welcome
MIT President Sally Kornbluth.
[CHEERING]
SALLY KORNBLUTH: Good morning,
everyone, and welcome.
So I'm experiencing a
little bit of deja vu.
You all look kind
of familiar now.
In fact, I'm pretty sure I
saw you right there yesterday
but looking maybe a
little more rested.
This morning, we won't have
quite as much playful anarchy,
but we'll have something
even better, diplomas.
[CHEERING]
So I've been told these
diplomas are so heavy,
so weighted with your
amazing accomplishment,
that there's a special way
you need to receive them,
with both hands.
So we need to work
together on that.
I'm absolutely thrilled
to be here with all of you
and all of your
family and friends,
and from where I'm standing,
they look excited, proud,
and maybe just a
little bit relieved.
They can't wait to see you
transform from MIT students
to MIT graduates.
So let's get started.
We'll begin with remarks from
Chancellor Melissa Nobles
[APPLAUSE]
MELISSA NOBLES: Thank
you, President Kornbluth,
and good morning, everyone.
Good morning to
the class of 2023.
I know this isn't any
regular good morning.
Am I right about that?
[CHEERING]
That's what I thought.
No.
This is a very good
morning, the kind of morning
that maybe seemed like
it would never get here,
but at long last, it is upon us.
This is more than just your
morning, though, class of 2023.
This is your moment.
Take a second to look around
historic Killian Court.
Soak in this
tremendous occasion,
so that in 10, 20,
30 years from now,
you'll be able to
recall the precision,
the extraordinary elation,
the incredible sense
of accomplishment,
and the immense relief
you feel right now.
Every single one of
you earned this moment,
and now all that's
left to do is simple--
take it all in.
Now, the same was also
true for the people
whose love and encouragement,
support and sacrifice,
and unwavering belief in
your promise and potential
helped to propel
you all this way.
Of course, I'm referring to
your family and loved ones,
to the class of '23 parents,
siblings, grandparents,
extended family members,
and dear friends
who are here in this court
or are tuning in online
from around the world.
Please, accept my
heartfelt thanks.
You have the entire MIT
community's deepest respect
and admiration for getting
our graduates to this moment,
and we hope that you will also
soak this in and hold on tight
to your pride and exhilaration,
long after today's ceremony
concludes.
But before the ceremony
can actually conclude,
we need to hand
over those diplomas,
as President Kornbluth said.
So I promised that I would
try to keep this TLDR,
so that we can do just that.
Yeah.
I know it's hot, folks.
As I was reflecting on
what insights and advice
I could offer you
in this moment,
I turn to three universal
dimensions of your MIT
journeys, the Academic
Success you achieved,
the personal intellectual
growth you experienced,
and the strength of the
communities and connections you
built with one another.
First, in terms of
academics, we all
know that the path to
achieving an MIT degree
is steep, demanding, and filled
with late nights in [? Stud ?]
Five or Hayden and
Barca Libraries,
and the class of '23's path was
made all the more challenging
due to the pandemic upheaval and
this uncertainty that intruded
on much of your time here.
But as evidenced by your cap
and gowns here today, all of you
made it through.
Didn't you?
[CHEERING]
And now that you have, isn't
the view from the top awesome?
Isn't it reassuring to know
that when you thought, maybe you
couldn't keep going,
you persevered,
turning to others for
help when you needed it,
and approaching your academic
trek with patience, resilience,
and a mindset of
continuous growth?
Achieving incredible things
in life is rarely easy.
There's never a clear
path to the top,
but what makes it all worth
it is learning that you often
are stronger than you imagined.
And that if you ask
for help, you'll
be amazed by the people
who will be there to help
keep you steady and on course.
My second observation relates
to your personal intellectual
growth.
I think it's a safe bet to
say that, during your time
here, you took advantage
of the many opportunities
that MIT offers to create,
to challenge, to discover--
to discover your way into
the kind of life lessons
that give you a deeper
understanding of yourself
and the world around you.
And I think it's
also safe to assume
that many of these lessons took
place outside of the classroom.
You uncovered new passions
and embraced new experiences
through the research
you conducted,
the internships you
completed, the clubs you led,
the sports you played, the
states and countries you
traveled to, and
the time you spent
just hanging out with
friends in the Banana Lounge.
That's part of the
magic of this place
that I'm certain will look
back on with fondness.
I hope finding time to
pursue new interests
and set out for new adventures
outside of the rhythms
and obligations
of day-to-day work
remains priorities for
you, throughout your lives.
Finally, what was likely
the most significant
memorable aspect of your
time on campus, of course,
were the people.
Think all the way
back to August, 2019,
when you, the class
of 2023, were together
for the first time in
Kresky, for orientation.
Maybe, you didn't know how
to navigate the tunnels yet.
You couldn't have envisioned
what Senior Sunset or Senior
Bowl would be like,
and you probably
didn't know that you had
truly found paradise.
But you did know that you were
about to find your community.
I would venture a guess to
say that, in the years since,
the human connections
you created,
whether in your residence
halls or in your fraternities,
sororities, and independent
living groups, in your student
organizations or teams,
[? Europe's ?] or F-pops,
departments or study
groups, all of those things
shaped your MIT
experience the most.
No matter what, you showed
up for one another here,
and that doesn't have to
change, as each of you
make your way out
into the world.
The lifelong friends
you found on this campus
are the people I
know will continue
to be sources of encouragement,
strength, and inspiration.
I urge you to take that
sense of belonging with you,
wherever you go next.
Never forget how much
purposeful connection
can impact and sustain you.
And as you develop new
friendships and communities,
please, know that you
always have the ones
you created here to return to.
So with these lessons
and experiences in hand
and also in your
minds and hearts,
we send you out into the world.
And as your chancellor,
I'm certain that you can
and that you will bring all
of your passion and intellect
to discovering, advancing
knowledge, creating,
advocating, and leading,
while also cultivating
personal and professional
lives that are rich in meaning,
connection, and humanity.
So here's my last question.
How can I be so sure?
Because I know that what
you have accomplished
over the past four
years is tremendous,
and it's those
accomplishments, combined
with the magnificent promise
your young futures hold,
that make this even more--
that makes this so much more
than just a regular morning.
So for all you have
achieved, contributed,
and experience at
MIT and for all
that you aspire to be
in your next chapters,
we honor and congratulate you,
and we wish you all the best
on the road ahead.
Thank you, and
congratulations, class of 2023.
[CHEERING]
ANNA SUN: Good
morning, everyone.
I'm Anna Sun, president of
the senior class of 2023,
and it's my privilege to
introduce our classmate, Shelly
Choi, who will honor us with
a solo violin performance.
Shelly came to MIT from
Seoul, South Korea,
and is graduating with a double
major in Computer science
and engineering and
Business analytics.
She started playing
violin at age six,
and since then, has won numerous
international competitions.
At MIT, Shelly is part of the
Emerson Harris Program, which
funds students of outstanding
achievement in music,
in addition to being a
member of the MIT Chamber
of Music Society, writing for
the tech MIT student newspaper,
serving on the MIT Sloan
Undergraduate Advisory Board,
and participating
in honor societies,
such as Tau Beta Pi
and Etta Kapa Nu.
Today, Shelly will perform
"Chignon," by French composer
Maurice Ravel.
Shelly has chosen this piece
for the technical challenges
it presents to the violinist,
which evoke those we have faced
during our time at MIT.
The music comes to a
brilliantly-colored, triumphant
finale, a perfect capstone
for our graduation day.
Please, welcome Shelly Choi.
[CHEERING]
[MAURICE RAVEL - "CHIGNON"]
[CHEERING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
SPEAKER: On the
recommendation of the faculty
and pursuant to the
vote of the corporation,
diplomas for the achievement
of Bachelor of Science
will now be presented.
The first graduates
to be recognized
are the class marshals
and senior soloists
who are here on stage.
SPEAKER: Recognition will now
be given to the graduates who
are seated on stage,
Anna Sun, president,
class of 2023 is awarded the
degree of Bachelor of Science
in Computer science
and Engineering.
[APPLAUSE]
Sophie Ravikumar, vice
president of the Undergraduate
Association, is awarded the
degree of Bachelor of Science
in Computation and cognition.
[CHEERING]
Shelly Choi the senior
soloist who performed today
is awarded the degree
of Bachelor of Science
in Computer science and
engineering and Business
analytics.
[APPLAUSE]
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
Architecture, Natasha K. Hart.
[APPLAUSE]
SPEAKER: 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 Engineering,
as recommended by the Department
of Civil and Environmental
Engineering.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science
in Art and design.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science in Planning.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science
in Electrical science
and engineering
offered in conjunction
with the Schawarzman
College of Computing.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science in
Urban science and planning
with computer science
offered in conjunction
with the Schawarzman
College of Computing.
[READING NAMES]
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.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science in
Mathematical economics.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science in History.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science in Music.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of science in Writing.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science
in Humanities.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science in
Electrical engineering
and computer science
offered in conjunction
with the Schawarzman
College of Computing.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science in
Humanities and engineering.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science and
Humanities and science.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science in
Comparative media studies.
[READING NAMES]
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.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science
in Business analytics.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science in Finance.
[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.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science in
Chemistry and biology.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science in Biology.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science in Physics.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science in Computer
science and engineering,
offered in conjunction with
the Schawarzman College
of Computing.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science in Brain
and cognitive sciences.
[READING NAMES]
SPEAKER: Bachelor of Science
in Computation and cognition,
offered in conjunction
with the Schawarzman
College of Computing.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science
and Earth, atmospheric,
and planetary sciences.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science
and Mathematics.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science
in Mathematics
with computer science.
[READING NAMES]
From the School of Engineering,
Bachelor of Science
in Mechanical engineering.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science
in Engineering,
as recommended by the Department
of Mechanical Engineering.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science in
Artificial intelligence
and decision making,
offered in conjunction
with the Schawarzman
College of Computing.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science in Computer
science and molecular biology,
offered in conjunction with
the Schawarzman College
of Computing.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science and
Computer science, economics,
and data science,
offered in conjunction
with the Schawarzman
College of Computing.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science in
Chemical engineering.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science in Chemical
biological engineering.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science in Materials
science and engineering.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science
in Engineering,
as recommended by the Department
of Chemical Engineering.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science,
as recommended
by the Department of Materials
Science and Engineering.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science in
Aerospace engineering.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science
in Engineering,
as recommended by the
Department of Aeronautics
and Astronautics.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science in Nuclear
science and engineering.
[READING NAMES]
Bachelor of Science
in Engineering,
as recommended by the
Department of Nuclear Science
and Engineering.
[READING NAMES]
[CHEERING]
SPEAKER: [INAUDIBLE] of
bachelor's degrees to the 2023
graduates of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology
is now concluded.
Congratulations, everyone.
[CHEERING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]

---

### MIT President Sally Kornbluth Charge to the Class of 2023
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re2LlLezzR8

Idioma: en

SALLY KORNBLUTH: So Anna and AJ,
thank you both for your remarks
and for your leadership.
There's an old piece of
wisdom from show business,
never follow an act
with kids or animals.
Or as we've just seen
with Mark Rober or Drone,
nobody told me I could have
music in the background.
And since Anna and AJ
rose to the challenge,
I will give it my
best shot as well.
Technically, as
president, it's my role
to deliver the charge
to the graduates.
And I will do that in a moment.
But I want to begin by offering
our new graduates a few words
of admiration and thanks.
There are quite a few brass rats
out in the world, let's say,
more than 145,000.
And every one of them
represents the remarkable feat
of self-discipline
and perseverance
it takes to earn an MIT degree.
But the brass rats
that were just
turned by today's graduates will
always have a special luster
because all of you graduating
today did more than tame
your chosen discipline.
You also completed an
involuntary double major
in applied pandemic studies.
You learned, you created,
you explored in ways
that no one at MIT has
ever done all while caring
for your friends, your
families, and yourselves
through the long struggle that
none of us were prepared for.
Now, I'm sure, sure
we're glad to have
that years long exam behind us.
But I want to acknowledge
on behalf of the faculty
that we honor all
that you achieved just
like an Olympic
athlete who wants
to get that perfect 10
having taken on this added
degree of difficulty.
And what I learned
from colleagues here
is that you did more
than hold things together
for the people close to you.
In an important sense, you
also held together at MIT.
Somehow across
thousands of miles
and endless, endless
hours of Zoom,
you kept the cultures,
the traditions,
and the values of MIT
alive and thriving
as if it were that precious
jar of sourdough starter passed
on to the next generation.
Because of you, the
institute that I've inherited
is kinder, wiser,
nimbler, and more playful.
You made sure that the MIT
spirit, the spirit that
drew you here, would endure.
And you found ways to
make it even better.
And for that, I cannot
thank you enough.
So since I'm a
bit of a newcomer,
I can probably deliver
the unwelcome news
that given those brass
rats, the world will
expect a great deal from you.
I don't even have one,
yet from the minute
I accepted this new
position, people
have been saying things to
me like so you folks from MIT
are going to save us
on climate, right?
Right?
And with such stellar students,
and faculty, and graduates,
if anyone can do it, we can,
and we sure are going to try.
Of course, the world has
always expected a lot
from MIT graduates.
And I think our
friends out there
in the red jackets
would agree with that.
As ever, people will
expect you to be
analytical, and practical,
and fearless, and brilliant.
And now, also,
whatever your field
and no matter how
you did [INAUDIBLE],,
people will expect you
to understand everything
from nuclear fusion,
to cryptocurrency,
to synthetic biology, to
artificial intelligence,
and to be able to explain them
like an expert, and by the way,
to guard us from all
the attendant dangers.
To be clear, I hope
and I believe that you
can do all that and more.
But while the world, and
possibly, your parents
may be expecting big
things from you right away,
I want to give you permission
for a while to not know,
and to try different paths,
and to change your mind,
especially in this world
with new industries,
new disciplines new jobs
emerging on every frontier.
Mark Rober just described to you
crossing the river one wobbly
stone at a time.
And for me, and
probably for many
in the audience who are also
maybe a couple of decades
past graduation, hearing Mark
talk about changing course
mid-stream brought
a sudden memory
of being metaphorically soaking
wet like that time I lobbied
really, really hard
to get a vice provost
job with big new administrative
duties, which I thought
would be a crucial
step in my career.
And the university made
a big announcement,
and then only then
did I realized
that I was really wrong for the
job and it was wrong for me.
And then I had to tell
the president that I
couldn't take it after all.
And that was a big
splash, but not
the kind you all want to make.
--or even the time I had
to explain to my parents
that although I had just
earned my bachelor's
degree in political science
the way we'd always discussed,
now I'd received a
scholarship to go
earn a whole new bachelor's
degree in biology.
They were not unsupportive,
but they were really
deeply puzzled.
There had never been an
academic in my family.
Now, with both of these
midstream course corrections,
I definitely got a little wet.
It was kind of
awkward at the time,
but the world did
not come to an end.
And if I hadn't changed my mind
and taken an alternative route,
I probably would not have found
my way to this audience today.
So now it's time for me
to deliver your charge.
So I always think the
word, charge sounds
like some kind of
grand assignment,
which sounds suspiciously like
some farewell problem set.
That sounds like a
good idea, right?
OK, I didn't think so either.
So I want to give
you a different kind
of charge, a charge as
in a source of energy.
We've all seen that
little warning box
in the corner of the screen.
Your laptop will sleep
soon if it is not
plugged into a power source.
And I'm sure that
every student here
has felt that same sensation
deep down and personally
and often without the
option to sleep soon.
What's more, even without an MIT
curriculum to test our limits,
we all live surrounded
by devices, and media,
and societal forces that
tend to drain our batteries
and dissipate our energy
and our attention, which
means that for each
one of us, it has never
been more important to
cultivate our personal sources
of renewable energy.
You can name your own
sources, I'm sure.
But in my life, beyond
the company of the people
I love and those
many hours spent
watching British mysteries
about small rural towns that
have inexplicably
high crime rates,
I found two infinitely renewable
sources of energy, curiosity
and a sense of larger purpose.
Frankly, the prominence of
these two factors in my life
and the life of this
community are a key part
of what drew me to MIT.
This place runs on
curiosity and Dunkin'.
and it never runs dry.
There's a moment I
will never forget
from graduate school that
tells the exact same story.
Some of you may have
heard it because I've
told it in other places.
But I believe it
Bears repeating.
So we had this arrangement
in graduate school
where each one of
us had a desk that
was face to face with
another student's desk,
but separated by
a high partition.
You could talk.
You could hear across it,
but you couldn't actually
see the student on the other
side of that partition.
And one day, I'm
sitting at my desk,
and I heard a loud
shout and an expletive,
which I will not repeat,
but in a good way,
if you know what
I mean, which I'm
sure was accompanied
by a fist pump,
though, I couldn't see it.
Sitting at his computer,
my fellow graduate student
had been staring
at the DNA sequence
of the new cancer-causing
gene that he had discovered.
And he suddenly realized
that that missing piece
of DNA sequence,
which he thought
was an artifact or an error
was actually an indication
that he found a whole new
class of cancer causing genes.
It opened the way not
only to his PhD thesis,
but to his entire career.
He still works on and is
considered a world expert
in that class of genes.
And I am quite sure
he would tell you
that it was one of the most
exciting moments of his life.
And the curiosity
that has led him there
has renewed itself over and
over, powering his own work
and inspiring those
around him ever since.
So curiosity is
endlessly electrifying.
And best of all,
you can find a way
to harness your curiosity to a
purpose larger than yourself.
One of the greatest joys
in life is the feeling
of using your
skills to the limit
to do something
important for others,
your community, your discipline,
your institution, your country,
or even the whole human
family and our fragile planet.
If you can do that, you will
find a free wireless charge
wherever you go.
So I wish you all the warmest
congratulations on all
that you've achieved.
And I cannot wait to see
where your curiosity and sense
of purpose lead you next.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
SPEAKER: Thank you for those
inspiring words, President
Kornbluth.

---

### 2023 OneMIT Commencement Live Webcast
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdsDZCFAx0s

Idioma: en

INTERVIEWER 1: This
is the second year
we have done
commencement this way
and we are really
thrilled with how
this new process is working.
It provides intimate and lovely
settings for the graduates
to receive their diplomas.
The big one will be
tomorrow morning,
where the undergraduates
all received their diplomas.
But today, we gather for the
formal academic processional.
We have the members of the
corporation, the president,
faculty, and of course, our
honored guests and speakers.
There will be music, the
singing of the school
song, certain traditions such
as turning the Brass Rat.
And as you look at the crowd
right now, you're seeing--
well, right now you're
seeing the stage,
and that features the Seal
of MIT on the main podium.
That seal was created by
the founder and the earliest
members of MIT'S
corporation back in 1864.
INTERVIEWER 2: Debbie, it
wouldn't be an MIT commencement
without some numbers.
We will have 1,146
undergraduates commencing
over the next couple of days.
The formal degree ceremony
will be tomorrow morning.
And over the three days of
yesterday, today, and tomorrow,
2,613 masters, PhDs,
and Doctor of Science
degrees awarded throughout
the five schools
and the Schwarzman
college of computing.
INTERVIEWER 1: Here
in Killian Court,
there are seats for about 13,000
people and they'll be filled.
I know the organizers
of today's events
are eagerly urging the graduates
to take their seats now
and we are hopeful that the
ceremony will start on time.
INTERVIEWER 2: This is an
interesting commencement.
When most of these
students entered,
it was the middle
of the pandemic.
And for many of them,
it was remote learning
for a year or two.
And now they're
all here on campus,
and Kendall Square has
really transformed.
INTERVIEWER 1: It certainly has.
And one of the
biggest changes has
been the relocation
of the MIT Museum
to a brand new building
there in Kendall Square right
next to the T stop, as
well as the relocation
of the admissions office and the
creation of a brand new Welcome
Center.
For the first time
in 100 plus years,
MIT has a proper
gateway for its guests.
INTERVIEWER 2: We left MIT at
the beginning of the pandemic,
what, in March of
2020, and there
were five holes in
the ground where
there used to be parking lots.
And we came back a
couple of years later,
and five brand new
towers have sprouted.
And they're populated by
companies, Boeing and Apple
and MIT are in one
of the-- or rather,
IBM are in one of the buildings.
We have graduate student
housing, we have,
as you mentioned, the museum
and many other MIT functions.
We have general community
housing, we have restaurants.
It's really blossomed.
It's quite beautiful.
INTERVIEWER 1: In
fact, there's been
quite a bit of construction.
INTERVIEWER 2: We're going
to take just a quick break
for an announcement now.
Good afternoon.
As we await the alumni
parade and the procession,
please welcome the MIT
police honor guard.
["AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL"
 PLAYING]
INTERVIEWER 1: So the
MIT police honor guard
was created in 2002, so
this is their 21st year
of participating, not
only in commencement,
but really all official
MIT ceremonies.
Most recently they
were at the head
of the procession
for the inauguration
of our 18th president,
Sally Kornbluth.
INTERVIEWER 2: And there's
a lot of administration
and bureaucracy that goes into
creating this program, which
when you watch it from the
outside, looks so smooth.
But the detail
that goes into it,
we have the faculty
gathering in one place,
lining up by
department, by school.
We have the corporation, the
Board of Trustees of MIT,
lining up in another place.
We have the students lining up.
And the guests are coming
in through the front door,
if you will, of Memorial drive,
right on the banks of the River
Charles.
INTERVIEWER 1: As you watch the
procession of the honor guard,
you're getting a glimpse at
the students in their caps
and gowns.
If they're wearing
a black gown, they
are undergraduates receiving
a bachelor's degree today.
But particularly distinctive
are the gray and cardinal gowns
for the doctoral
degree recipients.
INTERVIEWER 2: And then we're
going to see a sea of red
coming up in just a
couple of minutes.
They are the guests of honor--
the 50th reunion class.
INTERVIEWER 1: Indeed.
And I'm excited also
to share with you
a little bit of information
about the class of 1973.
Smaller than today's class--
excuse me, larger.
They were 2,300 degrees
awarded in 1970--
300 degrees awarded in 1973.
About 1,038 bachelor's degrees.
One of the most distinguished
degree recipients that day
was Shirley Ann Jackson, who was
a member of the class of 1969.
Dr. Jackson received her PhD,
the first woman and Black woman
to receive her PhD
in physics at MIT,
and she has become one
of the Institute's most
notable alumni.
INTERVIEWER 2: And
speaking of which, it's
time to welcome them.
Please welcome the
MIT class of 1973,
celebrating their 50th reunion.
You hear the applause
out in the courtyard.
INTERVIEWER 1: They are
wearing cardinal jackets.
That was a tradition
started back
in the 1950s when that
50th reunion class in 1957
was back celebrating,
and they wanted a way
to distinguish themselves.
And you can, on
the screen, begin
to see that they're
marching in, not
only with those cardinal jackets
festooned with special patches,
but also custom hats
that have become
the moniker of that
particular class.
INTERVIEWER 2: This is coming
around full circle for me.
I had a friend when I entered
as a freshman who had just
graduated from this class
and was working with me
as a volunteer at the MIT
student radio station,
then WTBS.
We have kept in touch
for all of these years
and it would be a thrill
to see him here along
with all of his classmates.
And they look so happy, just
beaming to come into the court.
INTERVIEWER 1: So just
to put it in perspective,
this class, when they
arrived for their first year,
the tuition for the
full year was $2,150.
INTERVIEWER 2: That's a deal.
INTERVIEWER 1: There
was an enormous protest.
At that time, the
signs went up and said
2150 is just too damn much.
Today, if you're curious,
that's worth about $17,800.
INTERVIEWER 2: But
today's tuition is?
INTERVIEWER 1: It is $59,750.
So it's really grown
considerably over the years.
INTERVIEWER 2: And
that does not include
room and board and books
and personal expenses, which
will add a few more dollars.
But I guess the good
news is that, of course,
MIT has always been
need blind admission.
And if you are accepted,
MIT will find a way for you
to afford to be here.
INTERVIEWER 1: In
fact, that's so true.
And a majority of
our students today
receive need-based
scholarships as well as
additional opportunities
to support their time here.
We are grateful for the
generosity of alumni
and many other donors who have
provided scholarship funds
and support the idea of bringing
the best and the brightest
in the world here to
campus in Cambridge.
INTERVIEWER 2: It's interesting.
As I was walking towards
the room we're in right now,
I obviously passed a lot of
graduates and other students,
and none of them are
talking about social things
or political things.
They're still talking about
science and engineering
as they're walking down the
hallway on commencement day.
INTERVIEWER 1: Yes.
I have-- in the
last few weeks when
all of the capstone projects
are being presented,
it is a remarkable
time to be on campus.
You find robots and art works
and musical performances
just by the dozens.
And it is as vibrant a time--
and probably for the
students, as stressful a time
as they will ever
experience in their lives.
INTERVIEWER 2: But
what opportunities
these graduates
will have to work,
whether it be an industry or
academia or go into government
or whatever their
chosen field may be.
In my office, I work closely
with large corporations that
invest in research
at MIT, and there
is an amazing demand
across all industries,
especially the life sciences
is particularly in demand
right now.
INTERVIEWER 1: That's one of the
big changes that has occurred
over the last quarter century.
MITs largest
department continues
to be electrical engineering
and computer science,
and they dominate the
landscape in one sense.
But all of a sudden,
the pie, in large,
beginning in the mid
2000s-- and perhaps
it was no accident
that Susan Hockfield,
when she became president,
was our first life scientist.
And now Sally Kornbluth
is also a life scientist.
INTERVIEWER 2:
And even if you're
still interested in electrical
engineering but as well
in the life sciences,
there's the opportunity
through our incredible
multidisciplinary system
here at MIT, to
combine those interests
and have a major that combines
both electrical engineering
and life sciences.
And through the Schwarzman
college of Computing,
you can practically create
your own major in computing
and fill in the blank.
INTERVIEWER 1: In
fact, that's one
of the big developments on
campus, that new college,
the Schwarzman college
was inaugurated
just as this class of 2023
was receiving their admissions
letters.
INTERVIEWER 2: We heard
from Dan Huttenlocher, who
is the Dean of the College
at the graduate ceremony
yesterday, and they are looking
forward to their new building.
It's right across the
street from the data center.
It's finishing up
its construction.
It is going to house the
College of Computing,
where almost all the faculty
have a joint appointment
in another academic department.
So they'll have some
offices there obviously,
but a lot of laboratories
and makerspace as well.
INTERVIEWER 1: I don't know if
there will be any alumni back
here on campus this weekend who
will remember the spot where
that new college
building is going up.
It was originally the
site of the Van der Graaff
generators brought up from
Round Hill, and then in the 50s,
transferred over to
the Museum of Science,
where you can still go today
to see them do demonstrations
on the hour and really get
a feel for how dramatic
those gigantic power
generators were in their day.
That was, of course,
replaced by the cyclotron,
which was the beginning of
nuclear engineering at MIT.
INTERVIEWER 2: And
right across the street
from the fabled
building 20, which
was so important
during World War II,
in developing radar
and other technologies.
INTERVIEWER 1: They called
it the Plywood Palace.
It was about 240,000
square feet of space,
but it actually was
only about a quarter
of the space that was occupied
on the Institute, which
took over multiple
buildings that
were blocked off from students.
MIT developed 150
different radar systems
and invented the
communication system of LORAN
during this time period.
And it had a
transformative effect
on education and, of course,
the Institute's relationship
with the federal government.
It really pioneered a
hothouse environment
of both theory and practice,
reinventing William Barton
Rogers motto mind in hand.
INTERVIEWER 2: It's
just incredible,
the kinds of inventions
that have come out
of MIT over the years--
too many to mention.
But here's a plug.
If you go to the
MIT Museum, you will
learn a lot about that
and a whole lot more.
INTERVIEWER 1: Indeed.
We've really relish
the opportunity
to become a new and bolder
stage for the Institute
and the public
engagement with science.
We feel that there's never
been a more important time
in history to communicate
the ideas of the Institute
and the world at large,
and how important
science and technology
will be to solving
some of the greatest challenges
humanity has ever faced.
INTERVIEWER 2: So it's back
when I was an undergraduate
and graduated from
MIT, we did not
have a commencement speaker.
As I recall, the first
commencement speaker was 1982.
Is that correct?
INTERVIEWER 1: That is correct.
And prior to that,
it was in fact always
the president who gave
a speech, most notably,
William Barton Rodgers
when he gave a speech
actually died, mid-speech,
leading to a joke
by a subsequent speaker when
Vice President Al Gore was here
in the mid 1990s.
He claimed that he could
never top William Barton
Rodgers as the stiffest of
MIT'S commencement speakers.
INTERVIEWER 2: That first
commencement speaker in 1982
was Katharine Graham, then
chair of the board of directors
and CEO of the
Washington Post company,
followed by so many luminaries
such as Shirley Chisholm, Lee
Iacocca, from Chrysler
Corporation, William Hewitt,
from Hewlett-Packard, Ken Olsen,
founder of Digital Equipment
Corporation.
On and on it goes.
Al Gore,
INTERVIEWER 1:
President Clinton.
INTERVIEWER 2:
President Clinton.
INTERVIEWER 1: Kofi Annan as the
Secretary General of the United
Nations was here.
We've had the
administrators of NASA,
presidents of
corporations ranging
from Hewlett-Packer and on.
I think, though, one of
my favorites was 1999,
and that was when Ray and
Tom Magliozzi, the hosts
of the National Public
Radio series car talk
gave their speech,
and it was as funny
as those men were on the
air in their many years.
INTERVIEWER 2: And I think
the most inspirational
for me was during
the special ceremony
last year to recognize those
who could not come to graduation
in 20 and 21, and
it was Kealoha Wong,
who was at MIT alum from
the late '90s, I believe,
from Hawaii.
And he transitioned from being
a nuclear engineer to a poet
laureate.
It is an incredibly
inspiring talk.
It's on YouTube, I would invite
you to go and look at it.
INTERVIEWER 1: Indeed.
I loved that talk as well.
Today, though, our
speaker is Mark Rober.
He is an internet superstar,
but he started his career
as a mechanical engineer
at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory where he worked
on the Mars Curiosity Rover.
INTERVIEWER 2: He's
a YouTube star.
So our generation may not
know him all that well,
but the students out there in
the courtyard certainly do.
Think squirrels.
And I invite everybody to
keep a keen eye on the talk.
I'm not going to be
a spoiler, but it's
going to be quite interesting.
INTERVIEWER 1: I think it
will be a memorable one
if all goes well.
His videos highlight
the fun of learning.
They encourage curiosity
and imagination
and have reached in the
billions of hits on them.
And so it really has
a sense of the power
that science and
technology has to ignite
the creative spirit of our
youngest people in the world.
INTERVIEWER 2: Now in
a couple of minutes,
Deb, the academic procession
will be coming into the court,
and there are many symbols
that we'll be looking for.
INTERVIEWER 1: Yes.
So perhaps the most
noticeable, of course,
is that everybody is
dressed up in medieval garb.
They're wearing caps and gowns.
I mentioned earlier
that you'll see,
as you do right now, that
bachelor's and master's degrees
are in the traditional
black garb.
The master's degrees have kind
of a long, moon-shaped crescent
swath of fabric that hangs
down from their sleeves.
The stoles that you see
around the necks of many
of these graduates identify
clubs, organizations, honor
societies that the
students belong to.
And MIT has one
important rule regarding
the stoles, that everyone
in that organization
must be eligible to wear them.
There is no singling
out a top speaker.
So MIT has no valedictorians, no
salutatorian, no class ranking.
INTERVIEWER 2: No
honorary degrees.
INTERVIEWER 1: In fact,
yes, that's correct.
Every degree from MIT
is an earned degree.
INTERVIEWER 2: So
one of the symbols
that we'll be seeing coming down
the center aisle pretty soon
is the mace.
It was created by Leverett
Cullen, the class of 1907,
gifted to the Institute
by that class as part
of their 50th reunion, and
contains engraved names
of all of the presidents of MIT
since William Barton Rogers.
It'll be carried by
the Chief Marshal
during this one MIT ceremony
and at the very top of the mace
is MITs mascot, the Beaver.
INTERVIEWER 1: Yes.
So the Beaver was selected
in 1913 to be the mascot.
It was around the time that
many colleges and universities
wanted to have some
lighthearted symbols to identify
their schools and many selected
different kinds of animals.
Sometimes a trademark,
Purdue, became
known as the
Boilermakers, for example.
But MIT putting
some thought to it.
Lester Gardner,
a member of class
there said, I think we
need to choose the Beaver.
He thought about the kangaroo
for a while and the turkey,
but he said, no, the Beaver
is nature's engineer,
and he or she does their
best work at night.
INTERVIEWER 2: And many MIT
Alumni, yours truly included,
wear the Beaver on the ring
finger, the MIT class ring.
Each one is a little
bit different, created,
designed by a ring committee
of the undergraduates.
And one of the trademarks is
that the Beaver, the engineer
of the animal kingdom is
always sitting on twigs,
and embedded in those
twigs is your class year.
INTERVIEWER 1: The ring
was another tradition
that was established
in the late 1920s.
A group in 1929 got together
and said, we want a ring,
but we don't want it to be like
any other college ring, which
is traditionally
a gold or silver
ring with a set
with a large stone
and perhaps the name of
the institution and year.
And so they considered
many different designs,
but settled on one that
featured a square bezel.
And then the debate
was, is it the dome,
which is really one of--
become the symbol of MIT
or the Beaver.
And after much
discussion and debate,
they put the Beaver on top
and the dome on the side.
INTERVIEWER 2: Two
different views of the dome.
One on either side.
INTERVIEWER 1: That
dome, by the way,
was part of the design of
William Welles Bosworth.
When this campus
was opened in 1916,
he was an architect
from the class of 1896,
so therefore trained in Boston.
Many of our viewers may not
know that MIT spent its first 50
years in Copley
Square in Boston,
and only in 1916 did they move
across the river to the campus
that we presently enjoy
and take advantage of.
INTERVIEWER 2: One
of the other symbols
that will be coming
down the center
aisle in a couple of minutes
is the Shepherd's Staff.
It is carved from
black walnut, and it's
carried by the outgoing
chairperson of the MIT faculty,
who this year as Professor Lily
Tsai, of political science,
and has gifted a new shepherd's
staff replacing the one given
by outgoing faculty chair,
Hartley Rogers Junior,
way back in 1973.
So as chair of the
faculty, she will
carry the staff in this
one MIT procession,
symbolizing her
leadership of the faculty.
INTERVIEWER 1: The
staff was a creation
of Professor Brandon Clifford of
the Department of Architecture.
He is a noted American
designer and sculptor,
and it's full of symbolism
with celestial bodies
and the angles of it are too
complicated for me to explain.
I encourage you to go to
the commencement website
and read the exact details
about how the angle of noon,
and the angle of the crook
are precisely aligned.
INTERVIEWER 2: Its science.
INTERVIEWER 1: Yes.
INTERVIEWER 2: The
Beaver stick will also
be carried-- a piece of
wood chewed by a Beaver
will be carried by the Marshal
of the commencement ceremony.
And on the screen
every now and then,
you get to see another-- what
has become a symbol of MIT
commencement, and
that is the MIT Sail
at the very front
of Killian Court,
abutting building 10 where
the great dome is located.
It was originally designed
by the Chair of the Faculty
who designed sails for
sailing competitions
to properly capture the
wind on Killian Court.
But more importantly, it shades
the faculty and the other
invited guests up on the stage.
It keeps the
diplomas dry in case
of poor weather, which
we're having sunny,
but not rainy weather today.
And it's made very
sturdy with metal cables.
We've had many very, very
windy days here on the court
and it has been rock solid.
INTERVIEWER 1:
Speaking of sailing,
I want to give a shout
out to the sailing
pavilion and the longtime
sail master, Fran Charles, who
is retiring this year after 30
years as the head of sailing.
There are nearly 80,000
MIT students and alumni
and faculty and staff
who hold sailing cards.
It is the preeminent
sport of the Institute.
And in fact, MIT pioneered
collegiate competitive sailing
with the introduction of
the tech dinghy, a sailboat
designed by Professor George
Owen of the then Department
of Naval architecture.
INTERVIEWER 2: That's
just one example
of the extracurricular
activities here at MIT.
We're reputed to have more
extracurricular activities
and intramural sports than any
other University out there,
just too many to count.
I participated in
many, my friends
participated many others.
And it was such a welcome
diversion from the need
to study, and sleep,
and eat here at MIT,
and is really made
for lifetime friends.
INTERVIEWER 1: If you catch
in the screen, just passed out
on the right side, you'll
see a banner with the numbers
two and three on them.
That is the classes
official banner
that will be carried at all
reunion events here on out,
and they are different colors
and stripes and shades.
But we look forward
to-- we have some
of the oldest class banners in
our collection at the museum.
INTERVIEWER 2: So we mentioned
our newly inaugurated
president, Sally Kornbluth,
who was officially inaugurated
about a month ago right
here on this court,
but has been in office
since the first of the year,
recently appointed as the
18th president of MIT,
our second woman president,
a cell biologist,
and came to us from Duke
University where for a decade,
she oversaw the institution's
teaching and research
missions as the
provost, developed
its intellectual
priorities, and really
improved the faculty and
student experience was really
an overwhelming choice
to be our new president.
INTERVIEWER 1: In, fact Diane
Greene shared this insight
with the students of SDS050,
the history of MIT class
that I teach each
spring, she said
it was, in fact, a unanimous
choice of the committee.
She, I like to
point out, was not--
didn't start life
as a scientist,
but actually as a humanities--
or social science major
at Williams College,
and then discovered
biology her senior year.
INTERVIEWER 2: So I understand
that President Kornbluth
over the last couple of months
has done a listening tour here
on campus to meet the faculty,
the staff, the students,
and will soon be
embarking around the world
to meet affiliates and alumni to
really become entrenched in MIT
knowledge and tradition to help
lead her strategy for the years
to come.
INTERVIEWER 1: In her
inaugural address last month,
one of the points
that she stressed
was that for her presidency, she
felt the challenge of climate
change was the urgent
existential challenge
of our times, and
that she hoped to lead
the Institute in what she
called a Rad Lab like effort,
to address these problems
from all perspectives,
whether you focused in the
humanities and social sciences,
the arts,
architecture, planning,
that you would, in fact,
be engaged in helping
think about these great
challenges before us.
INTERVIEWER 2: And it
would be remiss of us
to not give a tip of the hat
to retiring president, Rafael
Reif, who served as the 17th
president of MIT from July 2012
to December 2022.
He came up through
the ranks from
through electrical engineering
and computer science,
and he led MITs
pioneering efforts
in many, many different
very important areas,
such as redefining the
future of higher education
through online learning.
He led MIT through the
pandemic, many other challenges.
Really committed to
advancing diversity, equity,
and inclusion.
He launched initiatives to
foster breakthrough research
and pilot high-impact
solutions to address
the urgent challenges of
climate change and of course,
as we just said, that mission
will be continued and enhanced
by President Kornbluth.
INTERVIEWER 1: In
the procession,
one of the first
groups that you see
and first individuals
that you will
see accompanying our speaker is
the chair of the corporation,
Diane Greene.
Diane Greene earned her
master's degree in 1978,
and she specialized
in Naval architecture.
But the person that perhaps
influenced her the most
she met on the very first
day arriving on campus,
and that was Dr.
Harold Edgerton, one
of MITs original
superstars and a man whose
high speed photography, those
famous bullet through the apple
and milk drop photos that
still grace the walls of art
museums around the world, has
transformed so many students'
lives here at the Institute with
his, well, come on in, let's
try it out.
INTERVIEWER 2: I remember that
as a freshman, walking down
the hall, I think it was
the fourth floor of building
six or eight, maybe.
And he'd stand in the
door with his post cards
and he'd say, come on in.
Let me show you how this works.
INTERVIEWER 1: So we--
and the Edgerton Center, of
course, continues to this day,
is one of the preeminent
interdisciplinary centers
here at the Institute.
But the corporation that Greene
leads is MITs governing body.
We were incorporated by the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
in April of 1861.
It took us a few years to
get started because two days
after the incorporation
was signed by the governor,
it became--
the Civil War broke
out with the firing
on Fort Sumter in
South Carolina.
And we--
INTERVIEWER 2: We're
going to pause now
for a quick announcement.
Now please rise and welcome
the academic procession.
There we go, and here we come.
The academic procession
about to enter Killian Court
from Memorial Drive.
You can see on the screen,
the Charles River separating
Cambridge and
Boston, and behind,
a few of the administrators.
You will see that mace
that we just spoke of,
as well as President Kornbluth
on the left and the ranking
faculty right behind.
INTERVIEWER 1: Yes.
Chair Greene is to Kornbluth's
right, just behind the mace.
MIT adopted a custom robe for
its doctoral students in 1995,
but more recently, it's
also adopted a standard robe
for its leadership.
And so you'll see not
only the president
and the chair of
the corporation,
but also all the
corporation members and many
of the Marshals
wearing variations
on this cardinal and gray robe.
Most notable about the robe
that President Kornbluth wears
is the stole which contains
18 infinity symbols, marking--
symbolizing her as
the 18th president.
INTERVIEWER 2: The faculty
who are marching behind
represent five schools and
the College of computing,
the schools of
engineering, science,
the Sloan School of
Management, humanities, arts,
social sciences, architecture
and planning, and as mentioned,
the Schwarzman college of
computing that has faculty that
cut across all of the
five schools in the 30
or so academic departments
we have here at MIT.
As I like to say,
academic departments
are where teaching happens
and students learn.
But the real fun here at
MIT are the cross-cutting,
research laboratories
and centers,
that take people from all
different disciplines,
allow them to work
together from the bottoms
up to solve the world's
most challenging problems.
For example, one of the largest
is MITEI, the MIT Initiative
which has, I believe close
to 200 faculty researchers
who work in various aspects
of energy from all over MIT.
Some of our research centers
have just two, three,
or four faculty, and
they tend to come and go
as the need arises.
And that's really one
of the beauties of MIT,
is that we have the
ability to bring together
these people to work
on these problems
to challenge the students.
Because when MIT students
come here to enter,
they want to solve problems
that nobody has solved before.
It's not a lot of
fun to solve problems
that other people
have already solved.
INTERVIEWER 1: One of the things
that young students often--
or new students are
often entranced by
is the different colors that
you're seeing on the robes,
and those represent different
academic institutions as well
as the degrees that are awarded.
These gray robes,
of course, are MIT.
But all of the other
colors that you see,
the Crimson of Harvard
University, for example,
is particularly common.
Well, here comes
the corporation,
Megan Smith is right
center screen right now.
She was an alumna and former
chief technology officer
under President Barack Obama.
INTERVIEWER 2: It's
about 75 strong,
the Board of Trustees of MIT.
It does include a diverse
set of individuals
from many different disciplines,
from academia, from government,
from industry, with also
student representation.
Now you see President
Kornbluth on the left side
of the screen there, beaming
at her first commencement.
INTERVIEWER 1: The corporation
has a really crucial function.
They form the core of
advisory boards that oversee--
every two years, they visit
every single department
at the Institute.
And these advisory boards speak
with students, with faculty,
with staff, with experts
around the field,
and they really urge and
assist the departments
in maintaining the
highest standards
and being as close as possible
to the cutting edge of science
and technology or architecture,
or any of the disciplines
that are represented
at the Institute.
INTERVIEWER 2: They're known
as visiting committees,
and I've met many people
who have served on them.
And they're challenging for
our departments, the faculty,
the staff, and the students.
They're also challenging for the
visiting committee individuals
themselves, because
they are faced
with what are some of the very
top programs in the world,
how to make them better,
and how to address
the needs of the future.
INTERVIEWER 1: So we've let you
in on some of MITs secret sauce
here, but now you're
beginning to see members
of the faculty coming in.
INTERVIEWER 2: I saw Professor
Eric Grimson just a moment ago,
who was in the department
of electrical engineering
and computer science, now
serves as the chancellor
for academic advancement
who travels the world.
I find myself quite
often on airplanes
with him, visiting alumni and
other donors around the world
to talk about MIT, listen to
what the needs are in the world
and to bring all of
that back here to MIT.
INTERVIEWER 1:
There are a number,
of course, academic officers,
deans and provosts who are also
participating in this ceremony.
There's Dr. Professor Paula
Hammond, Professor Dan
Hastings.
Paula Hammond in
chemical engineering,
Dan Hastings, AeroAstro.
And he's just been named the
acting head of MITs diversity--
office of diversity,
equity, and inclusion.
INTERVIEWER 2: He's a
real rocket scientist.
INTERVIEWER 1: He is, indeed.
INTERVIEWER 2: A
fabulous guy leading
the Aeronautics and
Astronautics department
for a number of years.
And before that, he served,
I believe for five years,
as the director of
SMART, the Singapore MIT
Alliance for Research
and Technology
located in the
country of Singapore,
where MIT has a robust
research collaboration with two
of the key universities
there and exchange faculty
and students for
the benefit of all.
INTERVIEWER 1:
That's a good point,
is that MIT has a really
extensive international program
and has students taking
classes and participating
in programs, both during the
academic term around the world,
but also during the summer
and during our independent
activities period in January.
You will find students doing
everything in the farthest
reaches of the globe.
INTERVIEWER 2: One of the
great programs is called MISTY,
and that's the opportunity
for undergraduate students
to travel to another country
and be embedded in the society,
in companies and universities,
to learn the languages,
to learn the cultures, and to
bring their experiences back
here.
Many, many MIT undergraduates
participate in that.
And one of the other very,
very popular programs
is called UROP, the
Undergraduate Research
Opportunities Program.
I believe close to
80% of undergraduates
will participate
in it at some point
in their undergraduate
career, which
allows them to
work with a faculty
member and graduate students
to do actual research
on a project that has meaning.
INTERVIEWER 1: And here, I
believe, we are about to start.
Thank you for-- immigration
DIANE GREENE: Operation and the
faculty of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology are
declared convened together
with this assembly on the
occasion of the one MIT
commencement ceremony
of this institution
and in recognition
of the degrees being
conferred on the class of 2023.
[APPLAUSE]
If the stage assembly
and audience will please
remain standing.
We'll have the invocation
by Reverend Thea Keith
Lucas, Chaplain
to the Institute,
and join the corollaries of
MIT in the singing of one verse
of the Star-Spangled Banner.
THEA KEITH LUCAS:
Good afternoon.
In middle school
science, Mr. Cameron
dropped a heavy ball bearing
in our hands and said,
use this to put out a flame.
Now there are few things easier
than blowing out a candle.
Just to carry a lit
birthday cupcake
from the kitchen
to the table, have
to keep her hand
cupped around it
so you won't make
too much of a breeze.
We weren't good at much at
13, but we could quickly
extinguish a flame.
It turns out, efficiency
is not the point.
You learn how the world works
by creating your own crazy path,
putting a screw, a lever, a
pulley, and an inclined plane
in between the
release of the ball,
and that satisfying moment when
you drop the candle into water
or seal it tight under a cup.
Today, we bless all your
mistakes and your restarts.
If there is an optimal moment--
if there is an optimal path
to this moment, not one of us
managed to make it.
How many times did we bump
the dominoes with our elbows
and have to line
them all up again?
How many times did
we tweak the angle
before the ball made the
big jump, stuck the landing,
and kept on rolling?
Maybe you took some
detours because you had to,
through stupid chance,
or the cruelties of fate.
Maybe you chose a side path,
just to try something new
and add some style
points to your run.
We all have days when we
stick the pieces back together
with a bit of wire and duct
tape and wonder whether we will
land on our feet this time.
On the way, we learn how to roll
through the gravity of sorrow,
to break the inertia
of old assumptions,
and ride the surprising
momentum of hope.
Now you step up to the starting
ramp, waiting for the signal.
We lean in, eager for you to
surprise us all over again.
[APPLAUSE]
["STAR-SPANGLED BANNER" PLAYING]
(SINGING) Oh, say can you see,
by the dawn's early light.
Once so proudly we hailed, at
the twilight's last gleaming.
Whose broad stripes
and bright stars
through the perilous fight,
o'er the ramparts we watched,
were so gallantly streaming.
And the rockets red glare,
the bombs bursting in air,
gave proof through the night,
that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star
spangled banner yet wave?
O'er the land of the free.
And the home of the brave.
[APPLAUSE]
DIANE GREENE: Wonderful.
Please be seated.
Welcome to the start
of today's ceremony
celebrating MITs
awesome class of 2023.
[APPLAUSE]
And a warm welcome to
our graduates families,
their friends, our faculty,
our MIT alums, president Sally
Kornbluth and her
administration,
and our commencement
speaker, Mark Rober.
[APPLAUSE]
And a special welcome
to the alumni,
celebrating your 50th reunion.
[APPLAUSE]
You honor MIT with your
distinguished red jackets.
Going back in time, I'm sure
you remember 50 years ago.
It was the end of
the Vietnam War,
the launch of the United States
first Space Station, Skylab.
Pink Floyd released The
Dark Side of the Moon
and the US Congress passed
the Endangered Species Act.
MIT class of 1973, a special
welcome to today's 2023 One MIT
commencement ceremony.
[APPLAUSE]
And now turning to our
commencement speaker,
Mark Rober.
[APPLAUSE]
He earned a bachelor's
and master's degree
in mechanical engineering
and then spent nine years
at NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory.
He worked on the Mars
Curiosity Rover team,
specifically on
the jet pack that
lowered the Rover
to the surface,
and other hardware used for
collecting dirt samples.
After a stint as
an Apple engineer,
Mark pivoted and
became a YouTube star.
He has 24 million subscribers
for his video series
on outlandish
engineering experiments
and help the world projects.
In last year's listening
tour for the MIT
presidential search, we
repeatedly heard about the need
to articulate and promote
the value of science
and engineering to the world.
Class of 2023, you
have chosen a speaker
that is spreading the
word to young people
as no one has ever done before.
If you look at his videos,
the below the video comments
are full of kids
saying he's made
them want to be engineers
when they grow up.
Mark hides the vegetables,
the formulas and concepts,
in awesome experiments
and projects,
and brings them to life with
his contagious laughter.
Mark reframed the classic
high school egg drop challenge
to be from outer space.
It took three years of
trials and re-engineering,
and the amazing video
released four months ago
already has 41 million views.
Four years ago, Mark posted
his, the world's largest
Jell-o pool, can
you swim in Jell-o,
and it now has
127 million views.
To do that, he had to somehow
boil and then refrigerate
an entire swimming
pool of Jell-o.
But Mark is about even
more than egg drops
from space and swimming in
Jell-o engineering feats.
He's issued challenges
to plant 20 million trees
and clean up 30 pounds
million of ocean plastic.
He admonishes people to
quit texting while driving,
and he advocates for the
wonders of special needs kids.
Mark is modern, fun, and if
we're counting YouTube views,
the most listened to engineering
and science evangelist
our world has.
A true force for
good in the world,
please give a warm
welcome to Mark Rober.
[APPLAUSE]
MARK ROBER: All right.
Good afternoon, esteemed
faculty, distinguished guests,
relieved parents,
bored siblings,
confused pets, and of
course, the 2023 graduating
class of MIT.
[APPLAUSE]
It is indeed a warm welcome.
It's hot.
And you know what
I love to do on
a beautiful, sunny,
95 degree summer day?
Where a big, black blanket.
At least I'm up
here in the shade.
You'd think the best
engineering school on the planet
could design a bigger
awning for everyone.
[LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE]
It's for next year.
Standing here
before you is weird.
I feel this pressure
to give some timeless
advice that will endure,
despite our world changing
at an unprecedented pace.
The world is so different,
even from four years ago.
For example, for
the undergrads, you
are the first graduating
class to have persevered
through a global
pandemic, just as this
is the first commencement speech
written entirely by ChatGPT.
The tech is still very new, so
if I make a grammatical errors
or threaten to end all human
life, that did not come for me,
that's the robot.
At this point, I should probably
tell your parents who I am.
I'm Mark Rober, a former
Apple and NASA mechanical
engineer who became a YouTuber.
And yes, I know to some of
you it sounds like I just
said I quit the NBA
to work at FootLocker,
or I traded a Picasso for
an NFT of a stoned monkey,
but I wouldn't have
it any other way.
I sort of feel at home here,
because Buzz Aldrin went
to MIT, and just like me,
Buzz was a NASA engineer,
only Buzz stuck with it and
became one of the first humans
to set foot on the
moon, whereas I
quit to become the first human
to sprinkle porch pirates
with glitter and fart spray.
It's on YouTube, your kids
will explain it at dinner.
But whether it's seeking karmic
justice for package thieves
or building an obstacle course
for squirrels in my backyard,
I plan my monthly YouTube videos
really far out in advance.
In fact, I've already
decided what my June 2053
video will be, and it's going
to be a collab with all of you.
It's going to be a retrospective
look at all the amazing things
this MIT graduating class
of 2023 has accomplished.
In fact, this right
now is the video intro.
So if you've ever wanted
to be in one of my videos,
this is your chance.
[CHEERING]
Now will YouTube still
be around in 30 years?
Hopefully.
Unless Elon buys it.
[LAUGHTER]
But here's the thing, the
degree to which you positively
impact the world is the
degree to which you'll
be featured in the video.
So in order to increase your
chances of making the cut,
I want to give you three
pieces of advice based off
my life experience.
The first bit of advice
is to moisturize when
giving a commencement speech--
is to embrace naive optimism.
What do I mean by
naive optimism?
Actually, before
I go any further,
usually in my YouTube
videos when I get to like,
the juicy part--
I'm not really used to
this public speaking thing,
so the music kicks in.
So if you'll just give me a
moment and hit this button.
Trust me, this is going to
be better for both of us.
Here we go.
Right here.
Let's see.
There we go.
[LIGHT MUSIC PLAYING]
All right.
That's better.
OK.
What do I mean by
naive optimism?
Naive optimism means
it's easier to be
optimistic about your
future when you're
sort of naive about
what lies ahead,
when you don't know
what you don't know.
As an example, think back
on the first week at MIT.
How naive you were about the
number of all-nighters and cans
of Red Bull that would
be required to be sitting
where you are right now.
In fact, you guys
drank so much caffeine,
I'm surprised you're
even sitting at all.
If you truly understood
what would be required,
that discouragement
might have prevented you
from even starting.
Sometimes it's an advantage
not to be the expert with all
the experience.
There's no reputational risk,
so it's easier to try new things
and approach them from a fresh,
first principles approach.
Naive optimism
can also help when
faced with a big life decision.
When you feel like you want
to know the results before you
decide but the true outcome
is simply unknowable.
Naive optimism means you have
irrational-- naive optimisim
means you have the irrational
confidence of a child learning
to walk or a mom
learning to TikTok.
And you pick what you think
is the best path and just move
forward, knowing there's
more than one trail that
leads to the top of Mount Fuji.
It's OK that you don't
know exactly what you
want to be doing
20 years from now
or what you want to
have accomplished.
And by the way,
even if you do know,
it doesn't matter,
because you're wrong.
Anyone who tells you knew
they'd be where they're
at 20 years ago is either
lying, or delusional, or a time
traveler, or Pat Sajak.
Life is like trying
to cross a big flowing
river with lots of rocks
and boulders strewn about.
If you want to cross the river,
you have to start on the bank
and look at the first several
rocks in front of you.
You can wiggle
them with your toe
and sort of scan a few boulders
out, but at some point,
you've just got to
pick one and jump,
because the river is
dynamic and always changing.
If the first rock in
this metaphor is a hobby,
let curiosity and passion
guide your initial step.
If the first rock represents
your professional career,
take curiosity and
passion into account,
but you should also
weigh what you're good at
and what the world needs,
even if the world might not
know they need it yet.
Whichever one you pick, the
real secret is to dominate it.
Obsessively study it from
every angle, master it.
Now from your position
more secure footing,
you can reevaluate
the river, and you'll
find you've got a few more rocks
available that you couldn't
even see from where
you started, so you
can continue on your journey.
Instead of putting
the pressure on myself
to create some master-like plan,
this attitude of naive optimism
combined with
dedication, enthusiasm,
and the willingness to jump
from my current safe rock
to the next is what
I feel has led me
from college, to NASA,
to YouTube, to eventually
landing on this rock of giving
the commencement speech at M-I
frickin' T.
[APPLAUSE]
There's no way I could have
predicted that path when
I was exactly in your
shoes 20 years ago.
So cross your river
one rock at a time,
but do it with a naive
optimism that it's all
going to work out.
Let that be your North Star.
If you actually knew how
cold the river can get
or how long it takes to
recover from a sprained ankle
if you slipped, your knowledge
might get in the way.
So have faith in yourself.
You're about to get
a degree from MIT,
so you've obviously made
some pretty great decisions.
So embrace your inexperience
and keep taking leaps forward.
And apologies to all
the civil engineering
majors who have been grumbling
sitting there saying,
if he wants to cross
this river so bad,
why does he just build
a suspension bridge,
because it's my
metaphor, all right?
Back off.
And now for some real talk.
You're going to take
that leap of faith,
land on a rock, and
only then realize
it's not as stable as your
foot wiggle had predicted,
and you're going to fall
into the river sometimes.
That leads to my second
of three pieces of advice
to maximize your chance of
positively impacting the world
and making the video cut, which
is to frame your failures.
[MUSIC BEGINS PLAYING]
You could tell it's the juicy
part, because the music's back.
To illustrate what
I mean by this,
I asked 50,000 of
my YouTube followers
that subscribe to my channel
to play a simple computer
programming puzzle that I made.
But what they didn't
know is that I
had served up two slightly
different versions
of the puzzle.
In one, if you
failed the puzzle,
you didn't lose any of
your starting 200 points
and you were prompted
to try again.
Whereas in the other,
if you didn't succeed,
you were also prompted
to try again, but I said
I was taking away five of
those starting 200 points.
That was the only difference.
And even though they were
no value in the real world,
no one will ever see
these completely fake,
meaningless internet
points, those
who didn't lose those
points attempted
to solve the puzzle two
and a half times more
and saw success 16%
more of the time.
And because 50,000
people took the test,
those results are super
statistically significant.
Basically, those
who didn't frame
losing in a negative light
stuck with it for longer,
saw more success,
and learned more.
And I think a great example
of this in real life
is video games.
When Super Mario
Brothers first came out,
my friends and I became obsessed
with making it to the castle
and rescuing Princess
Peach from the evil Bowser.
Water break.
We'd get to school
and ask each other,
dude, what level
did you make it to?
Did you pass the game?
We never asked each
other for details
on all the different
ways we might have died.
This was before Call of Duty.
When it comes to
video games like this,
no one ever picks up the
controller for the first time,
falls in the pit
right away and thinks,
I'm so ashamed, that
was such a failure.
I'm never doing this again.
How am I going to
break it to Luigi?
I murdered his brother.
What really happens is I
think, OK, I got to remember,
there's a pit there.
Next time, I'm going to come
at it with a bit more speed.
The focus and obsession is about
beating the game, not how dumb
you might look if you get
hit by a sliding green shell.
And as a direct result
of that attitude
of learning from but not
being focused on the failures,
we got really good
and learned a ton
in a very short amount of time.
And in my personal
and work life,
I've dealt with my share
of sliding green shells.
I still feel like
every video we make
each month, there's a moment
where it seems everything that
can go wrong, has gone
wrong and those failures can
be gut-wrenching, and
they can sting real bad.
But they sting like missing that
one key Mario long jump right
at the end of level A-1, and
then right after that really
quickly it turns
in, OK, what did
we just learn from that, what
should we try differently
from next time.
And this concept of
life communication
is more than just, have
a positive attitude
or never give up,
because those imply
you have to fight against
your true desire to quit.
And I feel like when you frame
a challenge or a learning
process in this way, you
actually want to do it.
It feels natural to ignore
the failure and try again,
in the same way a
toddler will want
to keep trying to stand
up, or in the same way
you want to keep playing
Super Mario Brothers,
or in the same way
half the people who
attempted my coding puzzle had
the desire to stick with it two
and a half times longer.
The framing of their
failures made it
so they wanted to keep
trying and learning.
And that's exactly why the
most meaningful high fives
of my adolescence
were when I said,
dude, I finally beat
Bowser last night.
It probably goes without saying,
but girls didn't talk to me
until I was much older.
And in case you're like,
yeah, but my real life
would just be so much better
if my top five challenges
disappear.
Would it?
I'd like to point out that if
Super Mario Brothers was just
jumping over one pit and then
you rescued Princess Peach,
no one would play it.
Where's the risk and the reward?
Where's the challenge?
There's no ultimate
feeling of satisfaction.
The degree you're getting
today means so much to you
precisely because of all
the struggle and setbacks
that you've had to endure.
So if you want to cross
the river of life,
you're going to get wet.
You're going to
have to backtrack,
and that's not a bug,
that's a feature.
Frame those failures and
slips like a video game,
and not only will you learn
more and do it faster,
but it will make all the
successful jumps along the way
that much sweeter.
All right, now I've
got some good news,
which is that you're not
crossing the river alone.
For my third and
final bit of advice
is to foster your relationships.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Nice.
A sad truth about getting older
is life gets busier and busier,
and it gets harder and harder
to make really close friends
like you did here at school.
And this isn't great,
because we evolved
to be social, cooperative
creatures, right?
Like 50,000 years ago,
conditions were much harsher.
So those who are more
inclined to cooperate
with their fellow
humans were also
much more likely
to succeed and pass
on those cooperation genes.
So we've inherited
these brains designed
for social interaction,
and we are hardwired
to cooperate with other people.
And look, I don't blame you if
you want to cast aside advice
from a guy who makes a living
trying to outwit squirrels,
but I wouldn't
recommend doing that
to six million years of
evolutionary programming.
Because in today's society,
it's really convenient
just to isolate yourself.
You could attend the board
meeting from your kitchen
table, you can order
food in the shower,
you can bank on the
toilet, you can even
look for a new apartment
without leaving your apartment.
It's easier to stay
anonymous in our big cities
versus the small
tribes of our ancestors
where everyone knew
each other, which
means we've got to
actively work at fostering
meaningful relationships.
And because I know
this can be harder
for some more than
others, here's
a life hack I've found
that really helps.
Confirmation bias is when
your brain ignores evidence
that doesn't support
your beliefs,
and then it cherry picks
the evidence that does.
And generally, when
people hear this term,
they think it's a broken,
unscientific way for our brains
to approach the world.
And this is true, but
you could sort of judo
flip it to your advantage.
The trick is to positively
apply confirmation bias
to your relationships.
If you assume good intentions
on the part of your friends
and family, and
you tell yourself
you're lucky to have
them, your brain
will naturally work to find
evidence to support that.
That's just how our brains work.
If you tell yourself that your
fellow humans are inherently
good, your brain will find
examples of it everywhere,
and that will
reinforce your outlook.
The opposite,
unfortunately, is also true.
Basically whether you think
the world and everyone in it
is out to hurt you or
help you, you're right.
Studies have shown that the
best predictor of divorce
is if the couple assumes bad
intentions in their partner's
actions, or if you marry Kanye.
[LAUGHTER]
But if you get it in your head
that your partner is selfish,
or inconsiderate, or
willfully refusing to take out
the garbage, that creates
a negative feedback loop
of confirmation bias, seeking
to find further evidence
that your spouse is a jerk,
even when good faith efforts are
being made.
And this hack works not just
for spouses, friends and family,
but even total strangers
who might infuriate you.
And look, I agree with
you, they're wrong.
But don't forget, as George
Carlin pointed out, anyone
who is driving slower than you
is an idiot and anyone driving
faster than you is a maniac.
Fostering your
relationship closes
out my list of
three bits of advice
because that may be where
you impact is the greatest.
Due to a challenging
upbringing, my mom barely
graduated high school,
but she took being a mom
and instilling values in her
children really seriously.
As such, she's the single
biggest influence on my life
by far.
She passed away
over a decade ago
from ALS, six months before I
ever released my first YouTube
video.
But I love the idea that the
ripples from her influence
are still being felt as
strongly as they ever
have through the work
that I try and do today.
If anything I've said today has
resonated with you in my mind,
it's a direct result
of her commitment
to this third piece of advice.
So leverage confirmation bias
to enhance your relationships
as you cooperate
to cross the river.
Train your brain to
assume good intentions,
and try to remember if someone
cuts you off on the freeway,
maybe they're not
out to get you,
maybe they just have diarrhea.
[LAUGHTER]
Now for a piece of
advice number four--
[STAR WARS MUSIC PLAYING]
Engage in occasional
playful anarchy.
But Mark, you told us
were only going to give us
three pieces of advice.
Boom.
Here's a fourth,
because why not?
I am playing music
in a commencement
speech because why not.
Is not ending your
speech with pump up music
just objectively better?
Or like, how these
graduation robes and hats
are just objectively silly?
Why shouldn't I take my
own fourth piece of advice
right now and engage in
some playful anarchy.
Anybody can toss
their hat in the air.
We see it at every graduation.
But few have dared to
make it actually fly.
Bet Buzz Aldrin
never tried this.
You know what?
Time out.
[MUSIC STOPS]
This is actually a
great opportunity
to review everything
we just talked about.
To my first point, I will
embrace my naive optimism
that my hat will
actually get airborne.
But if not, to my second
point, if it goes haywire
and I accidentally
blow up E53, I
can reframe the failure
as an opportunity
to renovate a very old
and sketchy building.
Maybe this time we'll
even add a few windows.
And then to my third point,
when I get sued by the faculty,
I will foster the relationship
I have with my defense lawyers,
because settling
with MIT over damages
will bring us all
closer together.
And so now
[MUSIC BEGINS PLAYING]
After turning on my
hat, I've done my part
and filmed a banger of an intro
to our upcoming collab 30 years
from now, which means
all that's left to do
is your part, to
go out and change
the world for the better.
Congratulations MIT class of
2023, you totally got this.
[APPLAUSE AND CHEERING]
Thank you.
DIANE GREENE: You know, Mark,
I think you just redefined
the commencement speech.
That was fantastic.
Hey, everybody, keep
drinking your water.
And now I want to
introduce Mr. Adam Joseph
Miller, President of the
Graduate Student Council.
And he'll give a salute from
the graduate student body.
Following this, Miss
Anna Sun, President
of the undergraduate
class of 2023.
We'll offer a salute,
after which President
Sally Kornbluth will deliver
her charge to the graduates.
AJ MILLER: Good
afternoon, everyone.
I'm AJ Miller, President of
the Graduate Student Council,
and it is my honor to represent
our graduate student body
and salute the achievements of
MITs graduating class of 2023.
Today marks a celebration
of an accomplishment
many years in the making,
and appreciation for everyone
who made that accomplishment
possible along the way.
It is a time to think back
and a time to dream ahead.
This degree carries
many things with it.
It is the culmination of
many years of hard work,
resilience in the
face of adversity,
and high excellence
in your field.
It also carries
with it the legacy
and values of the institution
that we as alums must now
uphold.
The hunger for curiosity, the
expectation of high standards,
the courage to try bold,
new ideas and be wrong,
and the humility to know
that there is always
so much more to learn.
We go forth into a world
facing very real and very big
challenges.
Artificial intelligence is
fuel for rising inequality.
Misinformation drives divide in
a globally connected society,
and climate change threatens
the very existence of the world
as we know it.
We're a generation
stepping into the unknown
because the world is
changing ever faster,
and the status quo is
no longer good enough.
I say that all, not
for us to be afraid,
but to recognize the
imperatives we now face.
This degree carries
the trust and hope
of our friends, our families,
the staff, the faculty,
the institution, and the world.
This degree is a privilege
we are fortunate to hold,
but also a testament to
our skills, our values,
and our potential.
I came to MIT, because
the future is made here,
and we are that future.
We are the stewards of what is
to come and to make the better
world.
We stand up for
what's right and hold
close to what we believe in.
We expect the very
best of ourselves
and cherish our differences.
We value teamwork
and collaboration,
because we are always
stronger together than apart.
And most importantly,
we do not give up.
Despite all the challenges,
the future is bright--
bright because of the
brilliance of this class
and this generation.
In our last days
here as students,
we should be sure
to take the time
to appreciate the
people around us who
have made this day possible.
The friends who kept our
sanity through late nights,
the faculty who
guided our growth,
the staff who made
everything in this place
possible, and the
family who have always
been there and
supported our journeys.
Thank you to all of you.
To the class of 2023,
while our time as students
is fast coming to a close,
our future is just beginning.
I look forward to
everything you all do
and to seeing the future
we create together,
and once again, congratulations.
[APPLAUSE]
[CHEERING]
ANNA SUN: Good afternoon,
family, friends, faculty,
esteemed guests, and of course,
the graduating class of 2023.
[APPLAUSE]
I'm so excited and honored
to be here with you today.
I'd like to start by
sharing a story with you.
It all began in
elementary school
when I stumbled
over a small rock
and I shattered the
screen of my iPod touch.
Determined to fix it with a $30
replacement screen from eBay
and the all knowing
Wikihow article titled,
How to fix a broken iPod, I
embarked on a repair mission.
Little did I know back then,
if circumstances had been ever
so slightly different, I might
not be here at MIT today.
Unfortunately, my
valiant efforts
failed to revive my iPod.
Sorry mom and dad.
But days of tinkering
with the inner mechanisms
ignited an unexpected passion
for technology within me.
I think about this a lot,
about how a single event
can cause a chain reaction.
In 1961, MIT Professor
Edward Lorenz
discovered the butterfly
effect, also known
as the ripple effect.
It's the idea that small things
can have nonlinear impacts
on a complex system.
For example, a pebble dropped
into the Charles River
could eventually lead to a
typhoon in the Philippines.
We often think that
monumental events
like world wars,
huge earthquakes,
or global pandemics have
equally monumental origins.
But the smallest
occurrences, in fact,
can lead to an enormous impact.
During our time at
MIT, small pebbles
skipping across the
water traveled further
than we expected.
We sparked creative project
ideas during late night runs
at Cafe 472, we found
lifelong friendships
through striking
of conversations
with strangers at CPW.
We found our homes in the
clubs that we randomly
applied to on a whim.
So start tossing
in more pebbles.
Drop in a resume for
that job you know
is a long shot, say hi to the
person sitting next to you
on your flight back home,
volunteer for an event that
sparked your curiosity.
These seemingly small
acts could serve
as stepping stones
towards your dream job,
a broadened perspective, or a
new community you can fall back
on.
To the parents out
there, buy your kid
that $30 replacement screen,
even if you really don't
think it's going to work out.
It could spark a new passion
that they may have never
otherwise discovered.
Now is our time.
We have the opportunity,
the privilege,
and the responsibility
to create ripples that
make this world a better place.
Be the ripple that
creates a wave.
Let's see how far our
influence can spread.
Together, we have the
power to change the world.
Class of 2023, please join
me in an age old tradition,
the turning of our Brass Rat.
Raise your ring-bearing hands,
take off your Brass Rat,
and flip it so that
the ring-- the Beaver
is now facing the world.
Let the world know that you
are now a graduate of MIT.
Thank you class of 2023.
[APPLAUSE]
SALLY KORNBLUTH: OK.
So Anna and AJ, thank
you both for your remarks
and for your leadership.
There's an old piece of
wisdom from show business--
never follow an act
with kids or animals,
or as we've just seen
with Mark Rober or drone,
nobody told me I could have
music in the background.
And since Anna and AJ
rose to the challenge,
I will give it my
best shot as well.
Technically as
president, it's my role
to deliver the charge
to the graduates,
and I will do that in a moment.
But I want to begin by offering
our new graduates a few words
of admiration and thanks.
There are quite a few Brass Rats
out in the world-- let's say,
more than 145,000--
and every one of them
represents the remarkable feat
of self-discipline
and perseverance
it takes to earn an MIT degree.
But the Brass Rats
that were just
turned by today's graduates will
always have a special luster,
because all of you graduating
today did more than tame
your chosen discipline.
You also completed an
involuntary double major
in applied pandemic studies.
You learned, you created,
you explored in ways
that no one at
MIT has ever done,
all while caring for your
friends, your families
and yourselves, through the
long struggle that none of us
were prepared for.
Now I'm sure, sure
we're glad to have
that years long exam behind us.
But I want to acknowledge,
on behalf of the faculty,
that we honor all
that you achieved.
Just like an Olympic
athlete who wants
to get that perfect 10
having taken on this added
degree of difficulty.
And what I learned
from colleagues here
is that you did more
than hold things together
for the people close to you.
In an important sense, you
also held together MIT.
Somehow, across
thousands of miles
and endless, endless
hours of Zoom,
you kept the cultures,
the traditions,
and the values of MIT
alive and thriving
as if it were that precious
jar of sourdough starter passed
on to the next generation.
Because of you, the
Institute that I've inherited
is kinder, wiser,
nimbler, and more playful.
You made sure that
the MIT spirit,
the spirit that drew
you here, would endure,
and you found ways to make
it even better, and for that,
I cannot thank you enough.
So since I'm a
bit of a newcomer,
I can probably deliver
the unwelcome news
that given those Brass
Rats, the world will
expect a great deal from you.
I don't even have one,
yet from the minute
I accepted this new
position, people
have been saying things to me
like, so, you folks from MIT
are going to save us
on climate, right?
Right?
And with such stellar students
and faculty and graduates,
if anyone can do it, we can,
and we sure are going to try.
Of course, the world has
always expected a lot
from MIT graduates, and I
think our friends out there
in the red jackets
would agree with that.
As ever, people will
expect you to be
analytical, and practical,
and fearless, and brilliant.
And now, also
whatever your field,
no matter how you
did on the GIRs,
people will expect you
to understand everything,
from nuclear fusion,
to cryptocurrency,
to synthetic biology, to
artificial intelligence,
and to be able to explain
them like an expert.
And by the way, to guard us
from all the attendant dangers.
To be clear, I hope
and I believe that you
can do all that and more.
But while the world and
possibly your parents
may be expecting big
things from you right away,
I want to give you permission
for a while to not know,
and to try different paths,
and to change your mind.
Especially in this world
with new industries,
new disciplines, new jobs
emerging on every frontier.
Mark Rober just described you
crossing the river one wobbly
stone at a time.
And for me, and
probably for many
in the audience who are also
maybe a couple of decades past
graduation, hearing Mark talk
about changing course midstream
brought a sudden memory of being
metaphorically soaking wet.
Like that time I lobbied
really, really hard
to get a vice provost job with
big, new administrative duties,
which I thought would be a
crucial step in my career.
And the university made
a big announcement,
and only then did
I realized that I
was really wrong for the
job, and it was wrong for me.
And then I had to tell
the president that I
couldn't take it after all.
And that was a big
splash, but not
the kind you all want to make.
Or even the time I had
to explain to my parents
that although I had just
earned my bachelor's
degree in political science, the
way we'd always discussed, now
I'd received a scholarship to
go on a whole new bachelor's
degree in biology.
They were not unsupportive,
but they were really
deeply puzzled.
There'd never been an
academic in my family.
Now with both of these
midstream course corrections,
I definitely got a little wet.
It was kind of
awkward at the time.
But the world did
not come to an end.
And if I hadn't changed my mind
and taken an alternative route,
I probably would not have found
my way to this audience today.
So now it's time for me
to deliver your charge.
So I always think the
word charge sounds
like some kind of
grand assignment, which
sounds suspiciously like
some farewell problem set,
so that sounds like
a good idea, right?
OK, I didn't think so either.
So I want to give you a
different kind of charge.
A charge as in a
source of energy.
We've all seen that
little warning box
in the corner of the
screen, your laptop
will sleep soon if it is not
plugged into a power source.
And I'm sure that
every student here
has felt that same sensation,
deep down and personally,
and often without the
option to sleep soon.
What's more, even without an MIT
curriculum to test our limits,
we all live surrounded
by devices, and media,
and societal forces that
tend to drain our batteries
and dissipate our energy
and our attention.
Which means that
for each one of us,
it has never been more
important to cultivate
our personal sources
of renewable energy.
You can name your own
sources, I'm sure.
But in my life, beyond the
company of the people I love,
and those many hours spent
watching British mysteries
about small rural towns that
have inexplicably high crime
rates, I found two infinitely
renewable sources of energy--
curiosity and a sense
of larger purpose.
Frankly, the prominence of
these two factors in my life
and the life of this
community are a key part
of what drew me to MIT.
This place runs on curiosity and
Dunkin, and it never runs dry.
There's a moment I
will never forget
from graduate school that
tells the exact same story.
Some of you may have
heard it, because I've
told it in other places, but
I believe it bears repeating.
So we had this arrangement
in graduate school
where each one of
us had a desk that
was face to face with
another student's desk,
but separated by a high--
sorry, I keep hitting
that-- high partition.
You could talk, you
could hear across it,
but you couldn't
actually see the student
on the other side
of that partition.
And one day, I'm
sitting at my desk
and I heard a loud
shout and an expletive
which I will not repeat,
but in a good way,
if you know what
I mean, which I'm
sure was accompanied by a fist
pump, though I couldn't see it.
Sitting at his computer,
my fellow graduate student
had been stared at
the DNA sequence
of the new cancer causing
gene that he had discovered.
And he suddenly realized
that that missing piece
of DNA sequence,
which he thought
was an artifact or an error,
was actually an indication
that he found a whole new
class of cancer causing genes.
It opened the way not
only to his PhD thesis,
but to his entire career.
He still works on and is
considered a world expert
in that class of
genes, and I am quite
sure he would tell you
that it was one of the most
exciting moments of his life.
And the curiosity
that has led him there
has renewed itself over and
over, powering his own work,
and inspiring those
around him ever since.
So curiosity is
endlessly electrifying.
And best of all,
you can find a way
to harness your curiosity to a
purpose larger than yourself.
One of the greatest joys
in life is the feeling
of using your
skills to the limit,
to do something
important for others--
your community, your discipline,
your institution, your country,
or even the whole human
family and our fragile planet.
If you can do that, you will
find a free, wireless charge
wherever you go.
So I wish you all the warmest
congratulations on all that
you've achieved, and I
cannot wait to see where
your curiosity and sense
of purpose lead you next.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
DIANE GREENE: Thank
you for those inspiring
words, President Kornbluth, and
also Mr. Miller and Ms. Sun.
It's now my pleasure
to introduce
Stephen Baker, the Chief Marshal
and President of the MIT Alumni
Association.
He will greet the graduates.
Mr. Baker is a two-time
graduate himself of MIT.
[APPLAUSE]
STEPHEN BAKER: Good afternoon.
It is my honor to recognize
the class of 2023 the newest
alumni and alumnae of MIT.
The entire alumni
body, 145,000 strong,
joins me in congratulating
all of the 2023 graduates
and officially welcome
you into our alumni
family, your infinite
connection to MIT.
Congratulations,
and we look forward
to seeing you at
future alumni events.
Stay connected.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
DIANE GREENE: That was concise.
[LAUGHTER]
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you to everybody
that made today
possible for our remarkable,
stunning graduates.
The MIT class of
2023, yes, you're
entering a world
full of problems,
but it's also an amazing
and beautiful world,
and it is one that you can
make more beautiful and more
amazing.
On behalf of the MIT
Corporation and all of MIT,
congratulations class of 2023.
[APPLAUSE]
The One MIT
commencement ceremony
of the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology is now concluded.
At this time, would everyone
please rise and join
the corollaries of MIT
in singing the school
song followed by,
Take Me Back to Tech.
["ARISE ALL YE OF MIT" PLAYING]
(SINGING) Arise all ye of
MIT, in loyal fellowship.
The future beckons onto 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.
My 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.
[APPLAUSE]
(SINGING) 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,
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 trigonometrics powers,
the constant pi
that made me sigh
in those happy days of ours.
Hoorah for technology,
'ology, 'ology, oh..
Glorious old technology,
'ology, 'ology, oh.
Take me back, oh take me back.
Take me back to tech.
Take me back, to take me
back, take, oh take me back
to, take me back to tech.
[VOCALIZING]
(SINGING) 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-C-H-N-O-L-O-G and Y comes
after G. It's the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.
Hey!
[APPLAUSE]
[BAND MUSIC PLAYING]

---

### Congratulations, Class of 2023!
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnV2maqw8Iw

Idioma: en

[MUSIC PLAYING]
[CHIMES]

---

### Congratulations, Class of 2022!
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXl87RNlyjk

Idioma: en

[MUSIC PLAYING]
[PEOPLE CHEERING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
 [PEOPLE CHEERING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[CHEERING AND CLAPPING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[CROWD: MIT! 
PRESIDENT REIF: I knew you would be good at it.]
[MUSIC PLAYING] 

---

### Only one, but always different: The MIT Brass Rat
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozde0xdV_Xs

Idioma: en

[MUSIC PLAYING]
When you think about
MIT, most people
immediately jump into
science and engineering.
But there's a lot of things
that make MIT unique.
And probably the most iconic and
amazing tradition that MIT has
is the Brass Rat.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The Brass Rat is a class ring
that MIT gives to its students
at the end of their
sophomore year.
And they wear it for
the rest of their lives.
The tradition of the Brass Rat
actually began back in 1929.
And there has been a committee
of 12 students chosen
every year to design the
Brass Rat ever since.
That's one of the
unique things about MIT
is that students are
the ones who actually
are making the class
ring and making
a legacy for their class.
It's not an MIT administration.
Or it's not a
third-party vendor.
It's students of the class that
decide what goes on the ring.
The committee is
initially selected
in the spring of
their freshman year
from the committee
that precedes them.
And their mission
starts right away.
[CHATTER]
In addition to
being artists, they
need to be business-minded
people to sell the rings.
They need to be marketing and
event planners, because we're
also responsible for
premiering and delivering
the ring to our class.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
There are very few
student-run committee programs
where the ring is
redesigned year to year.
Herff Jones has the privilege
in working with the MIT student
committee in redesigning every
single aspect of the ring
from top to bottom, from
the designing process,
manufacturing, into the
delivery of the actual ring.
Yeah, we design a lot
of different rings
for many different schools
across the country.
But this one is
interesting, specifically
because there's so many
different parts that
are customizable.
And every year there's
six different parts
of the ring that change.
There's the bezel.
There's the skylines.
There's the two shags.
And there's the
Hacker's Map [INAUDIBLE]
in the inside of the ring.
It's tough to take something
from the ideation stage,
like that, that has so much
detail and so much symbolism
to something that's
manufacturable So
that's a unique
opportunity for us to take
a look at our
capabilities and stretch
the limit on those capabilities.
It is custom one-for-one
manufacturing,
where a craftsperson is sitting
down at a station, actually
hand using tools, wheels and
motors, to achieve that look.
So, how light do we need to go?
What are the best
compounds to be using?
What are the best
wheels and abrasives?
So that we can really
get that detail out
in the finished product
and have all of that
available for the students.
In addition to designing
the class ring,
we put a lot of time and
effort into the events
surrounding the class ring.
One of those events is
Premiere, which is essentially
this giant theatrical event
where the class is shown
the ring for the first time.
And it takes place at
the biggest performance
space on campus.
And it's just a
really great event
because it is one of the
few times that, as a class,
everyone is fully together
getting to do something.
So delivery really signifies the
halfway point through our time
here at the Institute.
We all wear really
beautiful gowns and tuxes
and go to a stunning
place in Boston
and celebrate being halfway
through MIT, and get our ring
and take a bunch of
really pretty pictures.
When students get their
ring at Ring Delivery,
I think it's really amazing
that every student can
say there's a little
bit of me in that ring.
What we do on the
committee is that we
try to represent
every single community
and every single
background on the ring.
So that way students
are excited and really
feel like they have
a home here at MIT.
I think it's the
most humbling thing
to be given this opportunity
to add to MIT's history.
And it makes you think a lot
about how much you can do
and how much the
people before you did.
And it's really encouraging.
But at the same time, it shows
you you have a long way to go.
And I am excited.
Typically, at commencement,
the most significant moment
is crossing the podium and
receiving your diploma.
However, at MIT, we like
to do things a little bit
differently.
And one thing that's
really unique at graduation
is that you flip your Brass Rat.
As an undergrad at
MIT, you wear it such
that you're always looking
at the Boston skyline.
At graduation, they tell
you to flip your Brass Rat
so that you can see the
Cambridge skyline, specifically
MIT's campus.
You're going out
into the real world.
And you're going
to use everything
that you've learned at this
institution, both academically
and personally.
I think flipping that
skyline around signifies
the closing of a
chapter here at MIT
and the opening of so many
new doors once you graduate.
Please raise your right hand.
Take off your Brass
Rat and turn in around.
And let the world know
that you are now finally,
finally graduates of MIT.
[CHEERING]

---

### Precious Paper: Commencement and the MIT Diplomas
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdwPeNsMmGM

Idioma: en

[MUSIC PLAYING]
What a lot of people
may not realize
about MIT's commencement
is that the students
get their actual diploma as
they walk across the stage.
And in order to
accomplish that, it's
a very long,
labor-intensive process.
It involves a lot of
people and a lot of people
taking a lot of
pride in the process
and really caring
about the end result.
I have an opportunity to
talk to many of my peers
in the print industry on college
campuses across the country.
And when I talk about the
fact that MIT students receive
their actual diploma at
graduation, most of them
are astounded.
It's not the way
it's generally done.
At MIT, we go through
a tremendous process
that ensures graduates get
their diploma when they walk off
the stage.
The first step in the
process is to order
the stock, and actually,
the diploma cases.
The stock has some standards.
It says Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.
It has some language.
It's missing the
vital information
of the name of the graduate, the
type of degree, and the date.
And we print them here
at MIT in copy tech.
We took over the
diploma process in 2010.
At that time, it was a very
long, drawn-out process
where the names of
the graduating seniors
were done by calligraphers that
registrar's office employed.
So throughout the
entire process there's
multiple checks on the diploma.
There's 5,000 diplomas,
and we go through them
and make sure that they all have
the signatures printed on them,
the seal is there,
because that's
something that is
sometimes missing
and nobody wants a
diploma with a missing--
[LAUGHTER]
--seal.
So people actually put a lot of
effort into making the diplomas
and having them sorted so
it was distributed correctly
to each student.
And when I was filing
the application online,
I was actually asked to type
down the phonetic pronunciation
of my name so they can
pronounce my name correctly
during commencement.
And with that, I think
the school actually
cares a lot about us,
and they did actually
pronounce my name correctly.
And I really appreciate that.
I think part of what makes
MIT such a special place is
the commitment, and the
caring of all the people
that work here.
The caring about the students,
the caring about the process,
the caring about the details.
Filing diplomas alphabetically
isn't, all that interesting
but people are always
willing to do it,
always willing to help out, make
sure that everything is done
perfect for commencement day.
We deal with the freshmen
when he comes in and has
no idea what to
do, and then we get
to see them in the joy of
having actually finished
the MIT education.
That all is encompassed
in that sheet of paper
that they receive,
walk off the stage,
and can actually open up and
show to their family, friends,
and to themselves that they
have graduated from MIT.
[MUSIC PLAYING]

---

### A Community Celebrates: Creating Commencement at MIT
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ2difJaGQs

Idioma: en

[MUSIC PLAYING]
SARAH GALLOP: Commencement--
one of the most exciting days
of the year.
JOHN MCDONALD:
It's not too often
you have a family member or a
loved one graduating from MIT.
ERIC GRIMSON: It's like inviting
somebody into your home.
You want it to look good.
PING LEE: When the rhododendrons
are blooming, it's beautiful.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[HAMMERING]
MATT MCGANN: It's really
logistically challenging.
TED JOHNSON: We, last
year, had 2856 graduates,
and we presented 2300
pounds of diplomas.
[LAUGHTER]
ERIC GRIMSON: Students
get their diploma,
their piece of history, from
the President or the Provost
on stage.
To make that happen is
an incredible amount
of work behind the scenes.
Our registrar staff is
preparing 2500-plus diplomas
to be in exactly
the right order.
MARY CALLAHAN: We're
very careful and precise,
and it's a team effort
by a group of my staff.
There is a great flux.
Students are hoping
to make their diploma.
Some do, some don't.
So we're continually
monitoring advising students.
ELIZABETH COGLIANO
YOUNG: They line up
according to their degree and
school in alphabetical order.
There are 70 station
aides, and then there's
a team of marshals
that then will
lead each of these specific
groups out to Killian Court.
PRESENTER: Please close
any gaps in the line.
Stay close to the
person in front of you.
PRESENTER: Last name?
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]
PRESENTER: Thank you.
AUDIENCE: Li.
PRESENTER: Jessica?
AUDIENCE: Yes.
PRESENTER: Thank you.
PRESENTER: Last name?
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE].
PRESENTER: Thank you, thank you.
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
PRESENTER: Uh-huh.
MARY CALLAHAN: They have
to say their last name,
and we'll be checking
at that point
to make sure the student
hasn't dropped inadvertently
out of line or got
lost or something.
PRESENTER: He is absent
but was marked here.
PRESENTER: Yes.
PRESENTER: OK.
MARY CALLAHAN: My office
keeps the master list
of the marching order.
PRESENTER: Right, thank you.
AUDIENCE: Wu.
PRESENTER: Thank you.
Last name?
AUDIENCE: Wu.
PING LEE: There is checks
upon checks upon checks,
because one student gets out
of line, it's a domino effect.
PRESENTER: Jamila S Smith-Dell.
ELIZABETH COGLIANO YOUNG: As
a graduate crosses the stage,
they are handed
their actual diploma.
Whereas many other
schools, they're
mailed their actual
diploma, and they're
handed a fake certificate
at the time of graduation,
we want the students
to actually come off
the stage holding
their actual degree.
[CHEERING]
So it is a very
flexible, dynamic walking
of 2800 people to Killian Court.
MARY CALLAHAN: I've
always felt that for MIT
to do this for their students
says a lot about MIT.
SARAH GALLOP: Yu Hua.
Elliot S Ishmael.
Rachel M Hoffman.
Athena Y Huang.
Lakeisha Jane.
Students will leave me the
pronunciation of their names
on my voicemail.
MAXIMILIANO ZULOAGA (ON
PHONE): Maximiliano Zuloaga.
SARAH GALLOP:
Maximiliano Zuloaga.
Maximiliano Sebastian Zuloaga.
MICHAEL OWU: The real trick is
getting where the emphasis is
in someone's name.
SARAH GALLOP:
Day-miss W Luh-moge.
Luh-moge.
And if you place emphasis
on the wrong syll-a-bull,
then you can really
botch a name.
Andrew J Unander.
[? Jin-wen ?] Wang.
MICHAEL OWU: It's not just the
complexity of an individual's
name, but it's going from a
Chinese name to an Indian name
to an American name
to a German name.
It's that switching
from one language
to the other that can
sometimes be challenging.
PRESENTER: Camille I Henrot.
PRESENTER: Nigamaa Nayakanti.
PRESENTER: Amy S Ishiguro.
MICHAEL OWU: The
ones who know they
have a difficult name, when
you get it right, they smile.
It's a good feeling.
PRESENTER: Nithin Senthur Kumar.
PRESENTER: Marie P [INAUDIBLE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
TED JOHNSON: One of the greatest
challenges is the scale.
To set up 14,000 chairs
takes hundreds of people.
NORM MAGNUSON: Basically
what you're doing
is taking Killian Court and
making it into a big stadium.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MATT MCGANN: We set up
these great big jumbotrons
PRESENTER: I like to
see a lot of really
happy, waving, smiling,
happy families out there.
PRESENTER: One, pan left,
and go back to the podium.
[INAUDIBLE] one, take one.
MATT MCGANN: For
tens of thousands
of people around
the world who want
to be a part of
this special day,
they can watch this
on the webcast.
PRESENTER: There's waters
and everything inside.
Please have your tickets ready.
Congratulations.
JOHN MCDONALD: We have about
250 volunteers each year
that handle different
functions for our guests--
making sure that they
get into the Court,
having a good place
to sit, having
some information available.
[SIDE CONVERSATION]
PRESENTER: Thank you so much.
PING LEE: We are there to
take care of the guests--
make sure they know
where they're going,
they all have water,
they all have programs,
they all have a seat.
TED JOHNSON: We
order bottled water,
probably nearly 20,000 bottles.
[SIDE CONVERSATION]
This is New England.
The weather can go
to the extremes.
We have on hand 18,000 ponchos.
They are available
to our graduates too,
and we encourage them to
wear under their gowns.
NORM MAGNUSON: The people
that come from other jobs
because they volunteer to do it,
it's really important to them
that all the chairs
are straight,
that everything looks beautiful.
And I think that it gives them
a sense of serving the students,
and it makes them feel
good about their job.
ELIZABETH COGLIANO
YOUNG: It gives time
to pause and sort of think, wow,
what an amazing place to work,
and how lucky I am to be part
of such a great experience.
PRESENTER: Congratulations.
[CHEERING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]

---

### Making Medallions at MIT
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJaryKnfPOQ

Idioma: en

[MUSIC PLAYING]
JAMES HUNTER: Humans have been
using metals and casting metals
for thousands of years.
It's been really important,
and it's really shaped
the way that they've
interacted with our world
and with each other.
And in those thousands of
years, the processes really
haven't changed that much.
So if you were to see the way
that an ancient Greek artisan
made a bronze statue,
which they're so famous,
those methods would
really look a lot
like the methods we use in
the foundry here at MIT today.
We don't make a whole lot
of giant sculptures here,
but we do make a whole lot
of medallions every year
for the graduates of
materials science.
Each year, we have about
100 students graduate
from materials science.
And each one of them
gets a bronze medallion
that has the MIT seal on it.
The creation of these
medallions is really
a community event with mostly
student-led manufacturing.
JENNIFER GLERUM: I have been
coming in pretty routinely
for the past four years,
and I've basically
worked on every step,
I think, at this point.
And whether you've been looking
forward to it for a long time
or you don't even really know
about the medallion tradition,
I think it's a unifying thing
that people really appreciate.
At the end, when you
receive your medallion,
even if you don't
know specifically
the people who went
into doing that work,
you know generally the group
was people you worked with,
people you knew for
all four years at MIT,
and people you saw in
the hallway every day,
people you ate lunch with.
And that means something
different than just
like a mass-produced medallion
in a factory somewhere.
JAMES HUNTER: There's
actually a lot of work
that goes into each
individual medallion.
If you break down
all of the steps
and figure out how
much time it takes,
it's a few hours of work
going into each medallion.
So given that we make
roughly 100 a year,
it's several hundred
hours of labor.
That's one of the
reason why it's
so important that
lots of students
come down and help every year.
JENIER GLERUM: Some people in
the Department of Materials
Science study
battery technology,
or polymers, or biomaterials.
Metallurgy's not really like the
hot new forefront of the field,
but that's what I do.
And I think that's
partly why I kept
coming back to the medallions.
I was learning something that
was relevant to my coursework
and relevant to my interests.
And four years later, I'm still
in the basement of the infinite,
still working on the medallions.
But this time, it's time for
me to receive my medallion,
and I'm so excited about it.

---

### New officers, Old Ironsides
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IToHwWsVvN4

Idioma: en

When I had difficult times
during pilot training
or on difficult flights,
I would look down at my brass rat
and I would say to myself
I made it through 6.002,
I can make it through this.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
On the 9th of June, we're going
to have the opportunity
to commission our cadets and
midshipmen from all three services
— the Navy, the Army, and the Air Force.
Congratulations.
Thank you, Sir.
Good evening.
You'll do another
round on Jeopardy?
[LAUGHTER]
The service will be on
the USS Constitution.
It's a great honor to have the
service on the Constitution
as the Constitution
is the oldest serving
boat in the entire
United States Navy.
Good evening and welcome to
the 2017 joint commissioning ceremony
of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology
Reserve Officer Training Corps.
The MIT community is defined by
its commitment to excellence.
You, whose commitment
to our nation we honor tonight,
embody the very best of MIT.
As you take the next step
as leaders and officers,
don't be afraid to be bold.
Lead, don't shy away from it.
Just lead.
We're all fortunate
as American citizens
to have these cadets who are
willing to step up,
make that commitment,
make that sacrifice,
and sign on to be something
a part of which they know
is absolutely going to involve
sacrifices on their part
whether they're big or small.
[MUSIC PLAYING]

---

### The Red Coats Are Coming: 50 Years of the Cardinal Blazer at MIT
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9URtzACOxE

Idioma: en

MIT is a life-changing experience.
MIT is home.
And MIT has been home for almost
all my life. Certainly ever
since the first years here.
And there are two things in the
life at MIT that stick with you
the rest of your life, and
they're not the things that
you would think.
One of the most important is
the ability to wear a brass rat
and have people know you came
from MIT.
The second, is the Cardinal
Blazer of the 50th Reunion.
One hundred years ago, in 1916
the MIT Class of 1916 graduated.
They were, of course, the very
last class to take all their
coursework in Boston.
They called themselves the,
"Last and Finest Class of Boston
Tech," and they were part and
parcel of the immense celebration
that dedicated the new campus
here in Cambridge.
This is a class that loved to
get together. They didn't wait
five years they had reunions,
it seems, almost every year down
on the Cape. But when they got
to their 50th reunion they
wanted to make it special.
I remember 1966 when I saw the
cardinal blazers for the first
time. There's really nothing
like it. It was such a wonderful
flashy, thing to see alumni
wearing their cardinal blazers.
And for me, I've looked forward
to it for 50 years.
I got to know a number of the
'14, '15, '16 Class quite well.
In fact some were of the age
that they still came and
volunteered in the Museum, and
they all took an interest in
making the history of MIT. And,
all of them were proud wearers
of the red jackets at every
instance they possibly could.
I frequently tell alumni that
the red jacket, after your 50th
reunion, is your MIT uniform
for life. You'll be able to wear
it at MIT function that you go
to ever. I know a lot of alumni
who really treat it and wear it
proudly because it will certainly
identify you, just as much as
your brass rat, as an alumnus
of MIT.
I'm Lester Gould, and we're at
Gould's Clothing in Acton, MA.
My dad began Gould's Clothing in
1934 and we're the official
source for the MIT 50th Reunion
outfits. We're very proud of
that. It's a fascinating group
of people. A group of people who
really have changed the world.
So the MIT outfit consists of a
cardinal red blazer; its
accessorized with what they call
the Freshman Tie, and the crest.
They can choose to have the MIT
buttons put on, instead of the
classic, generic blazer button
that it comes with. It's a great
momento of the occasion.
I think the do feel special when
they come in and try on the
blazer, or receive it when I
send them. I get a lot of emails
saying how great it looks and
how pleased they are.
I always tell class officers and
reunion committees that they
reject MIT tradition at their
peril. And the example that I
give them is the Class of 1923
who's class officers at their
50th reunion decided that they
wanted to be different. They
voted to wear white jackets
instead of red jackets, in spite
of the by now established
tradition of the red jacket.
Well, they looked very impressive
but, at the Commencement Luncheon
when their class meeting was held,
all of the incumbent officers
where voted out of office and a
new slate of officers put in
because people really were not
happy with a white jacket instead
of a red. There is not another
MIT class since then that has
gone to something other than
the red jacket. It really is a
very powerful tradition.
It must be important to all of
us. It certainly is to me.
At MIT we tell stories about our
past to inspire us to do great
things for the future and I have
my fingers crossed that the
graduating class of 2016 will
dream up some tradition that
50 years from now when they come
back to celebrate their 50th
reunion, when they are wearing
their cardinal blazers for the
first time, that they have
thought to start a tradition
that connects now 150 years of
students, really 200 years,
if you will, of MIT student life.

---

### MIT President L. Rafael Reif Charge to the Class of 2022
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kzfbMGPf-I

Idioma: en

[APPLAUSE]
RAFAEL REIF: Thank
you, Temi,
and thanks to you and to AJ for
your thoughtful and inspiring
remarks, both of you.
And to Dr.
Okonjo-Iweala, thank you
for showing all of us how much
good one MIT graduate can do,
thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
Now, it is my turn.
To the terrific graduates
of 2022, congratulations.
[APPLAUSE]
My job today, as you heard,
is to deliver a charge to you.
And I will get to
that in a minute.
But first, I want to
recognize the people who
helped you charge this far.
To everyone who came here
this morning to celebrate
our graduates, welcome to MIT.
To everyone joining us
online from around the world,
we're so happy you
could be with us.
And to the parents and
families of today's graduates
here and everywhere, a huge
congratulations to you as well.
[APPLAUSE]
This day is a joyful result
of your loving support
and sacrifice.
And for that, you have our
deepest respect and admiration.
I also know that a few
years ago, many of you
may have thought that
you had succeeded
in sending your offspring away
for college or grad school.
But things didn't turn
out exactly that way,
so please know how
much we appreciate you.
Now to our new
graduates, it has always
puzzled me when events
like this are referred
to as commencement exercises.
Because they involve
so much sitting down.
So I'm going to follow
[? Tammy ?] and start
with a little something
to get our hearts moving.
At MIT, one thing we
understand is the importance
of distinguishing the
signal from the noise.
But sometimes if the
noise is noisy enough,
it actually becomes the signal.
We all know that getting through
MIT is not a solo performance.
In fact, it usually takes an
orchestra of loving assistance.
So I would like each of
you to hold in your mind
now all the people
who helped you
along the way, your
family, your role
models, your professors,
your teaching
assistants, your friends.
In a moment, I hope that,
together, we can send them
a signal in a very noisy way.
To do that, it's easy.
You will need to just say
two words as loud as you can,
thank you.
You got it?
Just those two words, thank you.
OK, now ready, on the
count of three, 1, 2, 3--
AUDIENCE: Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
RAFAEL REIF: Look, you are
lucky that I had already
agreed to gray this
as personal record.
That first attempt was pretty
good, but you can do better.
I believe in you.
So I'm going to give
you another chance.
And this time, let's
try it with your hands
up in the air, all the way up.
Now, nice and loud, so that
even noisy for those online.
1, 2, 3--
AUDIENCE: Thank you.
RAFAEL REIF: And
thank you right back.
[APPLAUSE]
So why did I ask you to do that?
I knew it would create a
brief pleasant sensation
for the people you
love, but I was also
after something deeper.
Just ask anyone from Brain and
Cognitive Sciences, Course--
AUDIENCE: 9.
RAFAEL REIF: I was afraid
you didn't know that.
Course 9, of course, as anyone
from Course 9 can tell you,
research indicates that
simply expressing gratitude
does wonderful
things to your brain.
It gets different
parts of your brain
to act in a synchronized way.
It lights up reward pathways.
It gives you even a
little shot of dopamine.
In other words expressing
gratitude and appreciation
for other people is
good for our brains,
and it's also very
good for our hearts.
We are living in a difficult and
complicated moment in history.
All of us, all of us could
use a reliable device
for feeling better.
So now thanks to brain
science, Thanks to Course 9,
you have one.
The gratitude amplifier
is unbreakable.
Its battery never dies.
It'll never try to
sell you anything.
You can use it every day
forever, and it's free.
It is a graduation , present you
can take with you anywhere even
if all your moving boxes
are already taped shut.
I am so extremely grateful
to have all of you
here on Killion Court
on this wonderful day
for this tremendously
important occasion.
I expect that those of you
graduating may come to this day
with mixed feelings, with
excitement for your next steps,
but with some sense that you did
not get enough time on campus,
enough time with your
professors, enough time,
especially with each other.
For that reason,
I am particularly
grateful that you're
here in person.
And looking back, I'm
also grateful for how much
I have learned from
members of this class.
I want to focus on one
effort that several
of today's graduates
helped to lead,
an effort to create an
antidote to intensity.
We all know that MIT is intense.
That is why we love it.
MIT attracts intense
people, like all of you.
And then we push
each other, and we
inspire each other intensely.
But everyone needs a break
from the intensity sometimes.
Different students
find different ways
to relive it, music,
sports, ballroom dancing.
And some students
even find relief
by inventing ways to relieve
stress for other people.
A few years ago,
before the pandemic,
a group of students on the
Undergraduate Association
looked around and concluded that
what they maybe really needed
was a casual place in
the middle of campus
where students
could stop, relax,
hang out, study if need be, and
get free food 24 hours a day.
When that space freed
up in room 26-110,
the Banana Lounge was born.
[CHEERING]
Yes, yes, the Banana Lounge.
For those who have
not been there yet
the Banana Lounge is a long
sunny room near the main campus
crossroads.
It is full of
colorful paintings,
great big leafy plants,
LEGO sets, beanbag chairs,
and boxes and boxes of bananas.
Now, as a native of
Venezuela, I take--
[CHEERING]
I love that.
I take certain things
very seriously.
And one of them
is tropical fruit.
If they had asked me, it would
have been all about mangoes.
[CHEERING]
Thank you for that.
But of course,
with a mango, there
is that huge slippery,
ridiculous seed.
As the students
determined very quickly,
the mangoes simply
could not compete
with the elegant engineering
of the seedless, self-packaged
banana.
In its charming quirkiness,
the Banana Lounge is very MIT.
And it turns out to be very
MIT in every other way too.
The students began with
a prototype lounge,
tested it in
real-world conditions,
and optimized it for
efficiency and comfort.
They evaluated competing fruit
for comparative nutritional
content, analyzed alternative
supply chains, determined
the ideal green/yellow
ratio in purchasing,
and worked to minimize
the per banana unit cost.
They tried and calibrated
the temperature and humidity
of their banana inventory
in real time online.
And they established protocols
to freeze excess supply,
and to capture the
value as banana bread.
They secured funding from
a very generous member
of the class of 1987,
Brad Feld, who paid
for all of this year's bananas.
Thank you, Brad.
[CHEERING]
And they developed the
cutting edge concept
of free coffee,
which in their words
was critical to stimulating
the lounge atmosphere
and promoting conversation.
Already, the banana has--
the lounge has served
more than 500,000 bananas.
Two of them were mine.
And it has generated a
very significant number
of banana-induced naps.
The students have done all
this essentially themselves,
applying their MIT skills, and
the most delightful MIT values.
They identified an
unarticulated problem,
there to try a crazy idea,
worked incredibly hard,
and in the process, they built
a wonderful, tropical, perfectly
improbable, new MIT institution.
And we could not
be more grateful.
So it is in that spirit that
I deliver my charge to you.
I'm going to use a word that
feels very comfortable at MIT,
although it has taken on
a troubling new meaning
elsewhere.
But I know that our graduates
will know what I mean.
After you depart for
your new destinations,
I want to ask you to hug
the world until you make
the world a little
more like MIT,
more daring and more passionate,
more rigorous, inventive,
and ambitious, more humble, more
respectful, more generous, more
kind.
And because the
people of MIT also
like to fix things
that are broken,
as you strive to hug
the world, please
try to heal the world too.
Our society is like a big,
complicated family in the midst
of a terrible argument.
I believe we can each try to
make it better by finding ways
to listen to each
other with compassion,
to focus on achieving
our shared objectives,
and to try constantly
to remind each other
of our common humanity.
I know you will find your own
ways to help with this healing
too.
This morning we
share with the world
almost 3,700 new
graduates who are
ready for this urgent
and timeless problem set.
You came to MIT with exceptional
qualities of your own.
And now after years of focused
and intense dedication,
you leave us equipped with
a distinctive set of skills,
and steeped in this community,
deepest values, a commitment
to excellence, integrity, rising
on your own merits, boldness,
humility, an open spirit of
collaboration, a strong desire
to make a positive impact,
and a sense of responsibility
to make the world
a better place.
So now go out there, join
the world, find your calling,
solve the unsolvable, invent
the future, take the high road
try always to
share your bananas,
and you will continue
to make your family,
including your
MIT family, proud.
On this wonderful day, I
am proud of all of you,
to every one of the members of
the graduating class of 2022.
Please accept my best wishes
for a happy and successful life
and career.
Before I end my dear
graduates, congratulations.
[APPLAUSE]
[AUDIO LOGO]

---

### Poet Kealoha Wong '99 speaks to MIT graduates at special ceremony
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HFL2ho2p7M

Idioma: en

[APPLAUSE]
KEALOHA WONG: How's it going?
[CHEERS]
Cool.
[LAUGHS] Seriously, it's so
good to be back here on campus.
I've got to say,
graduating from here,
then chasing a pipe dream to
become a professional poet
was probably the
most roundabout way
to be invited back
to speak here at MIT.
[LAUGHTER]
But here we are.
So thank you, President Reif.
Thank you, administration,
faculty, distinguished alumni,
and trustees.
Thank you to the grandparents,
the parents, and the siblings.
The uncles and aunties, the
friends and extended families.
All of you are here because
you were a significant part
of this journey.
All the support, the
wisdom, the advice,
and the love you've given made
this possible for these MIT
grads, the class
of 2020 and 2021.
With all my heart,
congratulations.
[CHEERS, APPLAUSE]
You made it here today,
and so today, for a moment,
I want you to think
about your life.
I want you to think
about what you stand for
and realize that all the
mistakes you've ever made
and all the expectations
that have ever
been placed on you by the people
you don't and the people you
don't, they all mean
nothing in the long term.
For every year you
live, the universe
will be around for
billions and billions.
And for every
friend you've made,
there are billions yet to be
born that you will never meet.
In the grand scheme of
things, we are nobody.
And yet at the same
time, we are everything.
We are X and Y chromosomes.
We are GCA and T genomes.
We are complex carbohydrates,
simple proteins, soft tissue,
hard-wired neurons.
We are strong bonds
linked in nervous systems.
And while this Earth's surface
is covered with 60%-something
saltwater, we are walking
bags made of 60%-something
saltwater, merely mimicking
the environment that we evolved
from.
We are the lump sum of
billions of years of evolution,
an accumulation of mutations
from single-celled organisms
to multicellular animals.
From tiny sea creatures
to fish to amphibians to
reptiles to mammals
to primates to humans.
From all of these
ancestors, from
the first anatomically
modern Homo
sapiens that emerged in the
lush savannas of East Africa,
and every single
one of our ancestors
who survived and thrived, who
migrated around this planet,
they all led to each and
every single one of us
right here, right now
converge in Killian Court
at this single point in
the space-time continuum
to celebrate your
accomplishment.
[CHEERS, APPLAUSE]
So for this moment,
I humbly ask--
I humbly ask you to
reflect on your ancestors.
From some of mine in
Hawaii, [SPEAKING HAWAIIAN]
the branches grow
because of the trunk,
which is our way of saying
that, without our ancestors,
we would not be here.
So let your ancestors be
here with us through you.
Know that we exist
because they did too.
Know that, through
them, there are
millions of stories that
led to you and the knowledge
that you've accumulated.
From them and from
this institution
is an accumulation of knowledge
from around this world
over thousands and
thousands of years.
You sit on the tip of the spear
frontier of the next generation
of thinkers, the next
generation of innovators,
the next generation of leaders.
You all represent that.
The roughly 25 under--
I'm sorry, the 2,500 of
you here celebrating today,
and the roughly 3,500 of you
out there celebrating elsewhere,
we're all here for you.
The members of the worldwide
classes of 2020 and 2021
and the MIT chapter of humanity,
each and every single one of us
align in this epic poem
we are all telling.
So the question is,
what will you stand for?
In the short line that
will summarize your life,
how will you spend your days?
Who will you make
metaphors with,
and who will you rhyme
with, and what role
will you play in our stanza?
Because on a very real level,
all of us here collectively,
we are ancestors in training,
the future in the making.
For we will forever shift
the way that humans behave
through the technology
and the policy
that we make, through the
scientific discoveries
and the progress in industries
and the problems that we solve
and the art that
we are a part of.
Through the people that we
touch, and through the people
that they touch,
and the people that
touch us in a positive
feedback loop of brilliance.
Together, we are like a
thermonuclear fusion reactor,
a release of energy in
this plasma of people,
blasting out particles
of inner genius
out with an energy equal to the
amount of mass converted times
the speed of light squared.
Our limits will stretch
as far as we dare.
And between all of us,
together, if you add up
all of our lifetime
contributions to society,
we're out here making
some serious heat.
[LAUGHTER]
We're collectively doing this.
[CHEERS, APPLAUSE]
Trust me.
So the question is,
what's up with you?
What are you trying to do?
How are you going to use
your mass, the energy you've
been given, how are you
going to use your talents?
Because on a human level,
on an individual level,
we are all wandering particles.
We're all wandering elements
in this periodic table
of the universe, barely
noticeable in the grand scheme.
Chances are that,
200 years from now,
hardly anybody will
remember our name,
and the work we did on this
planet will have faded.
And maybe one or some of
you will shift humanity
in some meaningful way.
And for those of
you who do, shoot.
Make us proud of you.
But for the rest of us, we may
make some esoteric discovery
or some small contribution
to our industries,
but most likely, our
most significant impact
will be in our communities
and in our families.
Our impact will
be felt in the way
that we treat others and the
way that we treat ourselves.
The humanity that we
express during our lives
will echo as a singular note
in the infinite symphony
of the cosmos.
And trust me, there will
be meaningful friendships
and deep laughter along the way.
We will experience drama and
sorrow and tragedy in our days.
There'll be broken bones, broken
contracts, and broken hearts.
There'll be moments of
clarity and inspiring art.
You'll feel both pride
and disappointment.
You'll feel times of
discontent and times
of disconnect and
times of depression.
There'll be love and joy
and peak experiences shining
brighter than all
of your other times
trudging through
the daily mundane.
And I wish for you to live
all of your multifaceted human
experiences presently and fully
because, soon enough, they
will all fade, all of them.
Even this MIT experience, as
vivid as it was in real life,
and as high def
as it was online,
your mind, your memory,
your sense of what this was
will fade.
I have a confession to make.
I don't remember most
of what I learned here.
[LAUGHTER]
[CHEERS, APPLAUSE]
You, too?
OK, cool.
Don't tell my family.
They still believe
I still got it.
But it's true.
I know that at one point, I
could calculate the IHTFP out
of a differential equation.
[LAUGHTER]
That I could break down
with mathematical precision
what was going on in a
nuclear reactor core.
That at some point,
I could have told you
the difference between Laplace
and Fourier transforms.
[LAUGHTER]
MIT transformed my mind.
But let's say you gave me a
pop quiz today in any of that.
Any of that.
Let me retake any
one of those exams
that I took when I was here.
Start the clock for an hour.
Heck, make it open book
like how it used to be.
You know what would happen?
I would look at that
first sheet of paper,
with all those Greek letters
and Hindu Arabic numbers on it,
and the minutes would
continue to tick.
I would flip through
the pages, and I
would start to daydream about
the people that I knew here.
The countless hours
that we spent together
would flash as a
mash-up of greatest
hits of late-night
talks and long walks
over and along the Charles.
I'll try to remember the
specific pathways that
took to the Infinite
Corridor during a typical day
to get from lobby 7 to building
26, then to building 4,
only to have to circle back
through 10, 3, and 7 to end up
at building 5 without ever
going outside to expose myself
to the Cambridge snow.
[LAUGHTER]
I would giggle at the fact that
I walked barefoot around campus
the first couple of
months that I was here
because I wasn't quite
yet ready to give up
that part of my
Hawaii upbringing.
I would recall some of the
hacks that I witnessed,
like the time when folks
dressed this dome up
as R2D2 a couple of
days before Star Wars:
The Phantom Menace was released.
I'll reflect on
all of my crushes
and all of my roommates
and the closeness
and the growing pains
of our coming of age.
I would smile over the
friendships that I made,
and I would be grateful for the
way that MIT changed my brain.
And I would turn
that test in blank.
And it's all good because I
know that if I really wanted
to relearn that stuff, I could.
[LAUGHTER]
And maybe one day, this
hypothetical outcome
will apply to you, too.
But no matter what, I
want you to never forget
two of the most important
things that we learned here.
One, we learned how to
believe in ourselves,
that at some point, we
had the nerve to believe
that we belonged at this place.
That we worked our
butts off till it
hurt, and we kept believing
to near points of breaking,
and we pushed our
limits, and we graduated.
And two, we learned
how to learn here.
We learned how to science,
how to hypothesize,
how to test our ideas, how
to methodically identify
our conscience and
change our variables.
We learned how to circle back
and tweak our hypotheses,
to incorporate our
findings, repeat the cycle,
and tweak how to
develop our ideas,
and communicate them
to our colleagues.
We mastered that here.
We've proven that we can
learn almost anything.
So my challenge to you is this.
Learn how to be a
better person, how to be
the best version of yourself.
Learn how to be kind,
thoughtful, and respectful.
Learn how to lead, and
learn how to follow.
Learn how to truly
listen without constantly
thinking about what
you're going to say next.
Learn how to make decisions
with a healthy mix of logic
and good intentions.
Learn how to ask
meaningful questions.
Learn how to build a life full
of love, growth, and passion.
Learn what brings you and other
people joy, and do that a lot.
Learn what it takes to make your
dreams come true, and do that.
You'll do that the
most, whether it's
career or relationships
or family or self-growth
or contribution to society or
philanthropy or social change
or designing things or
scientific discoveries
or helping others or
whatever else makes you tick.
I wish for you to walk through
this life knowing that you gave
it all that you had to give to
experience everything you ever
deemed important.
I challenge you
to treat your life
as the longest, most important
epic problem set you've ever
been presented with.
And if, one day, if you ever
feel the heavy brunt weight
of regret, if the pressures of
career or family or money start
to get to you, or
when your body,
your non-redundant single point
of failure system of a body
starts to breakdown like a Chevy
Nova with 150,000 miles on it--
when those moments
come, treat your life
like a science experiment.
Form a hypothesis for your
life choices, test your ideas,
methodically identify
the constants,
and change the
variables in your life.
Circle back and
tweak your hypotheses
to incorporate your findings.
Change your life through
the decisions that you make.
Break the generational
or negative cycles
in your life that
don't suit you.
And make sure you communicate
your findings with your loved
ones.
Let them know what
you know so they
can learn from your
successes and mistakes.
Never forget that we are
ancestors in training
because one day, when we
are done on this plane,
all that will remain are
the moments that we shared
and the ideas that we spread
and the legacy that we left.
So make sure you act on
everything significant
that you've ever thought
because, as far as I can tell,
this life is all that we've got.
And when we are done, this flesh
we call our own returns home
to the earth when we dissipate.
Our water evaporating to
rain down and circulate
while our carbon, nitrogen,
oxygen, and phosphorous recycle
back into the life cycles
of bacteria, fungi, plants,
and animals--
and archaea, protozoa,
and [? cromesa ?] for all
you biology nerds.
[LAUGHTER]
While this Earth,
hurtling through space,
will freeze and boil
as it has for eons
as it orbits the sun,
which in 5 billion years
will transform into a red giant
and scorch all life as we know
it, its last task before
it fizzles into a whimper
remembered by nobody.
Or maybe charted by aliens as
they peer through telescopes,
logging our sun as a piece
of data that came and went.
And these aliens, whoever
they may or may not be--
shoot, I want them to
think about their lives.
I want you to think
about your life
at you study me through
your primitive telescopes.
And I want everybody--
the aliens, you, and me--
to realize that even
when our hearts break,
or when work gets rough, for
when the mortgage or rent is
due, and when someone
somewhere says something
stupid about you, when things
aren't going like how we wanted
them to, when your health isn't
right, when you lose passion
in your life, for when your
laughter isn't as deep,
and it seems as if the universe
is conspiring against you.
Even in the face of
global pandemics,
climate change, political
corruption, and perpetual war.
In the face of racism,
sexism, classism,
and-- insert really
bad word here ism--
no matter how hard life may get
for you or for other people,
zoom out.
Zoom out, and realize that
all the evil in this world
is transient.
Heck, all the good in
this world is transient.
You, me, all of
us are transient.
You will not be you in the grand
scheme of things, which makes
all your suffering temporary.
Which makes your ecstasy
the most exciting thing
worth remembering as part of
the universe expressing itself
in one giant celebration
known as the Big Bang.
We are its aftermath's sigh, its
alibi for not having a reason.
You are the universe
learning about itself.
You are the universe asking
itself why it's here.
You will soon be the universe,
not learning or asking
anything.
You were everything and
nothing at the same time,
and no matter how
hard it is to admit,
no matter how afraid we get
and how much we want to deny
the truth-- well, the truth is--
truth is, we're going to die.
Maybe not tonight
tomorrow or next year,
but sooner or later,
we're all going to die.
But the truth is
hard to swallow.
And so we do everything we
can to avoid the big picture
because the big
picture is paralyzing.
So we focus our eyes on the
day-to-day dramas of our lives.
But not today.
Today, I want you to think
about your life right here.
Not here, your MIT
commencement ceremony
in Cambridge, Massachusetts, but
here, this world, planet Earth,
here, this galaxy,
this universe.
We are not cavemen anymore.
There are no saber-tooth
tigers lurking in the shadows,
yet most of us
cling to our fears
of the animals we evolved from.
What are we so afraid of?
We've been etching
the same patterns
in the same predictable
places for years.
Why do we live the
way they tell us to?
And man, who the
heck are they anyway?
It's about time we start
doing what's in our hearts
because that's
all we really got.
I want you to think
about all the things
you wish you could do.
And tonight, I want
you to do one of them,
and tomorrow, another.
Our lives are
temporary art pieces.
We are works in progress.
So I say paint your butt off.
Use fluorescent yellows
and reds in the places
where there aren't any color.
Dance for the moment.
Sculpt your life out of soil,
and make the universe smile.
Be the expressive
process that is humanity.
Today, I want you to
think about your life.
And tomorrow, y'all-- y'all,
go on up there and live it.
Thank y'all.
Congratulations!
[CHEERS, APPLAUSE]
[CHIME]

---

### Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Address to MIT Class of 2022
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYahSj_kC3E

Idioma: en

NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA:
Well, thank you
for that more than
wonderful introduction.
It is so lovely to be
here with you today.
President Reif, Chancellor
Nobles, Provost Barnhart,
Ms. Greene, President of
the MIT Corporation, alumni.
Hello classes of
'70, '71, and '72.
Faculty, staff,
parents, friends.
And most importantly,
the graduates of MIT's
class of 2022.
I could not be more
honored or more
delighted to be here with
you in Killian Court today.
It is a bittersweet day,
because this is also
the last commencement
of a wonderful president
and a good friend, Rafael Reif.
I want to--
I want to take just a
moment to pay tribute
to his academic, institutional,
and thought leadership
of these past ten years.
The MIT model which
President Reif
has done so much to develop is
influenced in higher education
and research around the world.
A testament to this is a
number of former MIT professors
and staff, now in
senior positions
at other top universities.
To take just a few examples,
former associate provost
and vice president for
research, Alice Gass,
is now President of
Imperial College London,
having previously served in
that role at Lehigh University.
Subra Suresh, former Dean of
the School of Engineering,
became president of
Carnegie Mellon University
after a stint in the
Obama administration
and now leads the prestigious
Nanyang Technological
University in Singapore.
All of you will remember
provost Martin, Marty, Schmidt,
who was recently appointed
president of Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute.
And of course I have
to mention someone
I remember as a young professor
of environmental studies,
and no other than the Department
of Urban Studies and Planning.
Former MIT chancellor and
current Harvard Professor,
Larry Bacow.
President Reif symbolizes
what is so respected
about MIT around the world.
Human-centered science and
innovation for the challenges
of today.
But also looking ahead to
the challenges of tomorrow
and the decades to come.
Rafael, we wish you well
in your new endeavors.
As I stand here, memories
are flooding back.
On my first day of graduate
school as an MCP student
in DUSP in September 1976--
I must give a shout
out to DUSP now.
Hello, DUSP.
I remember going to the
International Students
Office, worried
about how I was going
to cover my tuition and
board for the second semester
and thereafter.
I was met with wide
smiles and open arms
by the wonderful
staff in that office.
They told me not to
worry, and that once they
get an international student
in, their job is to make sure
that student graduates.
They would help
me find the means,
and RA or TA position or alone.
They were proud, they said,
that international students
had one of the
best loan repayment
records among all students.
So I shouldn't worry, I should
just concentrate on my studies.
They had my back.
You can imagine what a warm
and fuzzy feeling that gave me,
especially since
I could reliably
say that not every
Cambridge-based institution
was as welcoming at that time.
So began my love for this great
institution on whose grounds
we stand today.
In 1981, I again stood
where we are today
having finished my PhD
in regional economics
and development, under the
supervision of a crackerjack
dissertation committee led by
professors Alan Stroud, Karen
Polansky, and Lloyd Rudman.
That was as caring
as it was demanded.
I was heavily pregnant,
virtually nine months,
with my first child when I
defended my dissertation.
Writing the dissertation
itself had been rocky,
with lots of tearful weekends
as I struggled with my data
in SPSS.
Does anyone remember that?
I clearly remember Allen
telling me after I first--
I submitted my first chapter--
that it was below
my usual standard
and that I should tear
it up and start again.
I spent all weekend in
tears before picking myself
up and starting over.
In fact, I'm convinced
that they only
let me get away with the
defense because of that baby.
I let them know I
was due any moment,
and that I could have
the baby that day,
maybe right there
during the defense.
They looked terrified.
And you can imagine
how quickly it all
went so they could
get me out of there.
By the way, this is
a good trick to try.
But I'm sorry, it
won't work for you men.
MIT has helped make
me who I am today.
I know how hard each of
you has worked to get here.
I hope that as you embark
on this journey called life,
you will return one day,
as I have done today,
with good feelings
and these same words.
MIT helped make
me who I am today.
On top of the demands
of one of the world's
most famously rigorous academic
institutions, your time at MIT
has been disrupted by
the COVID-19 pandemic.
All of you have had
to adjust and adapt.
A pandemic is not something I
had to deal with as a student,
but my education
was also interrupted
when I was young by the
Civil War in Nigeria.
The Nigeria Biafra war.
I did not go to school for three
years from the ages of 12 to 15
as my family ran from place
to place in Biafra to escape
the bombs and the shelling.
The images we see from
the war in Ukraine
today remind me of the suffering
I witnessed and endured then.
My family made it through,
but lost everything
and had to start over.
I was able to go back to school,
but my parents made clear to me
that education is a privilege.
And with that privilege
comes responsibility.
The responsibility to use it for
others, not just for yourself.
And that is why
today when I think
of the children of
Uvalde, I feel pain.
I feel grief.
As a mother and a grandmother,
I feel devastated.
That lesson about education,
which these children
have been so
deprived, is a lesson
I carry with me every day.
Now, I'm not here to tell you
what to do with your lives.
But I'm here to say
that the world needs
your smarts, your skills,
your adaptability,
and the great training you
have received here at MIT.
The world needs you for
innovation, for policy-making,
for connecting the dots so
implementation can actually
happen.
So let me say a few words
on combining science,
social science,
and public policy
to meet the challenges
of our future.
The difficult and
uncertain times we live in
have been called
a public crisis,
simultaneous compounding
crisis in the economy,
the environment, public health,
and international security.
The COVID-19 pandemic
is still with us,
soaring food costs
are threatening hunger
in poor countries, even
before the war in Ukraine
made the situation much worse.
And heat waves from
South Asia to Europe
are already luring this
season's farm yields
in countries like India.
Yet another reminder that
climate change is here.
MIT, the university, its
faculty and researchers,
its students and you, its
freshly minted graduates,
sit squarely in the
middle of providing
the multi-faceted
solutions we need
to the challenges of the global
commons that we confront today.
Let me explain why.
A common thread running through
many of these challenges
is the central role for science.
We need technological innovation
to get us out of the holes
we're in.
At the same time, for
the kinds of problems
we are dealing
with, new inventions
and new ways of doing
things will have an impact,
mainly to the extent they
are scaled up across dividing
lines of income and geography.
We don't just need vaccines.
We need shots in arms
across the world to be safe.
We need new renewable
technologies
that fuels not just
in rich countries
to fight climate change,
but also in poor ones.
We need new agricultural
technologies
built to local
conditions and culture
if we are to fight hunger.
In other words,
we need innovation
but we also need access,
equity, diffusion.
We need to get
the science right,
and we need to get the domestic
and international policy
frameworks, the
incentive structures,
and the public and private
investments right too.
MIT, of course, is
perched at the cutting
edge of both science, social
science, and public policy.
To buttress the
case I'm making, I
want to look at some
scientific and public policy
issues associated with the
COVID-19 response, as well
as climate change.
And as a proud MIT
alum, I will also
look at how the
MIT community has
been working on these
21st century problems
since at least the 1970s.
And as Director General of
the World Trade Organization,
I shall link this to where
multilateralism and trade has
been a force for good,
amplifying and diffusing
new ideas and new technology.
But I'll also comment on where
international cooperation has
been falling short in
getting policy frameworks
and solutions right.
Turning now to the
global challenges,
it's clear that if a
future president writes
big preoccupations, getting
the innovation we need,
and speeding up the
time between new ideas
and commercialized products are
directly relevant to the road
we're traveling now as a global
community and to the road
ahead.
When we look at the
COVID-19 response,
we see we had good science,
but not so good politics
and public policy.
We knew a pandemic was overdue.
Bill Gates even gave a famous
Ted Talk about the risks
back in 2015.
But we were not ready.
This has been made painfully
clear by the roughly 15 million
excess deaths worldwide over
the past two and a half years,
as estimated by the World
Health Organization.
At the national and
international levels,
we hadn't made the necessary
health system investments,
nor had we put in place
the governance arrangements
and early warning systems
needed to identify and contain
potentially dangerous
new pathogens.
In other words, policy-wise,
pandemic preparedness
was on a global level
totally missing.
But we were fortunate
that scientists
were better prepared.
Science enabled us to
address a global public bad,
thereby saving
millions of lives.
Safe and effective
vaccines came online
in the space of mere months
after the novel coronavirus
was identified.
But this seemingly
overnight success
was years, even
decades, in the making.
And MIT was at the
heart of that story.
At MIT's center for cancer
research in the 1970s,
back when Kendall
Square was still
mostly warehouses and factories,
future institute professor
nobel laureate Philip Sharp
discovered RNA splicing.
His work revealed the
potential of messenger RNA,
the technology behind the most
effective COVID-19 vaccines.
Around the same time, another
future institute professor,
Robert Langer, DSc in chemical
engineering, MIT class of 1974,
began decades of pioneering
work on the drug delivery
of large molecules,
including mRNA.
In 2010, he participated
in the founding
of a company that aimed to
do something totally new
to develop modified
RNA therapeutics.
That companies
struggled for years.
High on promise, but low
on cash, until the COVID-19
pandemic struck and
Moderna's vaccine
made it a household name.
But even though the
world got the innovation
it needed and it was
successfully commercialized,
we fell short on access.
When vaccines
became available, we
did not prioritize the
most vulnerable populations
in the world and we
did not prioritize
all front-line workers
in all countries.
Instead, much of 2021 saw what
WHO Director General Tedros
Ghebreyesus described
as, and I quote,
a handful of rich
countries gobbling up
the anticipated supply
as manufacturers
sold to the highest bidder,
while the rest of the world
scrambled for scraps.
Unquote.
As with life-saving
HIV/AIDS drugs 20 years ago,
people in poor countries,
especially in Africa,
found themselves at
the back of the queue
for COVID-19 vaccines.
The COVAX facility, which I'm
proud to say I participated
in birthing as an
ambitious attempt
to avoid a repeat
of that experience
by getting vaccines
of poor countries
at the same time as rich ones,
was frustrated in its goals
by vaccine
nationalism and a lack
of international solidarity.
While global vaccine
supplies have now increased,
the lag in getting
these to poor countries
allowed apathy and
vaccine hesitancy
to set in, leading
to a situation where
on the back of weak
health systems, only 17%
of people in Africa and 13% of
people in low income countries
have been fully vaccinated,
compared to 75% of people
in high income countries.
Since we all know that no one
is safe until everyone is safe,
the risk of more dangerous
variants and pathogens
remains real because of
this public policy lapse
and the lack of timely
international cooperation.
Let me talk a bit
about climate change.
Climate change is another
problem that we cannot solve
without scientific
innovation and diffusion.
We have made real progress.
Solar and wind
generation costs have
plummeted with trade and
international competition
playing important roles
in driving costs down.
But storing that energy
is still expensive,
so we still need
breakthroughs there,
like we do on cutting emissions
from marine and air transport
from industry, from buildings,
from agriculture and land use.
We also need more uptake of
existing green technologies.
For all the Teslas we might
see around us here, only 4.5%
of vehicles in the
US are electric.
But MIT researchers at
the forefront of research
on batteries and energy storage.
The MIT Energy
Initiative is working
to meet energy needs
whilst minimizing
climate and other
environmental impacts.
The Future Energy
System Center is
doing research on
every imaginable
aspect of the low
carbon transition,
from how to produce hydrogen at
scale to assessing zero carbon
options for moving freight
over long distances.
The D Lab is helping to bring
energy to off-grid communities.
MIT urban planners
are thinking about how
to make the megacities
of the future
both livable and sustainable.
So science and innovation
are hard at work
to help bring solutions to an
existential threat of our time.
A threat that
science also helped
to elucidate with the wonderful
work of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change.
But to make these innovations
transformative and central
to decarbonization of the
world, international cooperation
is key.
And once again, the
world is failing.
Six months ago at COP26 in
Glasgow, where I participated,
it became clear that
the rich world is again
unable and unwilling to fulfill
the pledges made in the Paris
Accords of 2015 to put together
financing of $100 billion
a year, at a time when we spent
$14 trillion on fiscal stimulus
to fight the pandemic.
Which is a good public policy
response, don't get me wrong.
It was the right thing to do.
But if you can
mobilize $14 trillion,
I don't understand why you
cannot mobilize $100 billion
to support poor countries
whose contributions to carbon
emissions in any case
have been minimal.
To help them make the transition
to a low carbon future
by taking advantage of new
and renewable technologies.
It is these kinds of public
policy failures, these lapses
in harnessing science and
innovation for the greater
public good, that
drew me to the career
that I pursued in
international development.
The question that
I asked myself was,
how can we allow people
to die or to remain poor
when the science and innovation
to change their lives exist?
And what can I do about it?
My training at MIT
gave me the framework
I needed to pursue the
career path I followed
in international development.
It was training that would
enable me as a practitioner
and policymaker
to connect science
and innovation to people's
lives and to make a difference.
Just a couple of examples.
At the World Bank, I
had the opportunity
to bring the innovative
approach of sites and services
development that we studied
in DUSP to poor urban dwellers
in Spanish Town, Jamaica,
to enable them build
their own homes
incrementally over time,
thereby creating an asset
and creating wealth for them
for the first time
in their lives.
When I worked on agriculture,
it was bringing improved seeds
and new agricultural
technologies
to poor farmers in Africa
and the Middle East,
to enable them improve
their incomes and household
welfare at a pace they could
not have imagined possible.
In Nigeria, as
finance minister, I
am working with the
minister of agriculture.
We implemented
budgetary policies
that put mobile phones in the
hands of two million women
farmers so that through
their electronic wallets,
they could directly receive
government vouchers that
enabled them to access
improved seeds and fertilizers
and improve their
yields and production.
With respect to
finance, we put in place
a technology-based financial
management solution
with biometrics that
enabled government
to weed out millions
of ghost workers
who also became
ghost pensioners,
and we saved over
a billion dollars
in fraudulent salary
and pension claims.
When I joined Gavi,
the vaccine alliance,
bridging the gap between
science and public policy meant
supporting the piloting of a new
malaria vaccine that could save
millions of children's
lives and stockpiling
an experimental Ebola vaccine,
giving millions more people
a chance at survival,
should Ebola strike again,
which it has.
And at the WTO, bridging
the gap meant the ability
to work with vaccine
manufacturers
to deal with the problems in
their complicated supply chains
so that trading inputs
could flow freely and enable
them to scale up COVID-19
production for the world.
It has also meant the fight
to allow more flexible rights
to intellectual property
for COVID-19 vaccines,
whilst protecting incentives
for research and development
so that developing countries
can undertake their own vaccine
manufacturing.
Ladies and gentlemen,
dear graduates,
the problem solving
approach I've
taken in my career, my quest
to bridge gaps between science,
innovation, and public
policy, to take a bit of risk,
to try new approaches
has paid off
in a rewarding career whose
satisfaction is the ability
to serve others.
So in these uncertain
times, in this complex world
in which you're
entering, you need not
be so daunted if you can search
for the opportunities hidden
in challenges.
If you can take some considered
risk and try new approaches,
create new pathways.
And if you can connect the
dots in disconnected approaches
to problem solving.
Let me conclude by
saying that you have all
succeeded in making it in
truly extraordinary times.
To paraphrase Nelson
Mandela, one of my heroes,
you have made what seemed
impossible, possible.
Your parents and faculty
are rightly proud of you.
So am I. So, go
out into the world.
Embrace the
opportunities to serve.
I wish you all the very best.
Congratulations, and godspeed.

---

### Celebrating the SoE class of 2021
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePj_RsLn0hg

Idioma: en

[MUSIC PLAYING]
Congratulations! 
Thank you so much! 
[CHEERING]
[LAUGHTER AND CLAPPING]
One, two, three...
All set, thank you very much! 
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[CHATTER AND LAUGHTER]
I turned in my last project
so I'm feeling awesome! 
I have exams to take still!
I'll take one after this. 
I finished my finals yesterday!
I have one class I have to finish to graduate. 
I'm going to graduate!
I'm a mechanical engineering major. 
Civil and environmental engineering.
Aerospace engineering.
Electrical engineering and computer science. 
Biological engineering.
Physics and electrical engineering.
Mechanical engineering with computer science and robotics. 
Biological engineering and minoring in music.
Computer science and economics.
Electrical engineering. 
I also have a minor in international applied studies.
I'm graduating with my PhD.
In electrical engineering and computer science.
Circuit designers!   
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I feel very lucky to have studied here for four years
with some of the best people in the world!
[LAUGHTER AND CAMERA CLICKING]
There's no place I would rather struggle for hours on end
even during Covid, and that's saying something. 
It was fun while it lasted! 
I feel very thankful for these four years.
It'll fly by!
I feel like here at MIT, anything is possible.
Follow your dreams! 
Congrats to every other student!
[MUSIC PLAYING]
It was just an incredibly special day. 
Just to see all these amazing minds
walking through. 
And I'm extremely proud of all of our students. 
I just wish them the very, very best for their next chapter. 
[MUSIC PLAYING]

---

### Diary Of A Pandemic Year
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8MnxTxxJ98

Idioma: en

[Instrumental music playing]
Ah
To the list of things
that make me sad,
I add each day 
each day
The color goes.
 This is the world:
Just gray and gray
and gray.
Longing is the same in both directions.
Look at the sky
and remember
Everything beautiful
lies both forwards and backwards. 
Look at the sky
and remember.
That it’s good to be alive.
Ah ah ah
Overwriting the written constellations
I create my own new map
I trace my finger
along the lines.
I am the little blade of light
Blade of light
from the crack in the door.
I am the orange wedge
Of sun
Of sun
Through your window.
This is the beginning
of the story we tell
again and again
It is the beginning
Who will listen?
of the story we tell
We are fragile
we are precious
we are fragile
We are fragile
we are precious
we are fragile
We are fragile
we are precious
Who will listen

---

### Celebrating the MIT MechE Class of 2020
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Brqy0U_bQ0E

Idioma: en

GROUP: (SINGING) Arise all ye
of MIT in loyal fellowship.
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.
 
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
Alex Slocum: Good
morning MIT graduates
from the Slocum nerd herd farm.
The world faces much
COVID-19 sadness.
It urgently needs new
ways to create happiness.
I have faith in MIT
graduates creative finesse.
Y'all go forth and help lead
us out of this COVID-19 mess.
DAWN WENDELL: Congratulations
class of 2020, you did it.
And I'm looking forward to
you all wearing your beaver
the other way around for
the rest of your life.
MICHAEL BENJAMIN:
You're an amazing group
in extraordinary times.
We miss you all.
But we know you'll be back.
We hope you find your passion,
be generous, keep your eye
on what's important.
And we know our future
is bright with you.
DANIEL BRAUNSTEIN:
Congratulations, you did it.
We are so proud of you.
RAYMOND MCCORD:
Congratulations to the MIT
mechanical engineering
class of 2020.
CHRISTINA CHASE: I've been
impressed by how all of you
stepped up to the circumstances.
Continue to do great things.
And I wish all of you
many exciting adventures
in your future.
KEVIN CEDRONE: I urge
you to please notice
when you're happy, and
exclaim or murmur or think
at some point, if this isn't
nice, I don't know what is.
STEPHEN HABEREK: You
guys are the achievers.
I want to say congratulations.
And I wish you all the
best of luck in the future.
[CLAPPING]
AMOS WINTER: Hello
2020 MechE graduates.
I wanted to congratulate you
on your virtual graduation
but your very real degrees.
And whatever is coming
down the line in your life,
I hope it's fun, fulfilling, and
provides some pretty cool mind
and hand opportunities
BARBARA HUGHEY: I know
that as you go forth
you will all do wonderful
things in the world.
Congratulations.
Good job.
STEPHEN BANZAERT: It's
been a real privilege
to get to work with
so many of you.
And I hope we're able to
see each other again soon.
TASKER SMITH: You're going
to do such awesome stuff
in this life.
You know, I'm a little sorry
that we can't celebrate
this moment together in person.
But I'm going to look
forward to seeing you
when you come back to visit us.
EVELYN WANG: Congratulations
course two class of 2020.
We are so proud of you.
Cheers.
[PIANO MUSIC PLAYING]
Gang Chen: Congratulations
on earning your PhD.
You have learned so
much and done so much.
You overcome many difficulties.
You should be proud
of what you have done.
I'm proud of you.
XUANHE ZHAO: I truly
believe MIT students
like you will lead many fronts
in making the world a better
place.
MATHIAS KOLLE: So
screw that virus
and then go and use your
amazing skills and knowledge
to great success.
Do it with passion and
do it with empathy.
Good luck class of
2020, you're awesome.
HARRISON CHIN: But
I'm sure that you'll
rise up, ready to
face the challenge.
Again, congratulations.
NICHOLAS FANG: I am very
impressed to discover
your persistence, high
standard of expectation,
and sense of humor over
this challenging time.
KAMAL YOUCEF-TOUMI: I am very
happy and excited for you
on this special day.
Walk the glory road
and make us proud.
HARRY ASADA: You are brilliant.
And you're quite a resourceful
person, keep in touch,
stay safe and healthy.
NEVILLE HOGAN: I'd
like to congratulate
all of our graduating students.
Good job guys.
SANGBAE KIM: It is
exciting to think
about our society in the future
with more of you out there.
I want you to remember that you
and your other MIT colleagues
are forever connected.
ELLEN ROCHE: Thank you for all
the memories and the whiskey
and the serenades.
To all of you though
congratulations, enjoy the day.
It's so well-deserved.
And I know you'll go on
to do amazing things.
And I can't wait to
hear all about them.
BENITA COMEAU: You are
all wonderful people,
amazingly creative and
brilliant, strong, generous,
and kind.
So go out in the world, be good,
do good, and live your lives
to the very fullest.
Congratulations graduates.
[MUSIC PLAYING]

---

### MIT Commencement 2020 Pre-Program Show
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWxhLSgySDc

Idioma: en

[MUSIC PLAYING]
Really delighted to
welcome the class of 2020.
MIT inspires its students
and their students
inspire us right back.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Hi, everyone, and welcome to
MIT's 2020 online commencement.
I'm Talia Khan,
MIT class of 2020.
I'll be graduating in a little
over an hour with degrees
in material science and
engineering and music.
Although it looks like I'm
coming to you from Kresge
Auditorium, I'm
actually coming to you
from my home in
Phoenix, Arizona.
And I'm Dodson Ricketson,
soon-to-be MIT graduate
coming to you live
from Ithaca, New York.
I'll be receiving a bachelor's
degree in computer science
with a minor in music today.
We'll be your hosts as
we countdown to our 2020
commencement ceremony.
Our classmates,
some 3,500 strong,
are dialing in from
around the world,
joining us for more than 1,900
different cities and towns
and representing
104 [INAUDIBLE]..
Welcome, everyone.
While you're here, we would
love to hear from everyone
in our audience, so send
your well wishes and photos
of your own
commencement gatherings
via our Twitter and
Instagram feeds.
Tag your social media
posts with #MIT2020.
That opening video really
captures the MIT experience.
What a way to kick it all off!
Absolutely.
But honestly, you
know as well as I
do that our MIT
experience has also
included many, many hours
of reading, studying,
lab work, and writing papers.
The opportunities,
vibrant communities,
and support networks really
made it worthwhile, though.
Yeah, many, many hours.
Even so, I miss being on campus.
The next video is a vlog that
was put together this month.
It was created by
a 2020 that I'm
proud to call my
friend, KJ Hardrict.
It's a heartfelt reflection,
and although personal,
I feel that it really
embodies the sentiments
and emotions we all shared
during that last week
[INAUDIBLE].
Two weeks ago,
coronavirus was a concern,
but MIT students' biggest
worries were whether or not
we would be able to have senior
ball or senior week activities.
[MUSIC PLAYING - LVLY, "Demons"]
I'm acting surprised, but
I know I'm not over you.
Keep missing our fights even
though those are overdue.
We had a fire--
Events and classes that had
over 150 people were canceled,
and panic and worry set
in because the prospects
of missing annual dance shows,
concerts, and other larger
occasions.
But then it got much worse.
--Organization today officially
designating coronavirus
as a global pandemic.
Congress's in-house doctor
told Capitol Hill staffers
at a closed door
meeting this week
that he expects 75 to 150
million people in the United
States to contract
the coronavirus.
New tests led by the US
government scientists
show the virus can live in
the air for several hours
and on some surfaces
for up to three days.
Soon after Harvard
got their news,
MIT got our news that all
classes would be going online
and that we'd have to leave MIT
campus by that next Tuesday.
We thought we'd have two
more months to say goodbye,
but now those goodbyes had to be
hurried into this 6 and 1/2 day
timeframe.
Then on Thursday night,
news got even worse.
Well, the governor has
declared a state of emergency,
hoping to stop the
spread before it
floods into hospitals as COVID
19 cases again have doubled.
Massachusetts was now
in a state of emergency,
and we were told that we'd
have to say our goodbyes,
pack up all our things, and
now leave on that Sunday.
Two months of goodbyes turned to
six days, turned to just four.
There was increasing
worry that coronavirus
will cause the US to go into
a state of national emergency.
This meant that students
may not be able to go home
if they left after Sunday.
Despite the feelings of
sadness and disbelief,
we all knew that we had to go.
It's one thing to
have to say goodbye
in an unexpected or
expedited manner,
but we had to say these
goodbyes in smaller groups.
We couldn't go to larger groups.
We couldn't party, and--
yeah, that made
everything a lot tougher.
Because of social distancing
we had to say goodbyes
from a distance.
We couldn't shake the hands
or hug the professors that
helped us get into
grad school, and we
had to say bye to friends
in smaller groups.
It was honestly a
surreal experience
that I still have
not fully grasped.
But in that time of crisis
and intense pressure to leave,
there wasn't any time to
dwell on what was happening.
And it was heartwarming
to see everyone,
especially the
graduating seniors,
come together during this time.
[MUSIC PLAYING - Dayon,
"Where We Started]
Sorry that I got so cold.
Wish I could go back
to what we were.
Oh maybe somewhere
down the line,
there's a chance
to get it right.
Say I'm not alone.
Oh maybe there's a
place and time maybe
there's a chance to find
a way to come back home--
We all knew this was going to
be it we knew that we probably
weren't going to be walking down
the aisle to get our diplomas,
and we knew that
we probably won't
be able to get
graduation pictures.
So some of my friends and I
bought some graduation caps,
and on the day before
we were supposed
to leave Boston for the
foreseeable future, we got
dressed up and took
graduation photos in the spot
where we would have been
graduating in about two months.
During my time in
quarantine I've
had a lot of time to
think about everything.
And so I went the
rest of this video
to be an open letter to MIT.
Because if I had to
decide where I wanted
to spend my undergraduate
career again,
I'd choose MIT over
and over again.
Dear MIT, you were
the best decision
that I've ever made in my life.
Yes, you were
challenging at times,
and yes, I did have
low points where
I thought I wasn't
good enough to succeed.
But through the
adversity and challenges
that you presented
me, I developed
into the confident and
resilient man that I am today.
You made me work with
my hands and work
in teams on some very
challenging problems.
You made me become
comfortable talking in front
of larger groups of people.
You enabled me to think
outside of the box
to find new ways of solving
familiar challenges.
No matter how insurmountable
a challenge may seem,
you've taught me how
to take things a step
at a time to ultimately navigate
and tackle any challenge that
comes my way.
Thank you for being the
home to some of the people
that I cherish most in my life.
You've helped me create these
connections that will hopefully
last a lifetime.
On your campus
almost four years ago
when I was convinced that
I just want to live alone,
I met Sebastian, who has been
my roommate and best friend
ever since.
Thanks to your
AeroAstro department,
I've made great friends
in Sam, Kevin, and Timmy
who've been there through many
of the academic and personal
challenges I have
encountered over the years.
Because of Nu Delta, I now have
a second family of brothers
that I know I'd be able to go
to for absolutely anything.
They're a great group of highly
motivated and intelligent
young men who never
failed to shower me
with love and support.
And most recently,
it was on your campus
where I have developed a strong
relationship with my girlfriend
Michelle who always seems
to keep a smile on my face.
Thank you for opening
doors and instilling in me
a level of confidence to go and
walk right through those doors.
You allowed me to get my hands
dirty in various research
areas, and you allowed me to
secure internship positions
at a large aerospace
corporation.
But most of all, you
allowed me to be me.
Through all of these
challenges and opportunities,
you still allowed me to continue
to play basketball, and lift,
and stay healthy.
You allowed me to cultivate
these relationships
that I mentioned
before, and you allowed
me to continue to tell
my story and continue
to inspire others
around the world
through this YouTube channel.
Heck, because of you, I'm
now on the founding team
of an up-and-coming tech
startup, Deuce Drone.
And frankly, I could not
have asked for anything more.
Dear MIT, unfortunately my time
with you has come to an end.
I will continue online classes
for the next two months,
but we both know that
won't be the same.
Know that even when I decided
to go to you four years ago,
I could not have
imagined the magnitude
of the positive impact
you have had on my life.
I definitely hated
you at moments,
but honestly didn't know
how much I loved you
until you were ripped
away from me so suddenly.
Thank you for everything,
and hopefully our paths
cross some time in the future.
Best, KJ Hardtrict, MIT
AeroAstro class of 2020.
That was really
heartfelt. How have
you been connecting with
your friends and classmates
during quarantine, Yonte?
Frankly, by eating
through my data.
I spend hours on video calls
for study sessions, gaming,
and just to chat.
I was far from them, but
my friends and community
were as important as
ever this semester.
But we persevered, and we
made it to the finish line.
What about you, Talia?
My friends and I have
actually been getting really
into 80s workout videos.
I highly recommend Greg
Smithey's Buns of Steel.
But while it's nice to
be celebrating with them,
commencement is also about
sharing this major milestone
with our families.
I doubt that any of us could
have made it to this day
without their support,
love, and encouragement.
So here is a video of some
of our classmates expressing
their thanks.
[GUITAR MUSIC PLAYING]
Dear mom and dad--
Ciao, mama.
Ciao, papi.
What's up, Leo?
I wish everyone in good health
and a very bright future.
Thank you, mom
and dad, for being
wonderful parents and
wonderful examples
throughout my entire life.
I feel blessed to
have you as my parents
and want to express my gratitude
for you care and support
over the years.
Thank you so much
for everything you've
done for me so that I
could experience this day.
I love you more
than time can tell.
You've given me the greatest
gift of all, an education,
the best legacy that parents
can pass on to their child.
Thank you so much
for everything you've
done for me so that I
could experience this day.
Thank you, Angela, for
being the love of my life
and helping me through this
entire crazy, wild grad school
experience every single day.
And thank you, Allegra, for
being a wonderful sister
and support.
I love you all so, so much.
As I graduate today, I want
you to know that this would not
have been possible without you.
Maria Victoria,
Lizia, Didi, Jose,
[OFFERS THANKS IN SPANISH]
I am full of joy
to graduate at MIT.
I would like to thank my
mother, [INAUDIBLE],, my father,
[INAUDIBLE],, and my grandparents
for their everlasting love
and support.
I just want to thank my family
for being my biggest support
system throughout MIT.
The feeling of
accomplishment and pride
will always be here with me.
I could not have
reached this point
without the warm
encouragements everyday.
I would not be the
person I am today
without my mom, my
dad, and my sister.
I would like to thank my
parents for their unconditional
support and love,
and [INAUDIBLE] class
for changing my life forever.
Thank you guys so
much for everything
that you've done for me.
I love you.
I just want to give
a huge thank you
to my mom and dad for their
just decades of unending love
and support.
Thank you mom, dad,
grandpa, Sandy, Scott,
and Spencer for your
boundless love and support
over the last four years.
While I'm very happy to reach
this important milestone
in my life--
--to my siblings for dealing
with all of the times
when I studied when
we were little.
You all mean the
world to me, and I'm
so grateful for your compassion,
your humor, and your wisdom.
Thank you very much,
mom, dad, and also thanks
to the rest of my family
on the island of Curacao
and in the Netherlands.
And, of course, to my husband,
who has been there for me
through a lot of this journey.
I love, love, love,
love, love you.
Special thanks to
Gary, my partner,
who supported me and
had patience with me
during the past 20 months.
[NON-ENGLISH]
Hi mom, dad, Armand, and Con'.
I want to thank my
family in Montreal
for encouraging me to pursue
my geekiest dream of studying
at MIT.
We wanted to thank our
families back in China.
Thank you so much for
supporting me, and believing
in me, and for helping make
my MIT experience a reality.
I'm also grateful to my partner
Altan for his commitment
and for rising up once
more to the challenge
of a long distance relationship.
I want to thank our
SEM family for making
our past year so amazing.
I love you guys so, so much.
And to everyone back home
in Turkey, [SPEAKS TURKISH]
And thank you to my
LGO fam for two years
of laughs and wonderful growth.
It's been an
extraordinary adventure.
Happy graduation!
To my parents, my
brother, [INAUDIBLE]
my family for all your support
through all these years.
I want to thank my
parents and my wife,
without whom I
would not be here.
Hey 2020s, I just wanted to
thank my family, Kelly, Reba,
Sam, for all their support.
To Kevin for all of your love,
[INAUDIBLE] families, Student
House, this is the borderline.
And a special shout out
to the SEM class of 2020.
You guys rock.
I appreciate you all very
much, and above all I
want to dedicate this degree
to my parents, mom and dad, Mr.
Manalo
Mr. [INAUDIBLE],,
MIT women in math,
for all your support
throughout all these years,
thank you so much.
Congratulations
MIT class of 2020.
[INAUDIBLE] 2020 [INAUDIBLE].
Hi, family and friends.
Wow, what a time.
I wanted to give a shout
out to my friends and family
for their constant love and
support over the last four
years.
I want to say a big
thank you to my parents
my step parents for being
incredibly supportive of me
and always willing to pick
up all my random phone calls.
Thank you all for supporting
me throughout this whirlwind
of a time I've had
here at the Institute.
I definitely wouldn't
have been able to get
to where I am today without
their love and support,
so just thank you.
I love you guys so
much, and I wouldn't
have been able to do
this without you guys.
I seriously could
not have done it
without those of you I've
had in my life forever
and the friends for life
I met along the way.
Much love to you all.
I'd like to thank my
family for supporting me
throughout college
and holding my hand.
I'd like to thank
my family members
for always being supportive.
Thank you so much,
[INAUDIBLE] Society.
Thank you so much, [INAUDIBLE].
Staying with me through
every therapeutic hair
change or change in hair
color or style, every 2:00 AM
change of major or career path.
My professors for
going above and beyond,
and especially my friends for
making it fun and helping me
get through those
coding classes.
Thank you, MIT Admissions.
Thank you for your
love, my favorite people
in the whole of MIT.
[INAUDIBLE] MIT [INAUDIBLE]
society, [RUSSIAN]
who took me as an
uncut gem and helped me
to produce the authentic shine.
Congratulations to
the Class of 2020.
You finally did it.
And this is only the
beginning, and I'm
so excited for what's up next.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[AUDIO PLAYBACK]
While we're waiting for
the festivities to start,
we're glad to see
your social media
posts starting to come in.
Let's see what some
of you have to share.
All right.
[INAUDIBLE]
From MIT [INAUDIBLE],,
MIT Student Success
coaching program.
Thanks for tweeting.
Next, we have Baby Yoda.
Stay safe, stay home, and
may the force be with you.
Nice.
We have a congratulations,
Class of MIT 2020.
Charlotte [INAUDIBLE],,
she's a superstar.
She's graduating with a major
in three schools at MIT.
Everybody should
go check this out.
Up next, another
from MIT [INAUDIBLE],,
we have a shout out to our first
female president of the UA,
Danielle [INAUDIBLE].
And up next, we have
MIT [INAUDIBLE],,
congratulating
their Class of 2020.
Very nice.
Nice.
We have a graduate lucky enough
to be in front of the dome.
I think we all wish
we could be there,
but maybe we can
live through him.
Keep those messages
coming in, everyone.
When we first arrived on
campus in fall of 2016,
the road to graduation looked
long, steep, and treacherous.
And it was.
But now we can stop and look
back on all our adventures
and really appreciate those
who we shared them with.
I actually had a
lot of fun digging
up footage and pictures of
our class's hallmark moments
over the past four years.
This is the first of three
student-produced videos
by myself, Talia,
Danielle Gonzales,
and [INAUDIBLE],,
all Class of 2020.
I hope that you enjoy
this rendition of MIT
from our perspective.
[AUDIO PLAYBACK]
[CHEERING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
- [SINGING] I remember the
day when we started talking,
we were kids, and I knocked
down all of your moments.
But you did not
seem to mind at all.
We took our bikes to the
lake after school each day,
skipped many stones
from the beach.
And one thing you
said was, listen,
I will have a [INAUDIBLE].
And now we're grown up, I
don't really see you now.
There's too much to be
done, and it's no fun.
But even if we're far apart,
I know where we belong.
I haven't changed
a bit in my heart.
Your words have
never been wrong.
You are my own safety zone.
You're solid like
a granite stone.
You came very
sudden the day when
we moved away from what had
been our homes in forever.
I was scared, so scared
that I would lose you.
But you called me up right after
I touched ground, and wanted
to hear that I got there
all safe and sound.
And you said, I know we're
going to stay the same.
And now we're grown up, I
don't really see you now.
There's too much to be
done, and it's no fun.
But even if we're far apart,
I know where we belong,
haven't changed a
bit in my heart.
Your words have
never been wrong,
You are my own safety zone.
You're solid like
a granite stone.
[INAUDIBLE] your words
have never been wrong,
my safety zone.
I know where we
belong, my safety zone
[INAUDIBLE] And your
words haven't been wrong,
my safety zone.
[END PLAYBACK]
Great job, Yonte.
As we mentioned earlier,
our graduating class
represents students from
104 different countries,
and I'm sure even more are
represented in our viewership
today.
One of the wonderful
things about MIT
is that it encourages
students to learn from people
from different walks of
life, through conferences,
summer internships,
teaching seminars, and more.
Here's a short sample of our
classmates' travels abroad
through MIT's international .
Programs
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Earlier, we gave
our fellow graduates
a chance to thank their
families for helping
make this day possible.
Now let's turn the tables.
It turned out that
the proud family
is of the Class of 2020 had
plenty to say about their MIT
graduates, as well.
Let the blushing begin.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[SINGING] Hey, oh,
oh, oh, oh, oh--
Congratulations, Violet Kelly.
New York City loves MIT.
Hi, Talia.
Congratulations on your
graduation from MIT.
Congratulations,
Claire Halloran.
This is MIT mom,
and this is MIT dad.
We're all so very
proud of you, and we
can't wait to see what wonderful
and great things you're
going to do with the world.
Course three.
Rhodes scholar.
[INAUDIBLE] woman.
And today, I'm going
to graduate from MIT.
We will all be cheering
you on from Phoenix.
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
We love you!
We love you!
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
Hello, everyone.
We never had any doubt that with
your hard work, perseverance,
and you will achieve
success in whatever you do.
Congratulations.
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
We're incredibly proud of you
and eternally grateful to have
you in our life.
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] and
in baby's words, yay!
Love you.
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
Ooh!
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
Riley, you lift us up.
You've never lost momentum.
You found your inner strength.
Riley Jo, you're so tough!
Thank you, family, and thank
you to the faculty and staff
at MIT.
Congratulations, Class of 2020.
Woo!
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
from everyone.
Congratulations to my daughter
Aisha and the Class of 2020.
I am very proud of you.
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
congratulations to all.
We love you, MIT.
Congratulations, [INAUDIBLE].
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
Congratulations, Jason
Seidel and the Class of 2020.
My wife and I would like to
say a big congratulations
to you all.
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
Congratulations, Laura.
We love you so much.
We're so proud of you.
Your family can't
wait to see you
blossom in your next adventure.
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] I hope
we get to see each other again
very soon.
Hey, Raff, it's Mom and Dad.
I love you so much, and
we're so proud of you.
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
You mother and I
love you to death,
and we're super proud of your
getting your Master's from MIT.
I just want to give
notice to the world.
I know you're coming
with passion and purpose,
and you're going to do
a lot of great things.
We just wanted to wish
you a huge mazel tov
and tell you how proud we
are, and we love you so much.
And know that you're going
to have a great future.
Rose, you want to say anything?
Hi.
Say hi.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[SINGING] Oh, oh,
oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
Man, I can't believe we've
gone from refrigerator drawings
to diplomas.
In terms of art, many
of our classmates
have progressed way beyond
the crayon-scribbling stage.
This next video covers
the MIT student art world.
These were announced
just last week.
We were very proud of
our talented classmates,
one of whom will
look very familiar.
[AUDIO PLAYBACK]
[APPLAUSE]
[PLAYING PIANO]
[END PLAYBACK]
Even though the MIT community
is far apart at the moment,
it's at times like these that
we especially feel like one MIT.
And that phrase, one
MIT, isn't just a slogan.
It's an affirmation of
the sense of community
that ties us together,
over distance, over time,
across disciplines, all
the way back to 1861.
And now there's a Canvas
feature that makes
that spirit truly tangible.
It's called One.MIT.
Let's check it out.
[AUDIO PLAYBACK]
One.MIT is a six-inch
diameter silicon wafer
inscribed with the names of
270,000 students, teachers,
administrators, and staff,
who, from 1861 till 2018, have
collectively made the
institution what it is today.
Located in MIT.nano's
Art Gallery,
it is also the six-foot blow-up
poster on the wall beside it.
And it's also websites,
where you can easily
find the spot where your name
is etched into the image.
When we were
building MIT.nano, we
knew that the facility
should not just
do science and technology.
It also needs to
reach out and be
able to be understandable
to everyone
who steps into this place.
The art piece has been
displayed for over a year now.
And every time that people
recognize that their names are
on there, they are
very much touched,
as they see that their
presence on this campus
will be remembered.
One.MIT art piece was
imagined, crafted,
and built in MIT labs, sculpted
by the computational artistry
of Professor Craig Carter, the
technical wizardry of Dr. Annie
Wang, with hands-on
help of many others,
who built a simple monument
that brings together
our whole community
across the ages.
Every one of the
characters on that wafer
is about half the
width of human hair.
If you want to find your name
on the One.MIT art piece,
go to OneMIT.MIT.edu
and type your name in.
The computer will guide
you to exact spots
where your name sits.
Congratulations, Class
of 2020 for achieving
an incredible journey.
It's fantastic to have had you
as a part of this institution.
And bear in mind that
forevermore, your name
will hang on the walls of MIT.
[AUDIO PLAYBACK]
Think of that, Yonte,
our names right there
alongside Kofi Annan, IM Pei,
and Shirley Ann Jackson--
not too shabby.
Most importantly, it's nice to
know that our names will always
be there with our
friends, even when we
can't be with them in person.
This next video
highlights our everyday
at MIT, hacking,
punting, and tooling.
The music at the
beginning is performed
by some of the
senior Emerson music
scholars, who were
unable to give
live recitals this semester.
The video also remembers two
classmates who passed away
during our time here.
[CHAMBER MUSIC]
[JAZZ MUSIC]
[SINGING IN NON-ENGLISH]
[END PLAYBACK]
That was very nice, Talia,
and a beautiful tribute
to our cherished classmates
that are no longer there,
and [INAUDIBLE].
Now let's take a
moment to check back
on our social media friends.
MIT alumni, do you know your
commencement speaker history?
Another one from
MIT alumni, saying
that the opening performance
has over 55 individual students
[INAUDIBLE].
Happy National EMS
Week from MIT EMS.
We all know that they're a super
big part of the MIT community.
Oh, we have a nuclear
science and engineering PhD
student, who's developing some
really cool new algorithms.
So check him out on MIT News.
Next, we have a tribute to the
men and women who have died
while serving their country.
Happy Memorial Day.
And we have a shout out to
our very own Talia Kahn.
Congratulations, Talia.
Thanks, Yonte.
Huh.
Oh, what a throwback to
August and September 2016.
That was when we
just came on campus.
Oh, that's really funny.
This phone grab has a funny--
A great take.
All right, congratulations,
MIT Class of 2020.
So we've heard
from our students.
You've heard from our families.
But we haven't yet heard from
our nurturing and inspiring
faculty.
This was a busy
time for them, too.
But they managed to
send us their regards.
[AUDIO PLAYBACK]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
From me and my
Labradoodle Casey,
congratulations to
the Class of 2020.
Congratulations to MIT AeroAstro
graduates and star graduates.
To all the graduates of the MIT
engineering systems laboratory,
the ESL at MIT AeroAstro.
Dr. Richelle [INAUDIBLE],,
Dr. [INAUDIBLE],,
and Dr. Owen [INAUDIBLE].
It is your day today,
and you've graduated
under these extraordinary
circumstances.
And Master students
[READING NAMES]..
Congratulations also to the
1683 831 Beaver Cube team.
A special shout out
to Dr. [INAUDIBLE]..
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
We're looking forward to
seeing what you guys all
accomplish in life.
Congratulations again.
To all the MIT graduates,
a warm congratulations.
From Emily Richmond Pollock,
from Music and Theater Arts,
here to wish all the best to
the graduating music majors,
minors, and concentrators.
Congratulations, class of 2020.
You dedicated your time at
MIT to learning, discovering,
inventing, and proudly hacking.
You're pioneers.
You're club leaders.
You're inventors.
Indeed, you are MIT.
My friend Tim the
beaver and I want
to send our very best
wishes and congratulations
to all of this year's
graduates, especially those
from the economics department.
To the MIT Class of
2020, and especially
to the Core 16 and
McCormick Hall seniors.
I want to give a
huge shout out to all
of our amazing graduates in
the media arts and sciences
program.
Especially to Hattie, and
Jason, and Jetson, and Tamar,
who we've really enjoyed working
with over the last few years.
Good luck.
I want to wish
congratulations to all
of the graduates for 2020.
You are the light
[INAUDIBLE] of this campus.
Thank you for making
it such a great place.
To my son Philippe, we are
incredibly proud of you.
Congratulations to all.
But I especially
want to congratulate
my academic advisees, Juan,
Shulee, Aramis, Zach, Maciel,
Caroona, and Ethan.
And a special shout out to
Ben Bloomberg and Rebecca
Clemberger, who
have been students
of mine in the upper, the
Future Group, for a long time
and received their PhDs today.
You're all amazing, full of
creativity and commitment
and courage.
And we'll be following
all the great things
you do over the years.
And we'll be there to
support you, as well.
Hi, everybody.
On behalf of Global
Languages, I would
like to wish the Class of 2020
a warmest congratulations.
Keep on playing music, listening
to music, thinking about music,
making music.
And stay strong.
Good afternoon.
I'm here to give a
big shout out to all
of our chemical engineering
course 10 graduates.
You did it!
Congratulations.
I'd like to make
a special call out
to the students from Comparative
Media Studies and the Scheller
Teacher Education Program.
From the day you
entered the MIT family,
you became part of
a shared mission
to tackle the world's
greatest challenges.
I can't wait to see how
you will shape the future.
You are all extraordinary.
Congratulations.
Wonderful job, everybody,
and congratulations, Class.
I want to congratulate Vivek
[INAUDIBLE] and [INAUDIBLE]
and their families on their
graduation from MIT this year.
Hi, graduates.
This is a proud day for you.
Sorry we can't all be
there to do it in person.
To all the graduates
in the Department
of Earth, Atmospheric,
and Planetary Sciences,
we wish you all the best as
you continue to go beyond.
I can tell you,
you are wonderful.
You've got a great
future ahead of you.
Go for it.
Namaste.
I have never made it all the
way through an MIT graduation.
Hello, Class of 2020,
especially all you
sporties and stagies out there.
This is Claire
[INAUDIBLE] and the zoo.
And today, we just thank
you for all the blessings
you've brought to MIT.
And the thing I never
run out without doing
is that MIT faculty can look
for the names of their students
that they've had and come down.
And when you come up
to get your degree,
we can give you a
hug or a handshake
or a clap on the back.
And I do regret very
much that I will not
be able to do that for you.
It's been a privilege
to work with you.
God bless you.
We love you.
And I wish you
all the very best.
And mazel tov on
your graduation.
It's a great achievement.
Congratulations, and
be well, and stay safe.
And congrats.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[END PLAYBACK]
The MIT faculty is an extremely
dynamic and resourceful group.
But they're only a subset of
MIT earth shakers and mountain
movers.
During this unprecedented
time, the entire MIT community
has stepped up to
help serve the world.
[AUDIO PLAYBACK]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[END PLAYBACK]
So it's almost time to get our
commencement ceremony started.
But I know what
you're all thinking.
Who ever heard of an MIT
commencement without a rap?
Ah, I really don't think anyone
else was thinking that, Yonte.
Maybe not, but I had to find a
way to work in this next video.
It was written and performed
by [INAUDIBLE],, the PhD rapper.
He said, and I quote, "I wrote
this for the students who
had to miss their graduation
during the pandemic,
to bring us together
during this time apart,
and to show love and
support for those who came."
Here to perform MIT, from
his upcoming The Nerd album,
is the PhD rapper
himself, PomDP.
[AUDIO PLAYBACK]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[RAPPING] In the sounds, when
it feels like we fall apart,
we always find a way to
put it back together.
I came to MIT.
I thought I was smart.
Then I realized everybody
here was so much better.
The main thing I learned
at MIT was humility.
The main thing I found
at MIT was the community.
I know you probably think
that MIT's a university.
But when I think of
MIT, I think of home.
We're stronger together
than we are alone,
work harder together than
we can alone, run farther
together than we run alone.
Wait, MIT can rap?
Well, you never know.
A shout out to the faculty,
the researchers, the students,
and the hospital, the staff
who make the food we eat,
the [INAUDIBLE],, the
janitors, the staff who
run the [INAUDIBLE]
centers, the leadership,
and Rafael
[INAUDIBLE] who shines
a light on darkest
times and [INAUDIBLE]..
I'm bright like lightning.
I went to MIT to join the
ranks of Richard Feynman.
I'd love to see the blueprints
of the god who designed him.
Electromagnetics and quantum
physics, he combined them.
When things got hard.
Where's Feynman?
Find him.
The finest in life
in a time of decline.
Like the finest of wines,
he was always refining.
Dude was the bomb, but you
know that we defined him.
Only love for Nagasaki.
I went to MIT to join the
ranks of Noam Chomsky.
Academic to the limit
for some paparrazi.
Syntactic and semantic, the
champ of linguistic boxing,
a proxy for freedom of
speech for [INAUDIBLE] Nazi.
Brain on max like a
pot of hot coffee,
brain on fast like a
brand new Kawasaki.
I don't want no friction.
My life is a game of hockey.
Brain on max with
my biceps floppy.
You've got me talking
Chomsky, the father
of cognitive
linguistics, so follow
no ballistics, a
hundred-books prolific,
but kept it scientific,
a little bit political,
but always humanistic.
I went to MIT to join
the ranks of my advisor,
Isaac [INAUDIBLE],, the Kobe
Bryant of quantum computing
and ion devices, the mastermind,
the Dr. Frankenstein, who
provided me the guidance,
who wired my mind.
Now I'm a rapper and a
scientist, the grand design.
So it only seems right
that I use this last line
to say, thank you, [INAUDIBLE].
Let's set a new standard.
I went to MIT to join the
ranks of Claude Shannon, who
put together algebra and
circuits singlehandedly.
but always candidly.
He commanded the digital
planet that we demanded.
The world that we
live in now, he
planned it, laptops,
internet, and Dropbox Shannon,
Xbox, satellites, iPods,
still Claude Shannon,
still Claude Shannon.
I speak with intention.
I went to MIT to join the
ranks of Patrick Winston VSNC.
The V stands for Vision,
the S stands for Steps.
The N, did I mention?
It stands for News.
C is Contribution.
We listen to you,
Patrick Winston.
We love you.
We miss you.
We knew when we lost you
that one box of tissues
couldn't solve the fact
we didn't just lose you.
We lost all your wisdom.
Patrick, I wish you
had the time to refine
your theory that
our minds can only
process one language at a time.
So next time, my
friend Sexton says
he hears me just fine,
nope, he's lying.
Noam Chomsky
chomping on bananas.
Wonder why nobody even know
who who Claude Shannon is.
I can't stand for this.
I wish MIT faculty were
presidential candidates.
Yeah, what band is this?
I'm PomDP.
I got no manager.
I'm magnanimous with the
candidness of beating my head
like kneading the bread.
And I'm just making sandwiches.
My advantage is I
love challenges.
Life's a big old cookie jar,
and I got both of hands in it.
I will never stop,
even if I feel ill.
I will never pop a chill pill.
This is skill skill.
I'm the real deal.
I've put my brain on the
internet, so even when I die,
I still will rap.
I'm past my past.
And I wish nobody ill will.
Master my craft.
This is not Kill Bill.
Rapping my brass rat
till this bill spill
turn into a big splash.
And that's a big deal.
I will never stop,
even if I feel, hell,
you all need to
take a chill pill.
This is ill skill.
I'm the real deal.
I put my brain on the
internet, so even when I die,
I still will rap.
I'm past my past.
I wish nobody ill will.
Master my craft.
This is my Kill Bill,
rapping my brass rat
till this little spill
turn into a big splash,
and I'm a big deal.
I gotta get some sleep.
No, man, we've
got to go hacking.
[AUDIO PLAYBACK]
That was awesome.
You know, one of the best
things about commencement
is that it gives
us one last chance
to express how we feel about
the classmates and friends who
have shared this
four-year journey with us.
We'll be sharing
additional greetings
from our faculty
and classmates in
our post-commencement program.
And we're just a few
minutes away from the event
that we've all been waiting for.
Talia, are you ready?
Absolutely.
I've got my hand on
my brass rat already.
All right, then.
Thank you, all, for joining us.
We'll leave you
with a short video
celebrating the
performing arts at MIT,
beginning with a terrific
student dance group,
[INAUDIBLE].
Stay healthy.
Stay safe.
And we'll see you again
after the ceremony.
Congratulations, everyone.
[AUDIO PLAYBACK]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[SINGING]
I can breathe.
I can breathe.
I can see myself so clear.
No fears now, no tears now.
I feel free.
Can't you see, I will
not always be here.
No tears now.
No fears now.
You strung me along on the path.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
You strung me along on the path.
Thank you.
Thank you.
[SYMPHONY MUSIC]
[CHORUS SINGING IN NON-ENGLISH]
[INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC]
[DRUMS PLAYING]
[TRUMPETS PLAYING]
The Music and Theater
Arts, they inspire
all of MIT with new
ideas, new experiences,
and just makes them better
people and better scientists,
better engineers, just
better communicators.
What's really exciting
about MIT is it
has this unique opportunity
for people like me,
who are passionate about
so many different types
of things, where I don't
have to be a music major
to participate in
high-level music.
Once we start
rehearsal, I completely
forget that I have a
piece that's due tomorrow
or that I have an
exam in three days.
It's just an experience that
completely takes you away.
And I think that's what
makes it so enjoyable.
They sound amazing.
And they made me forget
that they are not
majoring in necessarily music.
So that's pretty amazing, the
high level that they have here.
They're working
very hard in school.
To take time for music is
not easy for many of them.
And yet, they bring
their best game to it.
And that makes it a
pleasure to work on things.
94 winds who have
these 16th note
figures, those should
not be articulate.
Through arts at MIT, I've been
able to interact with literally
my heroes musically--
Jamshied Sharifi, Chick Corea,
Anat Cohen, Miguel Zenon,
Don Byron.
[SINGING] You're going to
have a funky good time.
These students are
so interested in life
and trying so hard to
figure out what they can do
and discovering skills.
It's great to be part of that.
It gives me energy every year.
There are concerts here that
I would never have imagined
being able to be a part of--
the [INAUDIBLE]
experience, going
to Puerto Rico with Miguel,
the Clarinet Summit.
[SYMPHONY MUSIC]
[CHOIR SINGING IN GERMAN]

---

### MIT's Virtual Commencement 2020
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsC4kBdXB20

Idioma: en

- Greetings everyone,
and welcome to MIT's first
ever online commencement.
We gather today in a time
when the world is relying on
science, technology, and the humanities
for leadership and guidance.
It's science that gives us the wisdom
to know that this is not a
moment for large gatherings.
Eventually, it'll be science,
technology and the humanities
that give us the knowledge and the tools
to beat this pandemic
and make an in person
commencement possible once again.
And for now, it's generations
of technological achievement
that unite us as a real community.
Although we may be
separated from each other
physically today, thanks to technology,
we can indeed be together today in spirit.
The spirit that binds the
MIT community together
is pretty remarkable.
It's immune to pandemic disease,
impervious to external forces,
and indifferent to the
laws of time and space.
Before we go any further,
I'd like to thank
the entire MIT community
for mobilizing so quickly
to make this event happen.
It required tremendous
adaptability, perseverance,
and extraordinary effort and creativity,
but then that's what you'd
expect from the MIT community.
Today, we celebrate those same qualities
in our 2020 degree recipients.
I'd also like to take this opportunity
to salute our class of 1970 alumni,
celebrating their 50th reunion.
The class of 1970
understands what it's like
to have a commencement disrupted
by events of the world.
Back then, it was the
height of the Vietnam War
and the US had just invaded Cambodia.
I was an MIT sophomore then,
and I remember it well.
Tensions on campus were high
and no one was in the mood to celebrate.
In fact, nearly 500 MIT graduates
opted not to attend
commencement that year.
The class of 1970 stood out then and now
for it's deeply felt social conscience.
Rather than celebrating their
own accomplishments that day,
graduating seniors chose to,
as one class member remembered it,
join in two minutes of
silent consideration
of what we can do to help resolve
the conflicts that divide mankind
in this country and around the world.
That reminder of our
collective responsibility
to the larger world still resonates today
and it's a fitting Segway
to our next speaker.
Delivering today's invocation,
from Lexington Mass
is MIT's Episcopal Chaplain,
the Reverend Thea Keith-Lucas.
- Congratulations.
In other years, I would
come out of my office
at the corner of Amherst and Mass Ave
and see a long line of
graduates crossing the campus.
I can almost imagine you
there, dressed in your robes,
laughing and jostling on
your way to Killian Court.
I would join other staff members
and friends on the sidewalk
waving and clapping.
We would burst into cheers
as we celebrated all your hard work
and your bright promise.
But this is not like other years,
this is one of those
moments when we stop short
at the edge of a chasm between what is
and what was supposed to be.
Your spirits are wide enough
to hold more than one truth,
strong enough to find joy
and pride in this ceremony,
and also to mourn the loss
of that day you imagined.
As hard as it can be,
seeing the gap between
what is and what could be
is part of your power.
One of your strengths is being right here
with your feet firmly
planted on the ground.
Throughout your time at MIT,
you discovered your own resourcefulness,
you took risks, learned from failures,
and conquered many challenges.
This pandemic has shown us your ability
to act quickly to protect
your own and others safety,
to adapt to a new reality,
and to ask for help
from all the people at
home and here at MIT
who gave their best to support you.
You are practical and
realistic, and yet you are more.
You are dreamers who
can look across that gap
and see, not only what might have been,
but also what might become.
Maybe you see a healthy community
where hundreds of people
can gather without fear
to share the joy of a day like this.
Maybe there's another vision
that lights up your mind and your heart.
The things we lose,
the things we long for,
become our dreams.
The sources of passion within
us that drive us forward
to create something new.
Let us acknowledge what might have been,
the hopes and plans that got
up ended by this global crisis.
Let us celebrate what is,
the learning and growth
from your years at MIT
that nothing can ever take from you.
And let us look forward to what may be,
as you transform your dreams
into a better world for us all.
- Thank you Reverend Keith-Lucas.
Every year we invite a
distinguished speaker
to address the graduating class.
Our guest speakers are
accomplished role models
who can share the lessons they've learned
and the insights they've gained,
preparing our graduates
as they venture out
to build their lives and their careers.
This year's speaker
brings an extraordinarily
broad perspective to the proceedings.
He's a person of great accomplishment,
great insight, and great integrity.
He served for 37 years in
the United States Navy,
including commanding Special
Operations for the Navy Seals.
A renowned foreign policy expert,
he's advised Presidents George
W. Bush and Barack Obama.
His three books include, "Make Your Bed"
a number one New York Times best seller,
in which he shares 10
principles we can all use
to change ourselves and
the world for the better.
And for four years, he led
the University of Texas,
his alma mater, in an enormous academic
and health care system comprising
14 different institutions
and serving 239,000 students.
His ideas are as note worthy
as his professional accomplishments.
He's a strong advocate
for public investment
and scholarships and immigration policies
that enable universities
to attract and educate
the world's most dynamic talent.
And he's a vocal supporter and
practitioner of free speech,
who has spoken out forcefully
in defense of America's values.
It's a great honor for me to
welcome, from Austin, Texas,
Admiral William H. McRaven.
- Thank you very much for
that kind introduction.
President Reif, distinguished guests,
members of the faculty and of course,
the MIT graduating class of 2020.
It is truly an honor for
me to have the opportunity
to address you today.
You know, I had an
entirely different speech
prepared for this afternoon.
It was a nice little speech,
it was about how you,
the brilliant men and women of MIT,
are like the Navy Seals of academia.
I made some good analogies,
I had some cute little antidotes
and some lessons from my career,
but somehow that speech
just didn't seem right
in light of all that has
happened in the past five months.
The fact that I'm standing here alone
and that you are isolated
somewhere at home
is proof enough that the world is changed.
But there is a part of the
speech that I retained,
it was the part about heroes
and how after all these years,
I came to realize that the heroes we need
are not the heroes I've
been searching for.
When I was a young boy growing
up in the 50's and 60's,
I always envisioned myself as the hero.
I always wanted to be Superman
with his powers to fly,
his invulnerability,
and his super strength.
A hero who saved the world
every day from some catastrophe.
Or Batman, Spiderman, the Black Panther,
the team of the X-men
and the Fantastic Four
and my favorite of all, Aquaman.
I so wanted to ride on
the back of a seahorse
and fight evil under water.
But as I grew up and traveled the world,
and as I saw more than my
share of war and destruction,
I came to the hard truth
that Captain America isn't
coming to the rescue.
There is no Superman, no
Batman, no Wonder Woman,
no Black Widow, no
Avengers, no Justice League,
no Gandalf, no Harry
Potter, and no Aquaman.
If we are gonna save the
world from pandemics,
war, climate change, poverty,
racism, extremism intolerance,
then you, the brilliant minds of MIT,
you are going to have to save the world.
But as remarkable as you are,
your intellect and talent
alone will not be sufficient.
I've seen my share of real heroes
on the battlefield in
Iraq and Afghanistan,
in the hospitals fighting COVID-19,
on the streets keeping
America safe and open.
And I know that there are
other qualities necessary
to be today's heroes.
So if you'll bear with this
old sailor for a minute or two,
I'd like to offer some thoughts
on the other qualities you will
need to help save the world.
First, you must have courage.
Winston Churchill once said
that courage was the most
important quality of all
because it guaranteed all the rest.
He was not just talking
about the physical courage
to charge the hill, run
into a burning building,
or stop a mad man with a gun.
He was also talking about moral courage,
the courage to stand up
for your convictions.
Physical courage has
long been the hallmark
of a great warrior, but I would
offer that the moral courage
to stand up for what's right
has an equal place in
the pantheon of heroes.
If you hope to save the world,
you will have to stand
by your convictions.
You will have to confront
the ignorant with facts.
You will have to challenge
the zealots with reason.
You will have to defy the
naysayers and the wheat need,
who have not the
constitution to stand tall.
You will have to speak truth to power,
but if your cause is good
and decent and worthy
and honorable and has the possibility
of saving even one of God's creatures,
then you must do what all heroes do.
You must summon the courage to fight
and fight hard for your convictions.
You must yell them from the mountaintop.
You must shout them from the lectern.
You must write in bold cursive
and underlined phrases.
You must bring your convictions
out from the darkness
and the subtlety of your heart
and into the light of day.
They must be made public and challenged
and confronted and argued.
There will always be those
who don't want to hear your convictions,
particularly if they are true.
Speaking the truth can be dangerous,
but those that came before you,
Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Madame Curie,
Grace Hopper, and Katherine Johnson,
those brilliant minds,
those tellers of truth
who made the world a
more knowledgeable place,
a more compassionate place,
a more livable place.
They had courage.
If you were going to save the world,
you will need courage.
If you're going to save the world,
you will need to be humble.
In my career, I've been blessed
to be around some great minds.
I've seen how the brilliant men and women
have helped eradicate
disease, reduce poverty,
create technological masterpieces.
But conversely, I have seen
how the misguided geniuses
filled with conceit and convinced
of their own righteousness
have tampered with nature,
built apocalyptic machines,
dehumanized social interactions,
and tilted towards tyranny.
If you do not approach
the world with humility,
it will find a way to humble you.
I found in my time in the military
that no experience on earth
was more humbling than combat.
The crucible of horror
teaches you every day
that you are not invincible,
but the enemy in bare feet and
carrying only Calista coughs
can sometimes defeat the best soldiers
and the best technology in the world.
And if you believe for a
moment, that you are superior,
you will be humbled quickly.
But if you approach every mission
with a decent respect for the mountains,
the rivers, the oceans, and the enemy,
you are more likely to succeed.
In Plato's rendition of Socrates apology,
Socrates defends the charges against him
by telling the jury of Athenian Nobles
that he is the wisest man in the world,
far wiser than any of the
robed men sitting in judgment.
When questioned about
how he could be so bold
as to make the statement,
Socrates says that he is the wisest
because he knows so very
little of the world.
To solve the world's problems,
you will have to realize
how little do you know.
You must be able to look to the stars
pure through a microscope,
gaze at the oceans and be humbled.
To believe for even a moment
that you have all the answers,
that you know the truths of the universe,
that you are wiser than
all the men and women
who came before you
is the tale of every great man and woman
who amounted to nothing.
Only when you were humble,
only when you realize the
limits of your understanding,
the shortfalls of your knowledge,
the boundaries of your intellect,
only then can you find the
answers you are seeking.
If you're gonna save the world,
you must persevere
through difficult times.
Life as a seal is all about perseverance.
Can you make it through shield training
without ringing the bell?
Can you make it through the
long family separations,
the exhausting deployments,
the loss of a fellow warrior in combat?
Sometimes saving the world
is just about holding on,
never quitting no matter
what obstacles face you.
A good friend of mine who graduated
from the university of Texas in 1969,
pursued a career in medicine.
His mother had died of
lymphoma when he was about 11
and he was obsessed with
finding a cure for decades.
For decades, he pursued an idea
that most in the medical
field dismissed as fantasy.
Could the human body really
use its own immune system
to fight cancer?
He never ever gave up on his pursuit.
And in 2018 Dr. Jim Alison
was awarded the Nobel prize
for medicine.
There are the occasional
great men and women of science
who changed history at an early age,
but most discoveries, most
achievements, most triumphs
are the product of a
long and painful process
and only the most resolute,
the ones that can persevere
through the failure,
the rejection, the ridicule, the emotional
and physical strain of time.
Those are the ones most
likely to save the world.
If you want save the world,
you must be prepared to sacrifice.
The special operations forces
are filled with memorials
of remarkable men and women
who gave their all in the
defense of the nation.
Medal of honor recipients like
Mike Murphy, Mike Monsoor,
John Chapman, and Robbie Miller.
Remarkable women like Ashley
White and Jennifer Moreno,
the heroes of helicopters,
turbine three three and
extortion one seven,
seals and soldiers who answered the call
and never returned.
All great Americans who
sacrificed their lives
so that their teammates might live.
But there is a more mundane,
you had a central
sacrifice that is required
if you wanna save the world.
As seals, we train hard every day,
long torturous hours of physical pain,
rucksack marches, open ocean swim,
miles of running and
hours of calisthenics.
They're all sacrifices
necessary to be ready,
when the world needs you.
And as time, Thomas Edison
developed 1500 patents
from the electric light,
to the phonograph,
to the movie camera, to the vacuum diode
and the carbon microphone.
He saved the world from darkness,
but in doing so, it required
him to work 20 hours a day.
His home front was often strained.
His other business ventures
struggled to survive
and his health always
seemingly in jeopardy.
It would be easy to stand up here
and tell you that there
is a wondrous place
where you can be great
at both work and life,
where your efforts to make
a difference in the world
come easy,
but I have never found that place.
In the end, if your goal is a noble one,
then your sacrifice will be worth it
and you will be proud of
what you've accomplished.
To save the world, you will
have to be men and women
of great integrity,
always, always trying to do
what is moral, legal and ethical.
They will not be easy and I dare say
you will fail occasionally.
You will fail because you are human.
You will fail because
life often forces you
into a seemingly untenable position.
You will fail because good and evil
are always in conflict.
And when you to uphold your integrity,
when you fail to uphold your integrity,
it should make you sick to your stomach.
It should give you sleepless nights.
You should be so tortured
that you promise yourself
never to do it again.
You see, being a hero will not be easy.
It will not be easy because,
you are not men and women of steel.
You are not cloaked in a suit of armor.
You are not infused with unearthly powers.
You are real heroes and
what makes real heroes
are their struggles and their
ability to overcome them.
But no matter how mightily
you might struggle,
the world will believe in you.
The world will follow you.
Allow themselves to be saved
if they know you to be honest,
trustworthy, of good
character and good faith.
Men and women of integrity.
Finally to save the world,
you must have compassion.
You must ache for the
poor and disenfranchised.
You must fear for the vulnerable.
You must weep for the ill and infirmed.
You must pray for those
who are without hope
and you must be kind
to the less fortunate.
For what hero gives so much of themselves
without caring for those
that are trying to save.
As we sign off from this
virtual commencement,
I want you to promise me one thing.
Promise me that you
will be the last class,
the last class to miss a
commencement because of a pandemic,
the last class to miss a
commencement because of war,
the last class to miss a commencement
because of climate change,
unrest, tyranny, extremism,
active shooters, intolerance and apathy.
Batman and Superman are not
coming to save the world.
It will be up to you, but
never, never in my life
have I been so confident
that the fate of the world
is in good hands.
Go forth and be the
heroes we need you to be.
Thank you and congratulations.
- Hello, I'm Irani Gosey, class of 95
and professor of music
technology here at MIT.
You're about to hear a piece of music
composed specifically
for today's commencement,
but there's a twist.
We asked the MIT community
and in particular
this year's graduates
to sing a single note
and be part of a collective experience
that we are calling CoMusica.
We received over 800 contributions
and then our amazing team of MIT coders,
videographers, and sound designers
stitch them all together
into a collaborative work
that celebrates our graduating students
coming together as one MIT.
I hope you enjoy it.
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
(orchestral music)
(brightening upbeat music)
(cheering)
(brightening upbeat music)
(cheering)
(orchestral music)
- Congratulations to all of
our graduating masters and PhDs
and congratulations to the
undergraduate class of 2020.
I know that I'm speaking to all of you
in a very strange time.
A time or seeing friends is
somehow harder than ever,
even with video calls.
A time or the spot
nature that we so cherish
from our on campus
interactions isn't possible.
A time where the celebrations
that we were all looking forward to
have been canceled or postponed.
This is a time of tremendous loss
in so many different ways,
for all of us and all of humanity.
And I want to acknowledge that
with a brief moment of silence.
What the coronavirus can
not take away though,
is all that we have gained
from our time at MIT.
From the knowledge and skills
acquired through classes and projects,
extracurriculars and side hustles
and late night conversations
and experiments with friends,
to the friendships,
networks and relationships
built through interactions
with people across campus.
To the diverse perspectives,
backgrounds and experiences,
we've all been exposed to,
particularly as this pandemic strips away
all of the equalizing features
of the on campus experience.
And if there's anything that
this pandemic has showed us,
is that MIT really is a bubble.
That real life is
significantly more complicated
and less forgiving.
That there are any qualities everywhere,
both in the resources
we all have access to
and the people in our lives
who we can turn to for help.
If we're going to shape the
future and build a better world,
we'll need to take those
complications and inequalities
into account and work to eliminate them.
We need to build systems that
show empathy for the diversity
and richness of the human experience
and recognize that
there's rarely a one size
fits all solution.
We'll need the skills and perspectives,
provided by all of you
across all disciplines.
You all are equipped to
lead us through these times
to a better future, and all of you
have already achieved so
much to get to this point.
Congratulations again
to all of our graduates.
I look forward to one day
seeing you all in person
and working with you to
build a better world.
And now, I'll pass it on to Nacho,
president of the senior class,
who will offer his salute.
- Before I give any type of speech,
to my black men in the
audience, I am so proud of you,
you are beautiful and you deserve to live,
as much as anyone else
despite what anyone says.
I would like to thank all the families
and friends of the 2020 graduates
for tuning into our program today.
While we all understand that
this format is far inadequate
in celebrating this
tremendous accomplishment,
your attendance here is a reflection
of the love and dedication
you have shown us graduates
for the last four years
that has made it possible
for us to reach this mountain top.
And to my fellow graduates,
the class of 2020,
congratulations on your
many accomplishments,
achievements and wins
in the last four years
that have led to this moment.
When the journey is suddenly
cut short like this however,
I find myself thinking less
of the things I have done,
but more of the things I have not.
Regrets that we all believe
if we had a little more time,
could have been memories and moments.
Even if we had those
last few months together,
we would all likely still
leave MIT with numerous regrets
of what could have been and
what we could have done.
This period is a reminder
that time is not only limited,
but the limits on that time are uncertain
and we never really know
when our time will be up.
Only when we are aware that
our time is nearing an end,
do we actually make the
most of the time left
and live in the moment.
So I urge you all, class of 2020,
to live the rest of your lives
with the mindset you likely had
when you were told we had a week left
in our college careers.
Take risks. Go all in. Shoot your shot.
Find the things that will make
you feel fulfilled every day.
Don't wait until your last day,
to do things you wanted
to do since your first.
Don't wait until it's too
late to share lasting memories
with the people who bring us up
and to forget those who bring us down.
Finally, let's start today to seek
to better understand ourselves.
Look out for our mental
and emotional health
and to strive to become the
best versions of ourselves,
so we can go get that life
that will bring us the most happiness.
We have all left an indelible imprint
on this institution we are leaving.
An imprint symbolized
by our 2020 class ring,
unique to us, designed by us.
The Brass Rat has been
our constant companion
since our sophomore year.
Through all the trials and tribulations,
it has been an omnipresent reminder
of our collegiate journey and
our unique special stories.
Since we first put on our Brass Rats,
we have worn them from
the Cambridge perspective.
Always looking at the Boston skyline
and the world beyond MIT.
In a moment, as we
prepared to take our places
in that broader world, I'll ask us all
to turn our rings around, so
that from this day forward
we will always see the
familiar silhouette of MIT,
When we look down.
Let it be a kind of symbol
throughout our lives
continuously reinforcing MIT's
core values of integrity,
community inclusion,
collaboration, and innovation,
in everything we do.
In that spirit, I ask you all
now to raise your right hand
and turn your brass rat.
(orchestral music)
The right way, in person, but until then,
I wish you and your loved ones
safety, security and peace.
Congratulations, class of 2020.
(brightening upbeat music)
- Greetings from 220 miles above
our beautiful planet earth.
How's that for social distancing?
You don't have to be aboard,
the international space
station to see that our earth
is a rare and precious gem,
fragile, yet resilient,
turbulent, yet orderly,
beleaguered, yet enduring.
Even in these unsettling times,
it's a home that beckons.
I'm delighted to join
you in all MIT alumni
in congratulating our 2020 graduates.
Your intellect, hard
work and resourcefulness
have served you well.
The space station actually
offers a great perspective
from which to view your future.
Seen from our windows
here, earth has no borders,
no boundaries and no conflicts.
Just a common humanity
sharing common problems
on a remote outpost
down a small spiral arm
of the Milky way.
As you move on from this day,
I know you will keep
honoring that common humanity
and working to solve
those common problems,
no matter what gets in your way.
In fact, 20 years ago
I was on Killian court,
celebrating the completion
of my master's degree
in ocean engineering.
Without any idea of the challenges
that nine 11 would bring our nation.
The challenges of ground
combat in Afghanistan,
or the challenge of the
astronaut selection process.
It's been a long road
in more ways than one,
from Cape combat to
commanding a multinational,
microgravity research laboratory.
Life will take you places
you never imagined,
but you will see your way through it.
The key is to hold true to MIT's values
of integrity, collaboration,
inclusion and innovation.
They've never seared me wrong.
And now it is my honor,
to introduce the man who
steers this mighty institution
with a steady hand and a steadfast heart
President Rafael Reif.
- Good afternoon.
And Chris thank you so very
much for your very kind words
and for the powerful example
of your life and your service.
May the global family of the
international space station
be our inspiration.
To the MIT graduates of
2020 congratulations.
As you can see, I'm speaking
to you from Killian Court,
or kind of.
In fact, I'm keenly
aware that I'm not there
and that all of you are not here.
Without you I'm finding this
experience pretty lonely.
So I thought perhaps we
can find a way to fix it,
but it turns out that
nothing can possibly replace
the sense of being connected
in one joyful time and place
with 3,500 freshly admitted MIT graduates
and the people who help them get there.
In a typical year, we spend
many weeks before commencement
worrying about the weather,
but it turns out that in
all the most important ways,
the day is always beautiful,
because our graduates are
sparkling with accomplishment
and possibility and their
families are radiant with pride.
Everyone looks terrific even in those
clear plastic rain ponchos.
In fact, at MIT, commencement
is the very best day
of the year.
It's a day of warm hugs and huge smiles,
champagne and strawberries,
hundreds of strange and
colorful academic hats
and thousands of
handshakes, remember those.
A day when absolutely no one
still has to finish a piece it.
And a day when their
entire purpose, meaning
and mission of the Institute
are embodied in our new graduates.
Today, though you are scattered,
across nearly every time zone,
everything we value about
MIT is embodied in you.
Physically I cannot see any of you,
but I would like to think
and I would like to know,
and I would like you to know
that in the deepest sense,
I do see you.
I see the extraordinary range of ways
that you and your families have struggled
and endured this past 11 weeks.
Weeks that have tested all of us.
I also see that some of you
might need a haircut, me too.
I see how you have supported
and encouraged one another
through all the
dislocation and disruption.
I see how you have done your
best to recreate remotely
what you love most about MIT.
I see your pain in losing
those sweet weeks of spring,
of saying goodbye to MIT and to each other
and I see and feel your
uncertainty about the future.
But I also see what you
accomplished in the time before
we knew the word Covid.
Right before world war two,
my parents escaped from Eastern Europe.
And for the rest of his life,
my father would say to me,
"Invest in your education,
because if you ever
have to leave in a hurry,
education is the only thing
you can take with you."
To a spectacular degree, all
of you have invested yourself
in your education, in your
classrooms and laboratories,
on our playing fields and stages,
and in all the places
you call home at MIT.
I'm inspired by your
curiosity, imagination,
self-discipline, and drive
and by your willingness
to plunge into what
may be the most intense
and demanding course of study anywhere.
Recently, you had to leave
you're familiar MIT lives
in a great hurry,
but I know that you have
equipped yourself extremely well
for whatever will come next.
At this moment, I also see
quite a few small children
out there who are eager
for me to stop talking,
so I believe it is time to
deliver my charge to you.
I've always believed that as members
of the great global family of MIT,
we must do everything in our power
to help make a better world.
In that spirit, I'm going to use a word
that feels very comfortable at MIT,
although I know it has taken
on a totally new meaning
elsewhere, but I also know
that I graduates will know
what I mean.
As you begin your next chapter,
I want to ask you to hack the world,
until you make the world
a little more like MIT.
More daring and more passionate,
more rigorous, inventive
and ambitious or humble, more respectful,
more generous, more kind.
And because the people of MIT also like
to fix things that are broken,
as you strive to hack the world,
please try to heal the world too.
Please help us respond to this
brutal pandemic with wisdom,
foresight, compassion, and science.
Help us rebuild the
habits of trust, empathy,
precise language, and thoughtful listening
that are so essential
to a healthy society.
And please help us all
succeed in remembering
our common humanity.
MIT is now sharing with the
world 3,500 new graduates
who are ready for this timely
and timeless problem set.
You came to MIT with exceptional
qualities of your own
and now after years of focus
and intense dedication,
you leave us equipped with
a distinctive set of skills
and steeped in our
community's deepest values.
A commitment to excellence,
integrity, meritocracy,
inclusion, boldness, humility,
an open spirit of collaboration,
a strong desire to make a positive impact,
and a sense of responsibility
to make the world a better place.
So now go out there, join
the world, find your calling,
solve the unsolvable, invent
the future, take the high road,
and you will continue to make your family
including your MIT family, proud.
Now, this is not the commencement day
that any of us could have imagined.
At some safe time in the future,
we will hold one of
these for you in person
right back here at MIT.
But for today, I have
to give you something,
much more important than
my advice, your diplomas.
So here goes.
'By virtue of the authority
delegated by the corporation
of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology,
and on the recommendation of the faculty,
I'm delighted to announce
the awarding of degrees.
For those of you who elected
to receive a digital diploma,
your degree has been delivered
to the block search wallet
on your mobile device.
And for all of you, the
launch will commence
in five, four, three, two, now.'
(crackling noise of machine)
Bachelor of science, in all
schools and departments.
Master's degrees, in all programs.
Doctoral degrees, in all programs.
On this wonderful day,
I'm proud of all of you.
To every one of the members of
the graduating class of 2020,
please accept my best wishes
for a happy and successful
life and career.
Congratulations.
(orchestral music)
- My fellow graduates,
women and men from MIT,
I salute you, I congratulate
you and I honor you.
It is a bittersweet occasion graduating
in these very unique circumstances.
You're missing the
chance to be all together
on this special day.
You've missed your last
few months on campus,
the opportunity to fall,
to bond with your cohort,
that will last you a lifetime.
But remember, you're the lucky ones.
You get to graduate, having
done most of your work
here at MIT, and you're
as equipped as anyone
to deal with the challenges that await us.
If you're like me, you might feel
a bit intimidated by this luck.
How can I repair this huge
debt I have to the world,
to have had a chance to graduate from MIT
with an advanced degree,
when others' lives got cut
short, or profoundly disrupted?
Fact is that, it is tempting
to look for magic bullet,
to solve the whole problem at once.
Or if you realize that it is not possible,
to get despondent, to get
discouraged, to get depressed
and to just do something else.
And this is what I want to
talk to you about today.
Using as appropriate some
high-minded literality quotation,
since you were a busy
with your graduate work,
you may have missed one of
the important development
in children's literature,
which is the publication
of a last installment of
Dav Pilkey excellent series,
called Dog Man.
Oops.
Dog Man.
At the end of this book, Pilkey,
a bio mechanical fish,
who might as well have
been invented at MIT,
forgoes the opportunity go
live with his best friend,
little Pilkey and his family,
and instead decide to
take care of 22 tadpoles,
who to a series of unfortunate events,
have found themselves orphaned.
Little Pilkey and his dad,
um, leave the fish in the pond
and, uh, they go home and discuss.
I'm going to read you
part of that discussion.
"See Papa. I told you how
Pilkey was a good guy."
"Yeah, I guess so."
"He's changing the world."
"Well, I don't know about
that. I mean, come on.
What he is really doing is looking after
a few baby tadpoles.
That's not really gonna change the world."
"Maybe not, but it will
change their world."
Remember that, life to one concept,
the war on COVID is not going
to be one in one major battle.
Instead, it will take
thousands of small victories
and no doubt, many, many
setbacks along the way.
And this is true not just for Covid,
but for the fight against poverty,
for the war against climate change,
for finding a cure for Alzheimer,
or indeed for any of the
challenges that await us.
On any of this topic,
my conviction is that,
it is possible to make
significant progress,
by focusing on small manageable issues
and addressing each of these issues
as rigorously as possible.
So pick your issue and go
for it with all your heart,
all your mind and all your knowledge.
Remember, be ready to pivot.
No issue is too small.
No issue is too specific,
as long as you can learn from it.
And as long as you hold yourself
to the highest standard,
when you're trying to solve it.
It will take patience and effort.
Progress will be slow,
but it is inevitable.
It will take thousands of people,
working on different
aspects of the problem,
building on each other's victories.
So get some rest graduates
and then get started.
There is a lot of work in front of us.
(orchestral music)
- MIT's first online
commencement is now concluded.
Congratulations to the class of 2020,
from the entire MIT community.
I'd like to thank everyone
who joined us today
across the continents of the globe,
surrounded by family, by a
PC, laptop, tablet, phone or
whatever else you use to see this.
We've truly come together as one MIT
to celebrate our newest graduates.
It's been quite an experience
and there's more to come.
We look forward to
continuing this celebration
when we'll be able to gather
together safely in person,
perhaps even without a mask.
In a moment, we'll join the
chorallaries in our school song,
after which Dr. Eric Coffield,
president of the MIT alumni association,
will offer a greeting and
introduce a scrolling recognition
of all our graduates.
But before we do that,
we'd like to thank alumnus
and composer, Jamshied Sharifi,
Joel Toniey, conductor Fred Harris,
and the MIT wind ensemble for
their moving performance of,
To The Light, To The Flame.
We'd also like to express our appreciation
to professors Evan Ziporyn, Eran Egozy
and Isaac Chuang for their collaboration
on the extraordinary CoMusica project.
As well as the astro
alumnus and ISS commander,
Chris Cassidy, and our friends at NASA
and everyone whose talents
and efforts contributed
to today's ceremony.
And now from wherever
you are in the world,
please join the MIT chorallaries
who will sing our song
and lead a community
sourced performance of,
Take Me Back To Tech.
(clapping)
♪ All rise all ye of MIT ♪
♪ In loyal fellowship ♪
♪ The future beckons unto ye ♪
♪ And life is full and good ♪
♪ Arise and raise your glass on high ♪
♪ Tonight shall ever be ♪
♪ A mem'ry that will never die, ♪
♪ For ye of MIT ♪
♪ Thy sons and daughters, oh 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 ♪
♪ 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 when
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 pow'rs ♪
♪ 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 the glorious institute ♪
♪ I yearn for the inspiration
of a technological toot ♪
♪ I'd shun the quizzical physical proofs ♪
♪ The chapel and all that ♪
♪ But how I'd love to go
again on a scientific bat ♪
♪ Hurrah for Technology,
'ology 'ology oh ♪
♪ Glorious old Technology,
'ology 'ology oh! ♪
♪ M-A-S-S-A-C-H-U-S-E-T-T-S ♪
♪ And ♪
♪
I-N-S-T-I-T-U-T-E-O-F-T-E-C-H-N-O-L-O-G-Y
♪
(orchestral music)
(clapping)
- 152 years ago, the first graduates
of a small technical
university in Massachusetts
began an intrepid journey.
Commenced the grand procession
that would march through
the corridors of history.
Who split steps with act LaCrosse,
the epic expanse of time to be heard
in every corner of the globe.
Whose legacy would be forged
upon a bedrock of rigorous study,
the pursuit of excellence and
a deep and boundless passion
for improving the human condition,
Today in graduating from MIT,
you become the newest
caretakers of that legacy.
For as rich as our traditions have become,
and as proud as we are
about our shared history,
we are better today
because you are joining us.
And so allow me to congratulate you
on your triumphant transition,
from what Miriam Webster defines as
proto alumni, alumni, and alumnus.
To recent graduates and the
newest members of our community,
when I take a moment to
think about who you are
as a group of graduates,
what I think about is
a magnificently, marvelous,
mosaic of men and women
of people, of passion
and triumphant commitment
who have become the very
embodiment of toughness,
perseverance and grit who
represent the collective hopes,
dreams, and aspirations of
countless comrades and ancestors
who have aspired and prayed for centuries
to join with you here
in this moment today.
Now, I would make the observation,
that when you think about
what it is that you have accomplished,
what comes to my mind,
are the words of the 19th
century English poet,
Arthur William Edgar
O'Shaughnessy who wrote,
and I quote,
" We are the music makers and
we are the dreamers of dreams
wandering by lone seat breakers
and sitting by desolate streams.
World losers and world foresaker
on whom the pale moon gleams,
yet we are the movers
and shakers of the world
forever it seems." And quote.
And it is that spirit which
lives inside each of you,
that the world needs most right now.
Now the irony of all that you
have accomplished is this.
You have proven that you
are now ready to leave MIT
because you have outgrown the Institute.
And so now that you have come to MIT
and become mathematically mature,
scientifically sophisticated,
it kind of metrically
intimidating, pedagogically
proficient, pretty naturally
efficient, problem solving,
tech evolving forces of nature
and such.
You are now prepared to take your place
at the great helm of history
and to steer a course
such that future generations will say
with passionate regard,
that you graduated from MIT
and the world is a better
place, because of it.
And so on this day of celebration,
I would urge you to reflect
on this one important fact,
your MIT degree means more than just
an academic accomplishment.
What it actually represents is permission
to put purpose to your passion.
And so whether your passion is something
that you discovered in
a lab or a class at MIT,
or it's a dream you've had your whole life
that is smouldered in
the recesses of your mind
and your heart, but you
never actually thought
that you could do it.
I want to share with you
today, dear graduates,
that your MIT experience has
prepared you to do exactly that
because the awesome constellation
that makes you who you are
is exactly what the world
needs most right now.
And so, although the way
that you are processing
from our great institution today is by
historic circumstances, unique,
it is for that very reason
that people all over the world
celebrate enthusiastically with you today
because of what you represent
for the future of society
and indeed for human history.
And so whatever your dreams might be,
I would urge you to trust the passion
that lives in your heart and
to follow the call of history
that leads to the destiny that awaits you.
And so on behalf of those
of us who have, like you,
had the fortune to sojourn
in that special place
to tread upon that sacred
ground, but for a short while
on behalf of those of us who like you,
carry within us, the academic DNA
that compels us to work wisely, creatively
and effectively for the
betterment of humankind,
on behalf of the 139,000 of
your newest MIT brothers,
sisters, siblings, all around the world,
who are tremendously proud to call you
the newest members of our community.
On behalf of the MIT alumni association,
congratulations and welcome to the family.
We will now have a
recognition of the graduates,
which will serve as the
conclusion for today's ceremony
and as the prelude for
our post ceremony events.
(brightening upbeat music)
(orchestral music)

---

### Esther Duflo PhD ’99 Salute to the Advanced Degree Recipients at MIT Commencement 2020
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16sSGj8wA_Y

Idioma: en

[Music]
My fellow graduates, women and
men from MIT, I salute you,
I congratulate you,
and I honor you.
It is a bittersweet occasion
graduating in these very unique
circumstances.
You're missing the
chance to be all together
on this special day.
You have missed
your last few months
on campus, the opportunity to
forge a bond with your cohort
that will last you a lifetime.
But remember, you're
the lucky ones.
You get to graduate having done
most of your work here at MIT.
And you're as equipped as anyone
to deal with the challenges
that await us.
If you're like
me, you might feel
a bit intimidated by this luck.
How can I ever pay this huge
debt I have to the world--
to have had a chance
to graduate from MIT
with an advanced degree
when others' lives got cut
short or profoundly disrupted?
Faced with that, it is tempting
to look for a magic bullet
to solve the whole
problem at once.
If you realize that it is not
possible to get despondent,
to get discouraged,
to get depressed,
and to just do something
else, then this
is what I want to talk
to you about today
using as appropriate, some
high-minded literary quotation.
Since you are busy with
your graduate work,
you may have missed one of
the important development
in children's
literature, which is
the publication of the last
installment of Dav Pilkey's
excellent series called Dog Man.
Whoops.
Dog Man.
At the end of this book,
Flippy, a biomechanical fish,
who might as well have
been invented at MIT,
forgoes the opportunity to go
live with his best friend, Li'l
Petey, and his
family, and instead
decide to take care
of 22 tadpoles, who
through a series of
unfortunate events,
have found themselves orphaned.
Li'l Petey and his dad
leave the fish in the pond
and they go home and discuss.
I'm going to read you
part of that discussion.
See, Papa, I told you
Flippy was a good guy.
Yeah, I guess so.
He's changing the world.
Well, I don't know about that.
I mean, come on, all he's
really doing is looking
after a few baby tadpoles.
That's not really going
to change the world.
Maybe not, but it will
change their world.
Remember that.
Like the war on cancer,
the war on COVID
is not going to be won
in one major battle.
Instead, it will take
thousands of small victories.
And no doubt, many, many
setbacks along the way.
And this is to not
just for COVID,
but for the fight
against poverty,
for the war against
climate change,
for finding a cure for
Alzheimer, or indeed,
for any of the
challenges that await us.
On any of these
topics, my conviction
is that it is possible to
make significant progress
by focusing on small
manageable issues
and addressing each of
this issues as rigorously
as possible.
So pick your issue and go
for it with all your heart,
all your mind, and
all your knowledge.
Be nimble, be ready to pivot.
No issue is too small, no
issue is too specific as long
as you can learn
from it, and as long
as you hold yourself
to the highest standard
when you're trying to solve it.
It will take
patience and effort.
Progress will be slow,
but it is inevitable.
It will take thousands
of people working
on different aspects
of the problem building
on each others' victories.
So get some rest, graduates,
and then get started.
There is a lot of
work in front of us.

---

### Admiral William H. McRaven at MIT Commencement 2020
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duwnFrqetek

Idioma: en

Every year, we invite
a distinguished speaker
to address the graduating class.
Our guest speakers
are accomplished
role models who can share
the lessons they've learned
and the insights they've gained
preparing our graduates as they
venture out to build their
lives and their careers.
This year's speaker brings
an extraordinarily broad
perspective to the proceedings.
He's a person of great
accomplishment, great insight,
and great integrity.
He served for 37 years in
the United States Navy,
including commanding special
operations for the Navy SEALs.
A renowned foreign
policy expert,
he's advised presidents George
W Bush and Barack Obama.
His three books include Make
Your Bed, a number one New York
Times bestseller, in which he
shares 10 principles we can all
use to change ourselves and
the world for the better.
And for four years,
he led the University
of Texas, his alma mater, an
enormous academic and health
care system comprising
14 different institutions
and serving 239,000 students.
His ideas are as noteworthy
as his professional
accomplishments.
He's a strong advocate
for public investment
in scholarships and
immigration policies
that enable universities to
attract and educate the world's
most dynamic talent.
And he's a vocal
supporter and practitioner
of free speech, who has spoken
out forcefully in defense
of America's values.
It's a great honor for me to
welcome from Austin, Texas,
Admiral William H McRaven.
Thank you very much for
that kind introduction.
President Reif, distinguished
guests, members of the faculty,
and of course, the MIT
graduating class of 2020,
it is truly an honor for
me to have the opportunity
to address you today.
You know, I had an
entirely different speech
prepared for this afternoon.
It was a nice little speech.
It was about how you the
brilliant men and women of MIT
are like the Navy
SEALs of academia.
I made some good analogies, I
had some cute little anecdotes
and some lessons from my career.
But somehow, that speech
just didn't seem right
in light of all that has
happened in the past five
months.
The fact that I'm
standing here alone
and that you are isolated
somewhere at home
is proof enough that
the world has changed.
But there is a part of the
speech that I retained.
It was the part about heroes
and how after all these years,
I came to realize
that the heroes,
we need are not the heroes
I've been searching for.
When I was a young boy growing
up in the '50 and '60s,
I always envisioned
myself as the hero.
I always wanted to be
Superman with his powers
to fly, his invulnerability,
and his super strength.
A hero who saved the world
every day from some catastrophe.
Or Batman, Spider-Man,
the Black Panther,
the team of the X-Men,
and the Fantastic Four,
and my favorite of all, Aquaman.
I so wanted to ride on
the back of a sea horse
and fight evil underwater.
But as I grew up and
traveled the world
and as I saw more than my
share of war and destruction,
I came to the hard truth
that Captain America
isn't coming to the rescue.
There is no Superman, no Batman,
no Wonder Woman, no Black
Widow, no Avengers, no Justice
League, no Gandalf, no Harry
Potter, and no Aquaman.
If we are going to save the
world from pandemics, war,
climate change, poverty,
racism, extremism, intolerance,
then you, the brilliant
minds of MIT--
you are going to have
to save the world.
But as remarkable as you are,
your intellect and talent
alone will not be sufficient.
I've seen my share
of real heroes
on the battlefield in
Iraq and Afghanistan,
in the hospitals
fighting COVID-19,
on the streets keeping
America safe and open.
And I know that there
are other qualities
necessary to be today's heroes.
So if you bear with this old
sailor for a minute or two,
I'd like to offer some thoughts
on the other qualities you will
need to help save the world.
First, you must have courage.
Winston Churchill
once said that courage
was the most important
quality of all
because it guaranteed
all the rest.
It was not just talking
about the physical courage
to charge the hill, run
into a burning building,
or stop a mad man with a gun.
He was also talking
about moral courage--
the courage to stand up
for your convictions.
Physical courage has
long been the hallmark
of a great warrior.
But I would offer
that the moral courage
to stand up for what's
right has an equal place
in the pantheon of heroes.
If you hope to
save the world, you
will have to stand
by your convictions.
You will have to confront
the ignorant with facts.
You will have to challenge
the zealots with reason.
You will have to defy the
naysayers and the weak kneed
who have not the
Constitution to stand tall.
You will have to
speak truth to power.
But if your cause is good
and decent and worthy and
honorable, and has
the possibility
of saving even one
of God's creatures,
then you must do
what all heroes do.
You must summon the courage
to fight and fight hard
for your convictions.
You must yell them
from the mountaintop.
You must shout them
from a lectern.
You must write in bold,
cursive, and underlined phrases.
You must bring your
convictions out
from the darkness and the
subtlety of your heart
and into the light of day.
They must be made public and
challenged and confronted
and argued.
There will always
be those who don't
want to hear your convictions,
particularly if they are true.
Speaking the truth
can be dangerous.
But those that came before you--
Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler,
Madam Curie, Grace Hopper,
and Katherine Johnson
those brilliant minds.
Those tellers of truth who made
the world a more knowledgeable
place, a more compassionate
place, a more livable place--
they had courage.
If you were going to save the
world, you will need courage.
If you're going
to save the world,
you will need to be humble.
In my career, I've been blessed
to be around some great minds.
I've seen how the brilliant
men and women have helped
eradicate disease,
reduce poverty, create
technological masterpieces.
But conversely, I have seen how
the misguided geniuses filled
with conceit and convinced
of their own righteousness
have tampered with nature,
built apocalyptic machines,
dehumanized social interactions,
and tilted towards tyranny.
If you do not approach
the world with humility,
it will find a
way to humble you.
I found in my time
in the military
that no experience on earth
was more humbling than combat.
The crucible of war
teaches you every day
that you are not invincible.
That the enemy in bare feet
and carrying only Kalashnikovs
can sometimes defeat the
best soldiers and the best
technology in the world.
And if you believe for a
moment that you are superior,
you will be humbled quickly.
But if you approach
every mission
with a decent respect for
the mountains, the rivers,
the oceans, and the enemy, you
are more likely to succeed.
In Plato's rendition
of Socrates' Apology,
Socrates defends the
charges against him
by telling the jury
of Athenian nobles
that he is the wisest
man in the world--
far wiser than any of the
robed men sitting in judgment.
When questioned
about how he could
be so bold as to
make this statement,
Socrates says that he is
the wisest because he knows
so very little of the world.
To solve the world's
problems, you
will have to realize
how little you know.
You must be able to
look to the stars,
peer through a microscope, gaze
at the oceans, and be humbled.
To believe for even a moment
that you have all the answers,
that you know the
truths of the universe,
that you are wiser than
all the men and women who
came before you is the tale of
every great man and woman who
amounted to nothing.
Only when you are
humble, only when
you realize the limits of your
understanding, the shortfalls
of your knowledge, the
boundaries of your intellect--
only then can you find the
answers you are seeking.
If you're going
to save the world,
you must persevere
through difficult times.
Life as a SEAL is all
about perseverance.
Can you make it
through seal training
without ringing the bell?
Can you make it through the
long family separations,
the exhausting
deployments, the loss
of a fellow warrior in combat?
Sometimes, saving
the world is just
about holding on, never
quitting no matter
what obstacles face you.
A good friend of
mine, who graduated
from the University
of Texas in 1969,
pursuing a career in medicine.
His mother had died of
lymphoma when he was about 11
and he was obsessed
with finding a cure.
For decades-- for decades--
he pursued an idea that
most in the Medical field
dismissed as fantasy.
Could the human body really
use its own immune system
to fight cancer?
He never ever gave
up on his pursuit.
And in 2018, Dr. Jim
Allison was awarded
the Nobel Prize for medicine.
There are the occasional
great men and women of science
who changed history
at an early age,
but most discoveries, most
achievements, most triumphs
are the product of a
long and painful process.
And only the most
resolute, the ones
that can persevere through
the failure, the rejection,
the ridicule, the emotional
and physical strain of time--
those are the ones most
likely to save the world.
To help save the world, you
must be prepared to sacrifice.
The special
operations forces are
filled with memorials of
remarkable men and women
who gave their all in the
defense of the nation.
Medal of Honor recipients like
Mike Murphy, Mike Mansoor,
John Chapman, and Robbie
Miller, remarkable women
like Ashley White
and Jennifer Moreno,
the heroes of helicopters,
Turbine 33 Extortion 17,
SEALs and soldiers who answered
the call and never returned.
All great Americans
who sacrificed their
lives so that their
teammates might live.
But there is a more
mundane you had
a central sacrifice
that is required
if you want to save the world.
As SEALs, we train
hard every day--
long tortuous hours
of physical pain,
rucksack marches, open ocean
swim, miles of running,
and hours of calisthenics.
They're all sacrifices
necessary to be ready
when the world needs you.
In his time, Thomas Edison
developed 1500 patents
from the electric light to the
phonograph to the movie camera
to the vacuum diode and
the carbon microphone.
He saved the world
from darkness.
But in doing so, it required
him to work 20 hours a day.
His home front was
often strained.
His other business ventures
struggled to survive,
and his health always
seemingly in jeopardy.
It would be easy to stand
up here and tell you
that there is a
wondrous place where
you can be great at both
work and life, where
your efforts to make a
difference in the world come
easy.
But I have never
found that place.
In the end, if your
goal is a noble one,
then your sacrifice
will be worth it,
and you will be proud of
what you have accomplished.
To save the world, you will have
to be men and women of great
integrity-- always--
always-- trying to do what
is moral, legal, and ethical.
It will not be easy
and I dare say,
you will fail occasionally.
You will fail because
you are human.
You will fail because
life often forces you
into a seemingly
untenable position.
You will fail because good and
evil are always in conflict.
And when you fail to
uphold your integrity--
when you fail to
uphold your integrity--
it should make you
sick to your stomach.
It should give you
sleepless nights.
You should be so tortured that
you promise yourself never
to do it again.
You see, being a hero
will not be easy.
It will not be easy because you
are not men and women of steel,
you are not cloaked
in a suit of armor,
you are not infused
with unearthly powers.
You are real heroes.
And what makes real
heroes are there
struggles and their
ability to overcome them.
But no matter how mightily
you might struggle,
the world will believe in you.
The world will follow you.
Allow themselves
to be saved if they
know you to be
honest, trustworthy,
of good character
and good faith--
men and women of integrity.
Finally, to save the world,
you must have compassion.
You must ache for the
poor and disenfranchised.
You must fear for
the vulnerable.
You must weep for
the ill and informed.
You must pray for those
who are without hope.
And you must be kind
to the less fortunate.
For what hero gives
so much of themselves
without caring for those
they are trying to save?
As we sign off from this
virtual commencement,
I want you to
promise me one thing.
Promise me that you
will be the last class--
the last class to miss
a commencement because
of a pandemic.
The last class to miss a
commencement because of war.
The last class to
miss a commencement
because of climate change,
unrest, tyranny, extremism,
active shooters,
intolerance, and apathy.
Batman and Superman are not
coming to save the world.
It will be up to you.
But never-- never
in my life have
I been so confident that
the fate of the world
is in good hands.
Go forth and be the
heroes we need you to be.
Thank you, and congratulations.

---

### To The Light, To The Flame
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFBURQd9gY8

Transcrição não disponível

---

### Alum composer layers 55 remote student performances to open Commencement
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI2ulRsvLGQ

Idioma: en

Jamshied Sharifi: And you’re recording Zoom
right now, right?
So if I do [claps] that [claps] you’ve got
some sync points.
[music playing]
Sharifi: My name is Jamshied Sharifi.
I’m MIT class of ’83, course 21.
I've worked in film. I've worked on Broadway,
working as a professional musician 
primarily as an arranger and composer,
and thankfully, have continued 
the connection to MIT.
[music playing]
Sharifi: The MIT Commencement Project came
about...well, it started in 2015
when I wrote a piece for the MIT Wind Ensemble.
[music playing]
Sharifi: So we came upon the idea of doing
a virtual recording using the current members
and that's where we are today.
We're trying to put that together.
It's not uncommon to do remote recordings.
This piece is a little more complex.
[music playing]
Sharifi: Each player is recording themselves, and then sending those recordings to me
and I'm compiling them and trying to
come up with a coherent mix that sounds something
like a group performance, which is quite challenging.
[MIDI version of To The Light, To The Flame playing]
Sharifi: The best part is this slow reveal
of the kind of mechanical sounding MIDI
gradually turning into an acoustic performance.
[MIDI version playing]
Sharifi: As these recordings come in, I'll
just move them over one at a time and
so I put the new one in and, oh yeah, it's
a little better in these sections.
Sharifi: You hear the breath, you hear the
air in the individual players sounds.
[MITWE recording of To The Light, To The Flame playing]
Sharifi: You hear their particulars of pitch
and time.
[MITWE recording playing]
Sharifi: Each day, a couple 
things become revealed
and it becomes more acoustic and more organic.
We're hopeful that it's a good recorded version.
One that has some life and 
some human spirit in it.
[MITWE recording playing]

---

### To the MIT Class of 2020: Welcome to the Alumni Association
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd0zqK1ERY0

Idioma: en

Sally Yu
Dear class of 2020,
Bob Gurnitz
Congratulations!
Melissa Ko Hahn
Congratulations!
Steve Larky
Congratulations Class of 2020!
Lucinda Linde
You made it!
You made it through MIT!
Ayr Muir
It’s a massive achievement to graduate from MIT.
Gerry Baron
Enjoy it, celebrate it.
Noelle Merritt
Yay!
BCAP @ MIT
[multiple voices] Congratulations!
Liana Ilutzi
You guys should be really proud of
everything you've done so far.
Matthew Marquez
And turn those Rats around!
You guys are alums now!
Megan Smith
I look forward what you will do both on this
planet and perhaps off.
Larry Bacow
Your MIT degree is gonna take you places that
in your wildest dreams you 
never could’ve imagined
Steve Martz
It opens doors, keeps doors open, and is respected
by all you will meet.
Pamela Tang
You are the architects of your future.
Ahmed Elmouelhi
Wear your Brass Rat with pride.
Greg Arenson
Use what you've learned and your innate talents
to reach for your goals and make 
the world a better place.
Reid Ashe
We’d planned on dressing up in our spiffy,
red blazers and marching with 
you in your Commencement,
but events got in the way and 
we’re stuck at home.
Karen Arenson
Our final semester too was disrupted
as is our reunion.
We survived, and you will too.
You’re MIT graduates.
William Fraizer
Wherever you go in the world, you’ll be
part of a community of MIT alumni.
Matthew Zedler
I’m sure you’ve already realized that MIT’s
greatest attribute is not the place
itself, but the people.
Rick Lufkin
The connections and inspirations of an MIT
education continue.
Charlene Chuang
I hope you’ll find your home in this amazing
alumni community.
Michael Golinko
And I can tell you, I’m wearing my original
sweatshirt from 1994, my freshman 
year. I bought it at the COOP.
And just like the sweatshirt, the memories
at MIT and all your friends will last as well.
Stu Schmill
Congratulations to all the graduates
and your families, and may the force be with you!
Ekaterina Paramonova
Congratulations class of 2020!
Welcome to the MIT alumni family!
Patrice Langford
Welcome
Raji Patel
Welcome
Amy Hsiao
Welcome to the MIT family!
Jo Ruetta Ellington and Rudayna Abdo
Welcome to the MIT alumni family!
Mark Hurwitch
Welcome to being an MIT alum. Yeah!
Reid Ashe
The scenery behind me is fake, but there’s
nothing fake about the enthusiasm with which
we welcome you, the newest MIT alumni.
[Applause]

---

### Michael Bloomberg at MIT Commencement 2019
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucyduome8yw

Idioma: en

Mike Bloomberg.
[APPLAUSE]
Well, good morning, everyone.
Bob, thank you for
that nice introduction.
And hello, graduates
and fellow engineers.
[APPLAUSE]
As the chairman said, I majored
in electrical engineering.
So I know what
you're all thinking--
it's a shame he was never able
to put his degree to good use.
[CHUCKLING]
I thought that was funnier
than you did [INAUDIBLE]..
[LAUGHTER]
Let me start with the
most important message
that I can deliver today--
congratulations to the
distinguished graduates
of the great class of 2019.
[APPLAUSE]
You made it.
All those long hours studying,
and in the lab, the quizzes,
the papers, and the swim
tests, it was all for today--
well, that and the brass rat.
Even though I went to
a school up the river,
for today's address,
I wanted to feel
what it was like to be
a student here at MIT.
So on my way over here, I walked
through the Infinite Corridor
and elbowed my way
through 100 tourists.
Did they know that Matt
Damon doesn't actually
work here as a janitor, right?
[LAUGHTER]
Last night, I also paid a visit
to one of this university's
most iconic places--
the Muddy.
[APPLAUSE]
I told the graduates there
that I had some good news
and some bad news.
The bad news was I won't be
repaying your entire classes
student loans.
Sorry.
[LAUGHTER]
But I told them
the good news was
I would be picking up the tab
for the next round of drinks.
That seemed to help matters.
As excited as all you
are today, there's
another group here that
is beaming with pride
and that deserves a
big round of applause--
your parents and your families.
[APPLAUSE]
Some of them are sitting
out there thinking,
our kids are getting a
degree from the world's
most prestigious
engineering school,
and yet when they
come home, they
don't seem to know how
to use the washer/dryer?
[CHUCKLING]
You've been very
lucky, seriously,
to study at a place that
attracts some of the brightest
minds in the world.
And during your
time here, MIT has
extended his tradition
of groundbreaking
research and innovation.
Most of you were
here when LIGO proved
that Einstein was right
about gravitational waves.
[APPLAUSE]
Something that I, as a Johns
Hopkins engineering graduate,
claimed all along.
And just this spring, MIT
scientists and astronomers
helped to capture the first
ever image of a black hole.
[APPLAUSE]
Those really are incredible
accomplishments at MIT.
And they are especially
incredible when
you consider that the
Wi-Fi barely works here.
[APPLAUSE]
For God's sakes,
how many PhDs did it
take to plug in a router?
[CHUCKLING]
But really, all of you are a
part of an amazing institution
that has proven
time and time again
that human knowledge and
achievement is limitless.
In fact, this is the
place that proved
moonshots are worth taking.
50 years ago this month--
or next month, I guess it is--
the Apollo 11 lunar module
touched down on the moon.
It's fair to say the crew
never would have gotten there
without MIT.
And I don't just mean that
because Buzz Aldrin was class
of '63 here and took Richard
Battin's famous astrodynamics
course.
As Chairman Millard mentioned,
the Apollo 11 literally
got there thanks to its
navigation and control systems
that were designed
right here at what
is now the Draper Laboratory.
Successfully putting a man
on the moon required solving
so many complex problems--
how to physically
guide a spacecraft
on a half-million-mile journey
was arguably the biggest one.
And your fellow
alumnus and professors
solved it by building a
one-cubic-foot computer
at the time when computers
were giant machines that
filled whole rooms.
The only reason those
MIT engineers even
tried to build that
computer in the first place
was that they had been
asked to help do something
that people thought was either
impossible or unnecessary.
Going to the moon was not a
popular idea back in the 1960s.
And Congress didn't
want to pay for it.
Imagine that-- a
Congress that didn't want
to invest in science.
Go figure.
(SARCASTICALLY) That
would never happen today.
[LAUGHTER]
President Kennedy needed
to persuade the taxpayers
that a manned
mission to the moon
was possible and worth doing.
So in 1962, he
delivered a speech
that inspired the country.
He said, quote, "we choose
to go to the moon this decade
and to do other things,
not because they are easy,
but because they are hard."
Sorry, I didn't
mean to say "hard."
I meant to say
(IMITATING KENNEDY) hard.
I don't want to lose
my Boston accent.
In that one sentence,
Kennedy summed up
mankind's inherent need
to reach for the stars.
He continued by saying,
quote, "that challenge
is one that we are
willing to accept,
one that we are
unwilling to postpone,
and one that we intend to win."
In other words, for the good of
the United States and humanity,
it had to be done.
And he was right.
Neil Armstrong took a
great leap for mankind.
The US won a major
Cold War victory.
And decades of
scientific innovation
led to an unprecedented era
of technological advancement.
The inventions that emerged
from the moonshot changed
the world--
satellite television, computer
microchips, CAT scan machines,
and many other things that
we now take for granted--
even video game joysticks.
Yes, there really was
a life before Xbox.
The world we live in today
is fundamentally different,
not just because we
landed on the moon,
but because we tried to get
there in the first place.
In hindsight, President
Kennedy's call
for the original moonshot
at exactly the right moment
in history was brilliant.
And the brightest minds of
their generation, many of them
MIT graduates, delivered it.
Today, I believe that we are
living in a similar moment.
And once again, we'll be
counting on MIT graduates-- all
of you-- to lead us.
But this time, our most
important and pressing
mission--
your generation's mission--
is not to explore deep space
and reach faraway places.
It is to save our own planet,
the one that we're living on,
from climate change.
And unlike 1962, the primary
challenge before you is not
scientific or technological.
It is political.
The fact is we've already
pioneered the technology
to tackle climate change.
We know how to power
buildings using sun and wind.
We know how to power
vehicles using batteries
charged with renewable energy.
We know how to power
factories and industries
using hydrogen and fuel cells.
And we know that
these innovations
don't require us to sacrifice
financially or economically.
Just the opposite-- these
investments on balance
create jobs and save money.
Yes, all of those power sources
need to be brought to scale.
And that will require further
scientific innovation,
which we need you to help lead.
But the question isn't how
to tackle climate change.
We've known how to do
that for many years.
The question is, why the
hell are we moving so slowly?
The race we are in
is against time.
And we are losing.
And with each passing
year, it becomes clearer
just how far behind
we've fallen,
and how fast the situation
is deteriorating,
and how tragic the
results can be.
In the past decade
alone, we've seen
historic hurricanes devastate
islands across the Caribbean.
We've seen 1,000-year floods
hit the mid-western and southern
United States multiple
times in a decade.
And we've seen
record-breaking wildfires
ravage California and
record-breaking typhoons
kill thousands in
the Philippines.
This is a true crisis.
And if we fail to rise to the
occasion, your generation,
your children and grandchildren
will pay a terrible price.
So scientists know there can
be no delay in taking action.
And many government
and political leaders
around the world are
starting to understand that.
Yet here in the United
States, our federal government
is seeking to become the
only country in the world
to withdraw from the
Paris Climate Agreement--
the only one.
Not even North
Korea is doing that.
Those in Washington who deny
the science of climate change
are no more based in reality
than those who believe
the moon landing was faked.
And while the moon landing
conspiracy theorists
are relegated to the paranoid
corners of talk radio,
climate skeptics occupy
the highest positions
of power in the United
States government.
Now, in the administration's
defense, climate change,
they say, is only a theory--
yeah, like gravity
is only a theory.
People can ignore gravity
at their own risk--
at least until they
hit the ground.
But when they ignore
the climate crisis,
they are not only putting
themselves at risk.
They are putting all
humanity at risk.
Instead of challenging Americans
to believe in our ability
to master the universe
as President Kennedy did,
the current administration
is pandering
to the skeptics who in the 1960s
looked at the space program
and only saw short-term
costs and long-term benefits.
President Kennedy's
era earned the nickname
The Greatest Generation
not only because they
persevered through
the Great Depression
and won the Second World War.
They earned it because
of determination to rise,
to pioneer, to innovate,
and to fulfill the promise
of American freedom.
They dreamed in moonshots.
They reached for the stars.
And they began to redeem,
through the Civil Rights
Movement, the
failures of the past.
They set the standard for
leadership and service
to our nation's ideals.
Now your generation
has the opportunity
to join them in
the history books.
The challenge that
lies before you--
stopping climate change-- is
unlike any other ever faced
by humankind.
The stakes could not be higher.
If left unchecked, the
climate change crisis
threatens to destroy
oceanic life that feeds
so many people on this planet.
It threatens to breed war by
spreading drought and hunger.
It threatens to sink
coastal communities,
devastate farms and
businesses, and spread disease.
Now, some people say, we
should leave it in God's hands.
But most religious leaders,
I'm happy to say, disagree.
After all, where in the
Bible, or the Torah,
or the Quran, or any other
book about faith or philosophy
does it teach that
we should do things
that make floods, and fires,
and plagues more severe?
I must've missed that
day in religion class.
Today, most Americans
in both parties
accept that human activity is
driving the climate crisis.
And they want government
to take action.
Over the past two months, there
has been a healthy debate--
mostly within the
Democratic Party--
over what those
actions should be.
And that's great.
In the years ahead, we
need to build consensus
around comprehensive and
ambitious federal policies
that the next
Congress should pass.
But everyone who is concerned
about the climate crisis
should also be able to
agree on two realities.
The first one is, given
opposition in the Senate
and White House, there is
virtually no chance of passing
such policies before 2021.
And the second reality
is we can't wait to act.
We can't put this
mission off any longer.
Mother Nature does not wait
on the election calendar,
and neither can we.
[APPLAUSE]
Our foundation,
Bloomberg Philanthropies,
have been working
for years to rally
cities, and states,
and businesses
to lead on this issue.
And we've had real success--
just not enough.
So today, I'm happy to announce
that, with our foundation,
I'm committing $500
million to the launch
of a new national
climate initiative.
And I hope that you will
all become part of it.
[APPLAUSE]
We are calling it Beyond Carbon.
The last one was Beyond Coal.
This is Beyond Carbon because
we have greater goals.
Our goal is to move the US
towards a 100% cleaner energy
economy as expeditiously
as possible
and begin that
process right now.
We intend to succeed not by
sacrificing things we need,
but by investing
in things we want--
the more good jobs, cleaner
air and water, cheaper power,
more transportation options,
and less congested roads
that we can get.
To do it, we will
defeat in the courts
the EPA's attempt to
roll back regulations
that reduce carbon pollution
and protect our air and water.
But most of our
battles will take
place outside of Washington.
[APPLAUSE]
We're going to take the fight
to the cities, and states,
and directly to the people.
And the fight will take
place on four main fronts.
First, we will push
states and utilities
to phase out every last US
coal-fired power plant by 2030,
just 11 years from now.
[APPLAUSE]
Politicians keep making promises
about climate change mitigation
by the year 2050--
hypocritically after
they're long gone
and no one can hold
them accountable.
Meanwhile, the science keeps
moving the possible inflection
point of irreversible global
warming closer and closer.
We have to set goals
for the near term.
And we have to hold
our elected officials
accountable for meeting them.
We know that closing every
last US coal-fired power
plant over the next
two years is achievable
because we're already
more than halfway there.
Through a partnership between
Bloomberg Philanthropies
and the Sierra Club, we've
shut down 289 coal-fired power
plants since 2011.
[APPLAUSE]
And that includes 51 that we
have retired since the 2016
presidential election despite
all the bluster from the White
House.
As a matter of fact,
since Trump got elected,
the rate of closure has gone up.
Second, we will work to stop the
construction of new gas plants.
By the time they are built,
they will be out of date
because renewable
energy will be cheaper.
Cities like Los
Angeles are already
stopping new gas
plant construction
in favor of renewable energy.
And states like New
Mexico, and Washington,
and Hawaii, and
California are working
to convert their electric
system to 100% clean energy.
We don't want to replace one
fossil fuel with another.
We want to build a
clean energy economy.
And we will push more
states to do that.
Third, we will support
our most powerful allies--
governors, mayors, and
legislators-- in their pursuit
of ambitious policies and laws.
And we will empower
the grassroots army
of activists and
environmental groups
that are currently driving
progress state by state.
Together, we will push for
new incentives and mandates
that increase renewable power,
pollution-free buildings,
waste-free energy,
access to mass transit,
and sales of electric
vehicles, which are now
turning the combustion engine
and all of its pollution
into a relic of the
Industrial Revolution.
Fourth and finally, we
will get deeply involved
in elections across the
country, because climate change
is now first and foremost
a political problem, not
a scientific quandary or
even a technological puzzle.
Now, I know that, as
scientists and engineers,
"politics" can be a dirty word.
I'm an engineer.
I get it.
But I'm also a realist.
So I have three words for you--
get over it.
At least for the
foreseeable future,
winning the battle
against climate change
will depend less on
scientific advancement
and more on political activism.
And that's why Beyond Carbon
includes political spending
that will mobilize voters to
go to the polls and support
candidates who actually
are taking action
on something that could end
life on Earth as we know it.
At the same time, we will
defeat at the voting booth
those who try to
block action and those
who pander with
rhetoric that just
kicks the can down the road.
Our message to elected
officials will be simple--
face reality on climate
change or face the music
on election day.
[APPLAUSE]
Our lives and our children's
lives depend on it--
and so should their
political careers.
Now, most of America will
experience a net increase
in jobs as we move to
renewable energy sources
and reduction in pollution.
But in some places,
jobs are being lost.
We know that.
And we can't leave those
communities behind.
For example,
generations of miners
powered America to greatness.
And many paid for it with
their lives and their health.
But today, they need our help
to change with technology
and the economy.
And while it is up to
the federal government
to make those
investments, Beyond Carbon
will continue our
foundation's work
to show that progress
really is possible.
It certainly does deserve
a round of applause.
[APPLAUSE]
So we will support
local organizations
in Appalachia and the
Western mountain states,
and work to spur
economic growth,
and retrain workers for
jobs and growing industries.
Taken together, these four
elements of Beyond Carbon
will be the largest coordinated
assault on the climate crisis
that our country
has ever undertaken.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you.
We will work to empower
and expand the volunteers
and activists fighting these
battles community by community,
state by state.
It's a process that
our foundation and I
have proved can succeed.
After all, this
isn't the first time
we've done an end run
around Washington.
A decade ago, no one
would have believed
that we could take on the
coal industry and close half
of all US plants, but we have.
A decade ago, no one
would have believed
we could take on the NRA
and pass stronger gun safety
laws in states like Florida,
Colorado, and Nevada,
but we have.
[APPLAUSE]
Two decades ago,
no one would have
believed that we could take
on the tobacco industry,
and spread New York City's
smoking ban to most of America
and to countries around
the world, but we have.
[APPLAUSE]
And now we will take on
the fossil fuel industry
to accelerate the transition
to a clean energy economy.
I believe we will succeed again,
but only if one thing happens,
and that is, you have
to help lead the way
by raising your voices, by
joining an advocacy group,
by knocking on doors, by
calling your elected officials,
by voting, and getting your
friends and family to join you.
Back in the 1960s when
scientists here at MIT
were racing to the moon,
there was a populist saying
that went, "if you're
not part of the solution,
you're part of the problem."
Today, Washington is a very,
very big part of the problem.
And we have to be
part of a solution
through political activism that
puts the screws to our elected
officials.
Let me reiterate-- this has
gone from a scientific challenge
to a political one.
And it's time for all of us to
recognize that climate change
is the challenge of our time.
As President Kennedy said 57
years ago on the moon mission,
"we are willing to
accept this challenge,
we are unwilling to postpone
it, and we intend to win it."
We must again do what is hard.
Dammit, I meant to say
(IMITATING KENNEDY) hard.
Graduates, we need your
minds and your creativity
to achieve a clean
energy future.
But that's not all.
We need your voices.
We need your votes.
And we need you to help lead
us where Washington will not.
It may be a moonshot, but
it's the only shot we've got.
As you leave this
campus, I hope you
will carry with you the MIT's
tradition of taking and making
moonshots.
Be ambitious in every
facet of your life.
And don't ever let something
stop you because people
say it's impossible.
Let those words inspire
you, because just
as trying to make the
impossible possible
can lead to achievements
you've never dreamed of--
and sometimes you actually
do land on the moon.
So tonight, have one
more beer at the Muddy.
And tomorrow, start
working on the mission
that, if you succeed, will
lead the whole world to call
you The Greatest Generation II.
Thank you and congratulations.
[APPLAUSE]

---

### Squire Booker PhD '94 at 2019 Investiture of Doctoral Hoods and Degree Conferral Ceremony
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rvqyverDWc

Idioma: en

(audience applauding)
- Good morning!
Thank you so much for that
very kind introduction.
I can't tell you how excited I am
to be here with you today,
but in case you are wondering,
I'm not that black guy who
gave the commencement speech
at Morehouse College last month.
(audience laughs)
If you haven't heard, Robert
Smith pledged $40 million
in his speech to clear
the educational debts
of the nearly 400 students
in the 2019 graduating class.
(audience applauds)
Talk about the graduation speech
to end all graduation speeches!
The only thing that I can
pledge is that in comparison,
you will feel extremely ripped off
at the end of this speech.
(audience laughs)
First, let me start by
congratulating the class of 2019
on this wonderful achievement.
I don't just imagine the blood, the sweat,
the tears, and the immense amount of time
that you've put into
arriving at this point
in your careers and in your lives.
I actually experienced it firsthand
as a graduate student here at MIT
between 1987 and 1994.
I can remember vividly the day
that I completed and
defended my dissertation
and walking through the halls of MIT
with a big grin on my face
to get it signed by all
the appropriate people,
each of whom extended a
hand to congratulate me.
It was then that I realized, with a smile,
that I had completed a
major goal in my life
and was eager to embrace
what the future had in store for me.
But when I was called last December
and asked to speak at today's ceremony,
my initial reaction was
is this man serious?
And then, as I spoke, I pivoted the phone
about 180 degrees around my ear
to place the mic above my head
while whispering in a low voice,
"I wonder if he has me
confused with someone else."
And after it became clear that he didn't,
I finally settled on,
well, maybe no one else
on their top 50 list
of candidates was actually
able to make it today.
Surely, I thought, what is it that I,
a pretty average guy from southeast Texas,
can offer graduates of such
high caliber and high promise?
Some of the most frequent topics
that you'll hear in a
graduation speech are
opportunity, initiative, creativity,
confidence, passion, and
perseverance, among others.
All are immensely important
and have contributed to my own success.
However, on a more personal note,
I'd like to talk particularly
about opportunity,
which I believe has largely shaped
the current professional
and academic landscape
with respect to race,
ethnicity, and gender.
Without opportunity, the other attributes
don't really have the
opportunity to stand out.
So, I grew up in Beaumont,
a segregated city in southeast Texas,
nestled 25 miles from the Louisiana border
and 25 miles from the Gulf of Mexico.
I was raised by my grandmother,
who assumed the role of a
single parent at the age of 65
after raising 11 children of her own.
My father was unknown at the time,
and my mother, who had moved
to the Bay area of California,
was not quite prepared for the constraints
associated with child-rearing.
Many kids in my surroundings
had similar stories,
but I, unlike most others, was fortunate
to have three uncles who lived in Beaumont
who served as mentors and role models
and who kept me off the streets.
As an African-American kid
growing up in Beaumont,
or perhaps anywhere in southeast Texas,
a career in science was
about as likely as winning the lottery,
largely
because there were
virtually no role models
in the field to encourage students
to pursue science-based careers
or to show that one could actually
make a decent living as a scientist.
No one really knew what a scientist did
on a day-to-day basis,
except from what was shown
occasionally on television.
Moreover, it was not uncommon
for some of our teachers
to utter blanket statements like,
"Black people can't do physics,"
which, for some students,
was an affirmation of what
they already believed.
And so, they would simply cross physicist
off their list as a career to aspire to.
Indeed, science was as segregated
as the city of Beaumont itself.
Outside of George Washington Carver,
none of us knew much about any
African-American scientist,
other than the handful of inventors
who were perfunctorily showcased
during Black History Month.
Moreover, science and the
African-American community
have had a bit of a
contentious relationship.
At the turn of the century
and during the early and mid-1900s,
there were a number of truly great
African-American scientists who struggled
for recognition in their
fields because of race.
I was never aware of this issue
until I came to MIT in 1986
as a participant in its very first
minority summer science research program,
which began as an institutional effort
to address the issue
of underrepresentation
in the sciences,
and it was there that I listened to a talk
by MIT professor Kenneth Manning,
who had just published
a prize-winning book
a few years earlier
on the life of Ernest Everett Just
titled "Black Apollo of Science."
And in that book, he described
how this young African-American kid
who was raised by a single mother
in Charleston, South Carolina,
rose to be a giant in the
field of reproductive zoology,
despite overt bigotry and
a lack of opportunity.
Because education for black students
down south was generally inferior,
his mother sent him to
Kimball Union Academy,
an exclusive boarding school not far
from Hanover, New Hampshire.
There, he graduated at
the top of his class
before moving on to Dartmouth University,
where he won almost every prestigious
academic award available
and was the only magna cum laude or higher
graduate in his class.
Despite his stellar academic track record,
Just, like many other
African-Americans at that time,
was unable to find employment
outside of teaching
at a historically black college.
And the very best, like Just,
ended up typically teaching
at Howard University
in Washington, D.C.
And while there, he
spent most of his summers
conducting research at Woods Hole
and was able to earn a PhD in zoology
from the University of Chicago.
He was a rising star in
the area of fertilization
and highly acclaimed
and respected in Europe
but was unable to secure
an academic appointment
at a major institution
in the United States.
Therefore, in the last
decade or so of his life,
he was forced to retreat
to highly prestigious
institutions in Europe
to conduct his research,
eventually being captured
in France in 1940
when the Germans invaded
and spending time in
a prisoner-of-war camp
before being allowed to return
home to the United States,
where he died shortly after.
And I was struck by how
similar this story was
to that of another
African-American scientist,
Percy Julian, an organic chemist.
Julian was raised in Alabama,
but his parents sent him to
DePauw University in Indiana,
where he graduated
valedictorian of his class.
It was his dream to pursue a PhD
but was unable to do so
because of a lack of teaching fellowships
for African-Americans.
He then moved to Fisk,
another highly prestigious
historically black college
at that time,
where he was a chemistry instructor.
After earning a Master's degree
in chemistry from Harvard,
he moved to Howard as an instructor
and then on to the University of Vienna,
where he earned his PhD in chemistry.
He returned to Howard University,
where he became department head,
but because of personal circumstances,
he resigned from that position
and returned to DePauw University
but only as an instructor
in organic chemistry.
And there, he directed research projects
for senior chemistry majors.
At DePauw, he and a colleague from Vienna
that he helped immigrate
to the United States
completed the total
synthesis of physostigmine,
a complex natural product used
for the treatment of glaucoma.
This achievement was recognized
as a milestone in synthetic
organic chemistry.
Both he and his European colleague
were offered jobs at DuPont,
but his job was rescinded
when he showed up
because they didn't know he was black.
He was offered a job at the
Institute of Paper Chemistry
in Appleton, Wisconsin,
but turned that down after finding out
that Appleton was a sundown city,
where blacks weren't allowed after dark.
He was finally able to secure a position
at a company called Glidden,
where he made impressive advances
in the synthesis and isolation
of steroid hormones and plant sterols
before starting his company,
which he sold for millions of dollars.
He was an absolute pioneer
in natural products
but couldn't get a professorship
at a major research institution
in the United States.
And for his contributions to science,
he was inducted into the
National Academy of Sciences
in 1973, only the second
African-American scientist
and first African-American
chemist to have that distinction.
And I could go on
and tell a number of
other similar stories,
and for every story
about an African-American
who has been disenfranchised in science,
there are, unfortunately,
many more involving women.
And if you look at the
academic landscape today,
you'll find that we're
still trying to recover
from the bigotry and misogyny of the past,
some of which still exists,
but we're sometimes afraid
to make meaningful change.
We still have highly acclaimed scientists,
even Nobel Prize winners,
who publicly proclaim that
black people can't do science
and who make similarly
disparaging comments about women.
Statements like these have no value,
and they dangerously creep unsuspectingly
into the heads of decision-makers.
In 2008, 66 years after
Ernest Just's death,
I became the first African-American
to be on the faculty
in the department of
chemistry at Penn State.
That it took so long is completely tragic,
and many chemistry
departments across the country
are still waiting to get their first.
But back in 1986, MIT gave
me my first real opportunity
to explore scientific research
and realize my passion for discovery
and for working with people
from all over the world
to solve problems.
And the MIT chemistry department
and particularly my doctoral
advisor, JoAnne Stubbe,
have been an ardent supporter ever since,
helping me to achieve goals
that I didn't even know existed
when I first undertook this journey
or goals that I didn't
even have for myself.
I can honestly say that
my cup runneth over today.
So, as I look out among you today,
what I'll leave you with is the notion
that almost anyone can
excel if given a chance.
Take advantage of opportunities,
and make the most of it.
But also, work to provide
opportunities for others.
That's how you will
grow as a future leader.
America's strength is its people,
and there is so much untapped potential
in people who have been
traditionally disenfranchised,
including people of color,
women,
the LBGTQ community,
and the disabled.
In fact, first-generation white students
or students from modest
socioeconomic backgrounds
are the ones that I have
impacted the greatest
directly at Penn State,
and you can't imagine how
appreciative they have been
to have been given a
chance and some direction.
Again, let me leave you with
I'm just an average guy
from southeast Texas,
no different from anyone else,
except for the fact that
someone gave me an opportunity
to make a change in the
direction that I was going,
and that has made all the difference.
Thank you so much!
(audience applauds)

---

### President L. Rafael Reif's charge to the Class of 2018
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kPFFRLgXO4

Idioma: en

I want to deeply thank
the Senior Gift Committee
and everyone who participated
in this highly welcome gift.
And, Sheryl, I want
to thank you for
your thoughtful,
thought-provoking, and quite
inspiring speech.
Thank you so much for
being with us today.
Well, to the graduates of
2018, to every one of you--
congratulations.
You've heard that before.
You deserve to
hear it many times.
My job today is to
deliver a charge to you.
And I'll get to
that in a minute.
But first, I want to
recognize the people who
helped you charge this far.
To everyone who came
here this morning
to celebrate our graduates,
warm welcome to MIT.
And to the parents and
families of today's graduates,
a huge congratulations
to you as well.
This day is the joyful
result of your many years
of loving support and sacrifice.
Please accept our deep
gratitude and admiration.
Now for this next
acknowledgment,
I need your help.
Over my left shoulder,
there is a camera.
In a moment, I'm going to ask
all of you to cheer and wave
to it, all right?
Just cheer and wave, and I would
love it if you make it loud.
Next, I would like to offer a
special greeting to all those
who were not able
to come to campus
but who are cheering on today's
graduates online from locations
all over the globe.
We're very glad to have
you with us as well.
So, graduates, this
is your moment--
please cheer and wave.
Wait, I've been to three MIT
dance parties with many of you.
I know you know
how to make noise.
And remember, I still
have your diplomas.
So now, one more time,
let's cheer and wave!
It's great to have
all of you here
on Killian Court on
this wonderful day
for this tremendously
important occasion.
But first, I have a question
for today's graduates.
Would you remember
if I asked you
where were you this
past February 15th?
Probably not.
In fact, on this
delightful, June morning,
it may seem a little
cruel to make you
think about February at all.
But I do because this
year, on February 15th,
one member of our
extended community
was doing something very
specific and memorable
in a very cool spot
in South Korea.
Adam Edelman, MIT
class of 2014, was
becoming the first
graduate in 10 years
to compete in the Olympics.
Now, think about
this for a moment.
Which do you think
would be larger?
The number of MIT graduates who
have competed in or qualified
for the Olympics or the number
of our alumni who have won
Nobel prizes.
Remember, this is MIT.
Well, it turns out that 36 MIT
graduates are Nobel laureates.
But 35 MIT graduates have taken
part in the Olympic games.
They have represented
28 nations in 11 sports,
from rowing, to wrestling, to
sailing, fencing, and rifle.
And we're still
waiting for pirate
to qualify as an Olympic event.
I think they're afraid that
we'll take all the medals.
Olympic glory may not be
the first thing people
associate with MIT.
But I believe the experience
of these exceptional athletes
has some fascinating
similarities
to what you have learned here.
One obvious connection
between Olympic athletes
and MIT graduates is that you're
all trained to be fearless.
For instance, Adam's
sport is pretty unusual.
It's called skeleton--
yes, skeleton.
As he describes it, it's
like taking a lunch tray,
diving head first onto it, and
going about 90 miles an hour
down an icy chute.
Now as those of you who have
taken physics already know,
that may sound frightening.
But as Adam might tell
you, it's nothing compared
to your first test in 8-01.
In your time at MIT,
you have moved faster,
stretched farther,
and accomplished more
than you ever thought possible.
And sometimes, the
shoot was pretty steep.
So as you step out
into the world,
remember that you
carry within you
the deep confidence
that you have earned,
the confidence that you know
how to face and overcome
difficult challenges.
And by the way, the
fearlessness you learn here
will set you apart even if you
forget to wear your brass rat.
Here in our Olympic
village on the Charles,
you have also
experienced the thrill
of working and
playing with people
from every corner of the earth.
The people of MIT do speak
dozens of different languages.
But just like
Olympians, we all speak
a great, shared
language of measurement,
and numbers, and facts.
At the Olympics, the fact
is there is only one way
to get a medal, and
there is only one way
to get an MIT degree--
the hard way.
Let me check with our
50th reunion class.
Class of '68, did
I get that right?
Is that the MIT you remember?
Nothing has changed.
There is one more
Olympic connection
that says something
important about you,
this specific class
of new MIT graduates.
At the Olympics, some people
raise the bar for everyone
who comes after.
Similarly, those of
you who leave us today
have set a very
important, new standard.
Individually and
together, you helped
us see that if we truly
aspire to make a better world,
we also need to
make a better MIT.
And then through your
compassion, creativity,
and leadership, and your
magnificent example,
you showed us how to
do precisely that.
For instance, by invoking
the simple words, tell me
about your day, you
inspired all of us
to perform everyday miracles
of human connection.
Izzy, wherever you're
seated, thank you.
[CHEERING]
You discovered that
some students on campus
don't always know how they'll
pay for their next meal.
And you helped us find
practical ways to help.
You developed serious,
constructive recommendations
for making MIT more caring,
welcoming, and inclusive.
And you persisted in
driving that change.
When federal tax
changes threatened
to make graduate student
education unaffordable,
you came together to make your
voices heard on Capitol Hill,
and you won.
When members of our
community were prevented
from returning by the
federal travel ban,
you came together
to try every angle
to help make sure they
could come back to join us.
And I'm delighted that
[INAUDIBLE] is graduating here
today.
And when, as a
community, we most needed
to talk with each other
despite our differences,
you wrapped in paper the great
pillars of our main lobby
so we could share our thoughts.
And with that gesture, you
wrapped these complex community
together with the bonds
of patience listening,
and mutual respect, and love.
In short, in this,
and many other ways,
you made MIT better.
It makes me proud that you
have set this new standard
of community for MIT.
And it makes me certain that
you will make a better world.
I tried to make the case that
MIT has some important things
in common with the
Olympics, but I
want to highlight one
very important difference.
At MIT, in order for you
to win, no one has to lose.
No one even has
to come in second.
That's because in
our Olympic village,
we are members of a single team
united with a single mission.
And we all strive to see the
world not as a zero-sum game,
but as positive sum, as a world
where generous collaboration
makes each collaborator
smarter, stronger,
and richer in every way.
This deep, shared world
view gives me the confidence
to deliver my charge to you.
Now I'm going to use a word that
feels very comfortable at MIT,
although it has taken on
a troubling new meaning
elsewhere.
But I know our graduates
will know what I mean.
After you depart for
your new destinations,
I want you to hack the world
until you make the world
a little more like MIT--
more daring, and more
passionate, more rigorous,
inventive, and ambitious,
more humble, more respectful,
more generous, more kind.
And because the people
of MIT also like
to fix things that are broken--
as you strive to hack
the world, please
try to heal the world too.
Our society is like a big,
complicated family in the midst
of a terrible argument.
I believe that one
way to make it better
is to find ways to
listen to each other,
to understand our differences,
and to work constantly
to remind each other
of our common humanity.
And I know you will
find your own ways
to help with this healing, too.
This morning, I see more
than 2,800 new graduates
who are ready for this urgent
and timeless problem set.
You came to MIT with exceptional
qualities of your own.
And now after years
of focused, intense,
and intense
dedication, you leave
us equipped with a
distinctive set of skills
and steeped in this
community's deepest values--
Our commitment to
excellence, to integrity,
meritocracy, boldness,
humility, an open spirit
of collaboration,
a strong desire
to make a positive impact,
and a sense of responsibility
to make the world
a better place.
So now, go out there.
Join the world.
Find your calling.
Solve the unsolvable.
Invent the future.
Take the high road.
And you will continue
to make your family--
including your MIT family--
proud.
On this wonderful day, I
am proud of all of you.
To every one of the members of
the graduating class of 2018,
please accept my best wishes
for a happy and successful life
and career.
Congratulations!
Thank you President Reif.

---

### Sheryl Sandberg at MIT Commencement 2018
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w1d1TWxwec

Idioma: en

[APPLAUSE]
President, esteemed faculty,
proud parents, devoted friends,
squirming siblings, but
especially, Class of 2018,
congratulations.
You made it.
Woo!
[APPLAUSE]
It wasn't always easy.
You plowed through four
years of problem sets.
You conquered the snow of 2015.
You survived way too many Weekly
Wednesdays at the Muddy Charles
and learned this
important life lesson--
there's no such thing
as a free chicken wing.
[LAUGHTER]
Today, you are graduates
of one of the most revered
technical institutions
in the world.
The Harvard people
tried to get me
to say most revered institution
within a two-mile radius.
[LAUGHTER]
I said no, but you're
soon going to find out
how persistent alumni
associations can be.
Just ask the Class of '68.
They've been to more
fundraisers than you've
eaten chicken wings.
One thing I remember
from graduation
is that feeling of
turning one corner
and not being able to see
clearly around the next.
For someone like me,
who yes, very annoying,
started studying for finals
the first day of the semester,
that was unsettling.
Graduation was the
first time in my life
where the steps were
not clearly laid out.
I remember the feeling of
excitement and possibility
mixed in with just a teeny
amount of crushing uncertainty.
If you know exactly what you're
going to do for your career,
raise your hand.
[LAUGHTER]
There are always some.
That is impressive.
I did not.
I didn't know where I would
fit in best or contribute most.
These days, when I need advice,
I turn to Mark Zuckerberg.
But back then, he was
in elementary school.
[LAUGHTER]
I was sure of only one thing--
I didn't want to
go into business.
And it never even occurred
to me to go into technology
I guess that's a
warning for those of you
who put your hands up.
Certainty is one of the
great privileges of youth.
Things won't always
end up as you think.
But you will gain
such valuable lessons
along life's uncertain path.
And the lesson I want
to share with you today
is one I learned in my very
first job out of college,
working on a leprosy
treatment program in India.
Since biblical times,
leprosy patients
were ostracized
from their community
to prevent the disease
from spreading.
By the time I
graduated from college,
the technical challenges
had been solved.
Doctors could easily
diagnose leprosy.
It shows up as skin
patches on your chest.
And medicine could
easily treat the disease.
But the stigma remained.
So patients hid their disease
instead of seeking care.
I will never forget meeting
patients for the first time
and extending my arm and
watching them recoil,
because they were not used
to even being touched.
The real breakthrough
didn't come
from technicians or doctors, but
from local community leaders.
They knew that they had to
erase the stigma before they
could erase the disease.
So they wrote plays and
songs in local languages
and went around the
community, encouraging people
to come forward without fear.
They understood that the
most difficult problems
and the greatest opportunities
we have are not technical.
They are human.
In other words, it's not
just about technology.
It's about people.
This is a lesson you've
learned here at MIT.
And not just those
of you graduating
with technical degrees, but
those who studied anything
from urban planning to
management, or course
11, or course 15, in MIT speak.
[LAUGHING]
[CHEERS]
You know it's people who build
technology and people who use
it to make their lives better--
to get educated,
to get health care,
to share an infinite
number of cat videos
that are all unique
and totally adorable,
unless you're a dog person.
Today, anyone with an
internet connection
can inspire millions
with a single sentence
or a single image.
That gives extraordinary
power to those
who use it to do good, to
march for equality, to reignite
the movement against
sexual harassment,
to rally around the things
they care about and the people
they want to be there for.
But it also empowers those
who would seek to do harm.
When everyone has a voice, some
raise their voices in hatred.
When everyone can
share, some share lies.
And when everyone
can organize, some
organize against the
things we value the most.
Journalist Ann O'Hare McCormick
wrote about the impact
of new technology.
She said we had created the
ultimate democracy, where
anything said by anyone
could be heard by everyone.
But she worried.
She worried it provoked
partisanship or tolerance,
whether it was time
wasted or time well spent.
She wondered if it explained
all the furious fence
building, the
fanned-up nationalisms,
and the angers and
neuroses of our time.
She wrote this in
1932 about the radio.
And by the way, she
was the first woman
to win the Pulitzer
Prize for journalism.
[LAUGHING]
[CHEERS]
The fact that the challenges
we face are not new
does not make them
less pressing.
Like the generations
before us, we
have to solve the problems
that our technology brings.
I believe there
are three ways we
can deal with these challenges.
We can retreat in fear.
We can barrel ahead with
a single-minded belief
in our technology.
Or we can fight like hell
to do all the good we can,
knowing that what we build
will be used by people.
And people are capable of
great beauty and great cruelty.
I encourage you today to
choose the third option,
to be clear-eyed optimists, to
see that building technology
that supports equality,
democracy, truth,
and kindness means
looking around corners
and throwing up every possible
roadblock against hate
and violence and deception.
You might be thinking,
given some of the issues
Facebook has had,
isn't what I'm saying
hitting pretty close to home?
Yes, it is.
I am proud of what Facebook has
done around the world, proud
of the connections
that have been created,
proud of how people use
Facebook to organize
for democracy, for the Women's
March, for Black Lives Matter,
proud of how people use
Facebook to start and grow
businesses and create
jobs all around the world.
But at Facebook, we didn't
see all the risks coming,
and we didn't do
enough to stop them.
It's painful when
you miss something,
when you make the mistake of
believing so much in the good
you're seeing that
you don't see the bad.
It's hard when you know
you let people down.
In the middle of one
of my toughest moments,
Michael Miller, the
former superintendent
of the Naval Academy, kindly
reached out to remind me
that smooth seas never
make good sailors.
He's right.
The times in my life when
I have learned the most
have definitely
been the hardest.
That's when you will learn
the most about yourself.
You can almost feel
yourself growing.
You can feel the growing pains.
When you own your mistakes, you
can work harder to correct them
and even harder to
prevent the next ones.
That's my job now.
It won't be easy, and
it's not going to be fast,
but we will see it through.
Yet the larger challenge is
one all of us here must face.
The role of technology
in our lives is growing.
And that means our relationship
with technology is changing.
We have to change, too.
We have to recognize the full
weight of our responsibilities.
It's not enough to
be technologist.
We have to make sure that
technology serves people.
It's not enough or even
possible to be neutral.
Tools are shaped by the
minds that make them
and by the hands that use them.
And it's not enough
to have a good idea.
You have to know when
to stop a bad one.
This is hard, because technology
changes faster than society.
When I was in college,
no one had a cell phone.
Today, there are more cell
phones than people on Earth.
We are in one of the
most remarkable moments
in human history.
And you will not
just live through it.
You will shape it.
Many of you will
work on technologies
that will change the world.
You will connect the rest of
the world, create new jobs
and disrupt old ones, give
machines new powers to think,
and give us the means
to communicate in ways
we haven't even thought of.
We are not passive
observers of these changes.
We can't be.
Trends do not just happen.
They are the result of
choices people make.
We are not indifferent creators.
We have a duty of care.
And even when, with
the best of intentions,
you go astray, as
many of us have,
you have the responsibility
to course correct.
We are accountable
to the people who
use what we build, to our
colleagues, to ourselves,
and to our values.
So if you're thinking
about joining
a team, an NGO, a
startup, or a company,
ask if they're doing
good for the world.
Research at that other
school down the river
shows that we become more
creative when we ask, could we?
And we become more ethical
when we ask, should we?
So ask both.
Know that you have an
obligation to never shy away
from the good, from
doing the right thing,
because the fight to ensure
that tech is used for good
is never over.
To make sure that technology
reflects and upholds
the right values, we have
to build with awareness.
And the best way
to be more aware
is to have more
people in the room
with different voices
and different views.
There are still
skeptics out there
when it comes to the
value of diversity.
They dismiss it as something
we do to feel better,
not to be better.
They're wrong.
We cannot build technology for
equality and democracy unless
we have and we harness
diversity in its creation.
More people with more
diverse backgrounds
are working in technology than
ever before and graduating
in your class than ever before.
But our industry is
still lagging, MIT.
Even the newest technologies can
contain the oldest prejudices.
Our lack of diversity
is at the root
of some of the things we
fail to see and prevent.
It's up to all of
us to fix that--
people like me and people like
you, everyone graduating today
and all the graduates to come.
So continue the example
you have lived at MIT.
Continue to engage with people
outside your discipline,
your gender, your race.
Talk with people who grew
up in different places, who
believe different
things, who live
and worship differently
than you do.
Talk with them.
Listen to them.
Get their perspectives,
as you have done here,
and encourage them to work
in and with technology, too.
To all the current
and future educators
here today, let's reform
our educational system
so we give everyone the
opportunity to learn to code.
This is a basic
language now that
needs to be taught
in all of our schools
so that more people
have a choice.
When some kids learn it
and some kids don't, that
creates an uneven playing
field long before people
go into the workforce.
And to all the future
leaders in tech--
that's you-- know that you
have a chance to right wrongs,
not reinforce them.
Tech institutions can be
some of the strongest voices
for progress in the workplace.
But we can always do better.
Encourage your employers
and policymakers
to ensure that everyone-- and
that includes contractors--
earns a living wage.
Fight for paid family leave
with equal time for all genders,
because equality
in the workplace
will not happen until we
have equality in the home,
and because no one
should be forced
to choose between the job they
need and the family they love.
Give people bereavement leave,
because when tragedy strikes,
we need to be there
for each other.
And build workplaces
where everyone, everyone,
is treated with respect.
We need to stop harassment
and hold both perpetrators
and enablers accountable.
And we need to make
a personal commitment
to stop racism and sexism,
including the expressions
of bias that become
commonplace and accepted
instead of rejected and fought.
I want you to know that you
can impact the workplace
from the very day you enter it.
A few months ago,
LeanIn.Org surveyed people
to understand how the MeToo
movement was influencing work.
After so many brave
women spoke out,
we found evidence of
an unintended backlash.
Almost half of male
managers in the US
are now uncomfortable having a
work meeting alone with a woman
and more uncomfortable
having a work
dinner with a female colleague.
These are the informal moments
where men have long gotten
more mentoring than women.
And now it looks like
it could get worse.
For the men here,
someone might pull you
aside your first
week at work and say,
"Never be alone with a woman."
You know they're wrong.
You know how to work
respectfully with all people.
So give them advice instead.
Tell them that they
have the responsibility
to make access equal.
And if they don't
feel comfortable
having dinner with women, they
shouldn't have dinner with men.
Group lunches for everyone.
[APPLAUSE]
In one of my early
jobs, I had a boss
who treated me quite differently
from my two male team members,
and not in a good way.
He spoke to them with
kindness and respect,
but belittled me very publicly.
I tried to talk to him,
but it made it worse.
My two male teammates, right
out of school themselves,
stepped up, and it stopped.
Even if you are the most
junior person in the room,
you have power.
Use it, and use it well.
Class of 2018, it is
not the technology
you build that will define you.
It is the teams
you build and what
people do with your technology.
We have to get this right,
because we need technology
to solve our
greatest challenges.
When I sat where you
are sitting today,
I never thought I would
work in technology.
But somewhere along
that uncertain path,
I learned new lessons and
became a technologist.
And technologists have
always been optimists.
We're optimists
because we have to be.
If you want to do
something that's never
been done before, so many people
will tell you it can't be done.
Graduates of this
amazing university
have helped sequence
the human genome,
paved the way for the
treatment of AIDS,
and made an MIT balloon
appear in the middle
of the Harvard-Yale game.
[CHEERS]
[SCATTERED APPLAUSE]
We're optimists because
we run the numbers.
Our world can feel
polarized and dangerous.
But in many critical ways,
we are so much better off.
A century ago, global
life expectancy
was 35 for 2 billion people.
Today, it is 70 for 7 billion.
When I graduated from
college, one in three people
lived in extreme poverty.
Today it is one in 10.
It's still way too high, but
we have made more progress
in our lifetimes than in
the rest of human history.
Our challenge now is to
be clear-eyed optimists,
or to paraphrase
President Kennedy,
optimists without illusions--
to build technology
that improves
lives and gives voice to
those who often have none,
while preventing misuse, to
build teams that better reflect
the world around us, with all
its complexity and diversity.
If we succeed-- and we
can and will succeed--
we can build technology
that better serves not just
some of us, but all of us.
MIT graduate and former
faculty member David Baltimore
won a Nobel Prize for his
work on the interaction
between viruses and the
genetic material of the cell.
But before that, he helped
bring biologists, lawyers,
and physicians
together to debate
new gene-editing technology.
They were worried that
it had the potential
to cause more harm than good.
But they concluded that the
opportunities for progress
were too great.
So they created
ethical guidelines
and continued the research.
That decision led to some
of the greatest advances
in genetic science and medicine.
It also set a standard that we
as technologists can follow.
Seek advice from people
with different perspectives.
Look deeply at the
risks as well as
the benefits of new technology.
And if those risks
can be managed,
keep going, even in the
face of uncertainty.
Class of 2018, you are
now graduates of one
of the most forward-thinking
places on Earth.
You will have tremendous
opportunities,
and you will be
highly sought after.
You will use what
you learned here
to work on some of the most
critical questions we face.
I hope you use your influence
to make sure technology
is a force for
good in the world.
Technology needs
a human heartbeat.
The things that
bring us together
and the things that bring
us joy are the things
that matter the most.
The future is now in your hands.
Congratulations.
[APPLAUSE]

---

### I graduated from MIT
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urdkltg3oJM

Idioma: en

[music playing]
Hi, my name is Teresa Barajas.
My name is Kayode Ezike.
I'm Sandy Yulke.
I'm Chijoke Okeke.
I'm Mel Snyder. Graduated 50 years ago. 1967.
Class of 1992.
Class of '09.
Class of '01, '06.
Class of 1961.
Class of 2012
I graduated in Course 18, which is Math.
Course 6-1.
Course 7.
Course 10.
Course 12.
Course 18.
Course 20.
Course 15.
Course 1.
Course 3.
Course 2-A and I graduated from MIT.
[music playing]
I graduated from MIT.
We graduated from MIT.
I graduated from MIT.
[music playing]

---

### Tim Cook's MIT Commencement Address 2017
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckjkz8zuMMs

Idioma: en

[APPLAUSE]
TIM COOK: Hello MIT.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you.
Congratulations class of '17.
I especially want to thank
Chairman Millard, President
Reif, distinguished faculty,
trustees, and members
of the class of 1967.
It's a privilege to
be with you today,
with your families and your
friends on such an amazing,
important day.
MIT and Apple share so much.
We both love hard problems.
We love the search
for new ideas.
And we at specially love finding
those ideas, the really big
ones, the ones that
can change the world.
I know MIT has a proud
tradition of pranks,
or as you would
call them, hacks.
And you have pulled off
some pretty great ones
over the years.
I'll never figure out how
MIT students sent that Mars
Rover to the Kresge Oval, or put
a propeller beanie on the Great
Dome, or how you've obviously
taken over the president's
Twitter account.
[LAUGHTER]
I can tell college students
are behind it because most
of the tweets happen at 3 AM.
[LAUGHTER]
I'm really happy to be here.
Today is about celebration.
And you have so
much to be proud of.
As you leave here to start
the next leg of your journey
in life, there will be days
where you will ask yourself,
where is all this going?
What is the purpose?
What is my purpose?
I'll be honest, I asked
myself that same question,
and it took me nearly
15 years to answer it.
Maybe by talking about
my journey today,
I can save you some time.
The struggle for me
started early on.
In high school, I thought I'd
discover my life's purpose when
I could answer that age
old question, what do you
want to be when you grow up--
nope.
In college I thought
I would discover it
when I could answer,
what's your major--
not quite.
I thought that maybe
I discovered it
when I found a good job.
Then I thought I just needed
to get a few promotions.
That didn't work either.
I kept convincing myself that
it was just over the horizon,
around the next corner.
Nothing worked.
And it was really
tearing me apart.
Part of me kept pushing ahead
to the next achievement.
And the other part kept
asking, is this all there is?
I went to grad school at
Duke looking for the answer.
I tried meditation.
I sought guidance in religion.
I read great
philosophers and authors.
And in a moment of
youthful indiscretion,
I might even have experimented
with a Windows PC.
[LAUGHTER]
And obviously that didn't work.
After countless
twists and turns,
at last, 20 years ago, my
search brought me to Apple.
At the time the company
was struggling to survive.
Steve Jobs had just
returned to Apple
and he had launched the
"Think Different" campaign.
He wanted to empower the crazy
ones, the misfits, the rebels,
the troublemakers, the round
pegs in the square holes
to do their best work.
If we could just do that,
Steve knew we could really
change the world.
Before that moment, I had never
met a leader with such passion
or encountered a
company with such
a clear and compelling
purpose, to serve humanity.
It was just that
simple, serve humanity.
And it was in that moment,
after 15 years of searching,
something clicked.
I finally felt aligned,
aligned with a company that
brought together challenging
cutting edge work with a higher
purpose, aligned with a leader
who believed that technology
which didn't exist yet could
reinvent tomorrow's world,
aligned with myself
and my own deep need
to serve something greater.
Of course at that moment
I didn't know all of that.
I was just grateful to have that
psychological burden lifted.
But with the help of
hindsight, my breakthrough
makes a lot more sense.
I was never going to
find my purpose working
someplace without a clear
sense of purpose of its own.
Steve and Apple freed me
to throw my whole self
into my work, to embrace their
mission and make it my own.
How can I serve humanity?
This is life's biggest and
most important question.
When you work towards something
greater than yourself,
you find meaning.
You find purpose.
So the question I hope you
will carry forward from here
is how will you serve humanity?
The good news is since
you're here today,
you're already on a great track.
At MIT you've learned how much
power science and technology
have to change the
world for the better.
Thanks to discoveries made
right here, billions of people
are leading healthier
and more productive, more
fulfilling lives.
And if we are ever going to
solve some of the hardest
problems still facing
the world today,
everything from
cancer to climate
change to educational
inequality,
then technology
will help us do it.
But technology alone
isn't the solution.
And sometimes it's even
part of the problem.
Last year I had a chance
to meet with Pope Francis.
It was the most incredible
meeting of my life.
This is a man who
had spent more time
comforting the afflicted
in slums than he
has with heads of state.
This may surprise you, but he
knew an unbelievable amount
about technology.
It was obvious to me that
he had thought deeply
about it, its opportunities,
its risks, its morality.
What he said to me
at that meeting,
what he preached
really, was on a topic
we care a lot about at Apple.
But he expressed a shared
concern in a powerful new way.
Never has humanity had
such power over itself,
yet nothing ensures that it
will be used wisely he has said.
Technology today is integral
to almost all aspects
of our lives.
And most of the time
it's a force for good.
And yet the potential
adverse consequences
are spreading faster and
cutting deeper than ever before.
Threats to our security, threats
to our privacy, fake news,
and social media that
becomes antisocial.
Sometimes the very technology
that is meant to connect us
divides us.
Technology is capable
of doing great things,
but it doesn't want
to do great things.
It doesn't want anything.
That part takes all of us.
It takes our values
and our commitment
to our families
and our neighbors
and our communities, our
love of beauty and belief
that all of our faiths
are interconnected--
our decency, our kindness.
I'm not worried about
artificial intelligence
giving computers the ability
to think like humans.
I'm more concerned about
people thinking like computers,
without values or
compassion, without concern
for consequences.
That is what we need you
to help us guard against.
Because if science is a
search in the darkness,
then the humanities are a candle
that shows us where we've been
and the danger that lies ahead.
As Steve once said, "technology
alone is not enough.
It is technology married
with the liberal arts married
with the humanities that
make our hearts sing."
When you keep people at
the center of what you do,
it can have an enormous impact.
It means an iPhone that allows a
blind person to run a marathon.
It means an Apple Watch catches
a heart condition before it
becomes a heart attack.
It means an iPad that
helps a child with autism
connect with his or world.
In short, it means technology
infused with your values,
making progress
possible for everyone.
Whatever you do in your life
and whatever we do at Apple,
we must infuse it with the
humanity that each of us
is born with.
That responsibility is immense.
But so is the opportunity.
I'm optimistic because I
believe in your generation,
your passion, your
journey to serve humanity.
We are all counting on you.
There is so much out there
conspiring to make you cynical.
The internet has enabled so
much and empowered so many.
But it can also be a place
where basic rules of decency
are suspended and pettiness
and negativity thrive.
Don't let that noise
knock you off course.
Don't get caught up in the
trivial aspects of life.
Don't listen to trolls.
And for God's sake
don't become one.
Measure your impact on
humanity not in likes
but in the lives you
touch, not in popularity
but in the people you serve.
I felt that my life
got bigger when
I stopped caring what other
people thought about me.
You will find yours will too.
Stay focused on
what really matters.
There will be times when your
resolve to serve humanity
will be tested.
Be prepared.
People will try to
convince you that you
should keep your empathy
out of your career.
Don't accept this false premise.
At a shareholders'
meeting a few years back,
someone questioned Apple's
investment and focus
on the environment.
He asked me to pledge
that Apple would only
invest in green initiatives
that could be justified
with a return on investment.
I tried to be diplomatic.
I pointed out that
Apple does many things,
like accessibility features
for those with disabilities,
that don't rely on an ROI.
We do these things because
they're the right thing to do.
And protecting the environment
is a critical example.
He wouldn't let it go.
And I got my blood up.
So I told him, if you
can't accept our position,
you shouldn't own Apple stock.
When you're convinced
that your cause is right,
have the courage
to take a stand.
If you see a problem
or an injustice,
recognize that no one
will fix it but you.
As you go forward today,
use your minds and hands
and your hearts to
build something bigger
than yourselves.
Always remember, there is
no idea bigger than this.
As Dr. Martin Luther King
said, all life is interrelated.
We are all bound together into
a single garment of destiny.
If you keep that idea
at the forefront of all
that you do, if
you choose to live
your lives at that
intersection between technology
and the people it serves, if
you strive to create the best,
give the best, do the best for
everyone, not just for some,
then today all of humanity
has good cause for hope.
Thank you very much.
And congratulations
class of 2017.
[APPLAUSE]

---

### President Reif's Charge to 2016 Graduates
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2k0Zomj8M4

Idioma: en

Good morning! To the graduates
of 2016: Congratulations!
Now to honor your extraordinary
achievements I would like to take
opportunity to be thoughtful,
reflective, and wise. But seeing
the look in your faces, right
now, perhaps I should just
aspire to be brief.
To everyone who has come here
this morning to celebrate our
graduates - welcome to MIT!
And to celebrate the parents and
families of today's graduates, I
want to call out one story in
particular. When Joe Bellantoni
began the executive MBA program
at MIT Sloan, he was excited,
like all of his classmates. But
he faced an extra challenge,
because, since a car accident in
2007, Joe has been blind.
He graduates today thanks to his
own intelligence, confidence and
determination - and thanks to
the fact that his wife, Denise,
chose to be with him every step
of the way, attending his study
groups and typing all of his
assignments.
Succeeding at MIT is a serious
challenge, for everyone. Facing
that challenge while also coping
with any form of disability, as
many of our students do, is
a triumph.
So to all the graduates, family
and friends with us today: Your
story may or may not be as
dramatic. But we know that this
day is the joyful result of
years of effort, loving support
and sacrifice. Please accept our
deepest admiration and gratitude.
It is great to have all of you
here on Killian Court, on this
wonderful day, for this
tremendously important occasion.
My job today is to deliver a
"charge" to the graduates, and I
will get to that in a minute.
But first, let me begin with a
question: How many of you are
graduating seniors? Raise your
hands! Since you entered MIT in
September 2012, and I started my
job in July 2012, you are the
first class that I have observed
all the way from Convocation to
Commencement. Let me just say:
You have been magnificent company!
That coincidence of timing also
means that we have something
profound in common: We were
freshmen together!
As I expect you will recall,
that first year was not easy.
Although, unlike me, you got to
enjoy the option of Pass/No
Record! That first winter, many
of you had a snowball fight
right here on Killian Court.
I accepted the challenge to join
in - and I got creamed! As we
progressed through our time here,
we started to figure things out.
We passed a lot of tests. We
helped each other deal with some
tragic losses. We faced some hard
facts about our community, and
worked together to make things
better.
Somewhere in the middle, for
reasons I cannot explain, a few
of us got ice buckets dumped on
our heads. Although that became
good training for last year, when
we got dumped on us unlimited
buckets of snow!
Through it all, none of us got
much sleep. And some of us lost
some hair. Well, actually, that
was just me.
And then a month ago, we proved
that among the many important
things we know how to do here
at MIT, "WeKnowHowToParty"!
So, we have a lot in common.
Except for one thing: Unlike me,
you finished all of your problem
sets! So, unlike me, you get to leave!
Of course, this applies not just
to the seniors, but to all of you
who will be receiving diplomas
today: You are now prepared to
depart, each of you in search of
your own MIT-like exoplanet that
could potentially support life
as we know it at MIT.
Let me alert you: MIT-like
exoplanets may feel a hundred
million miles away. You might
even feel as if you've been
abandoned on Mars! But assuming
that you will encounter signs of
intelligent life, I expect you
may have to explain what life is
like back on "Planet MIT."
So let me offer a few pointers
to get you started:
You can tell them that, on Planet
MIT, we love hard problems. And
we know that, if you're working
alone, you're most likely doing
it wrong. For instance, when an
MIT scientist led a 30-year
effort that produced the first
direct evidence of gravitational
waves - the ripples in space time
that Einstein predicted - he
could have done a mike drop.
Instead, he went out of his way
to share the credit with the
more than one thousand other
scientists on the team, from
dozens of institutions, because,
in his words, that's "the way
that physics gets done."
On Planet MIT, we love data.
We just love it. In fact, as one
of you out there proved beyond a
polka-dotted doubt, we even love
ridiculous data about campus
trends in the color of underwear!
But mostly, we love data because
it helps us understand the world:
understand poverty, and cancer,
and the fresh water crisis, and
climate change. In short, it
helps us understand how we can
make the world better.
On Planet MIT, where being called
a "nerd" will always be a
compliment, we are working very
hard on inventing the future.
And if you think I may be
exaggerating, some of today's
graduates recently won first
prize in the Hyperloop Chellenge.
They designed a futuristic pod
that could transport passengers
from city to city, through
special tubes, at 740 miles an
hour! In fact, you and your pet
robotic cheetah will be able to
climb into one of those yourself
around the time you're ready to
trade in your driverless car.
And I hope you will also tell
people that on Planet MIT, we
celebrate Mind &amp; Hand - and Heart.
Every day, the members of our
community commit "Random Acts
of Kindness." And, thanks to the
leadership of many of today's
graduates, we are making sure
that MIT practices systematic
acts of kindness and inclusion, too.
Mind, and Hand, and Heart.
I hope you remember that one.
Because Iron Man may have gone
to MIT - but the truth is, none
of us is Iron Man. With
Professors Hugh Herr and Dava
Newman, I bet we could make a
pretty impressive suit of armor.
But none of us has a suit of
armor strong enough to get us
through this life alone. What
saves us, in the end, is heart.
As you go out into the world,
heart is what makes the hard
problems worth solving. Heart is
what makes the data sing with
meaning. Heart is your best
blueprint as you invent the
future. And when, sometimes, you
find yourself adrift in deep
space, it will be a human
connection - hand to hand, and
heart to heart - that will bring
you home safe.
Those of you graduating today
experienced a remarkable period
in MIT's history. It included
terrible pain and loss.
Fortunately, it also included an
exceptional sense of community,
and compassion, and shared
progress, and joy. That feeling
of connection and unity has a
great deal to do with the example
and ideas and leadership of those
of you who graduate today. And
that is what gives me the
confidence to deliver my charge
to you. Because after you depart
for your new destinations, I
want to ask you to hack the world
until you make the world a little
more like MIT. More daring and
more passionate. More rigorous,
inventive and ambitious. More
humble, more respectful, more
generous, more kind.
This morning, I see 2,800 new
graduates who are ready for that
cosmic problem set. You made MIT
better. And now you will make a
better world.
You came to MIT with exceptional
qualities of your own. And now
you leave us, equipped with a
rare set of skills, and steeped
in this community's deepest
values: A commitment to
excellence. Integrity.
Meritocracy. Boldness. Humility.
An open spirit of collaboration.
A strong desire to make a
positive impact. And a sense of
responsibility to make the world
a better place. And I also see
a planet that urgently needs
everything you have to offer.
So now, go out there. Join the
world. Find your calling. Solve
the unsolvable. Invent the future.
Take the high road. And you will
continue to make your family,
including your MIT family, proud.
On this wonderful day, I am proud
of all of you. To every one of
the members of the graduating
Class of 2016: Please accept my
best wishes for a happy and
successful life and career.
Congratulations!

---

### Thank you MIT: The Class of 2014 says goodbye
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e5Lo-7DS9Y

Idioma: en

I want to say thank you to MIT for the past four years.
I really had an amazing time here.
I think that MIT really pushed my boundaries and pushed me
to think about problems that I never would have expected to be
thinking about this early on or at this caliber.
I've been able to learn from the best and from the experts
in any particular field that I'm learning.
MIT has definitely made me a stronger person its made me a better
person; its made me more confident. But its also made me realize
that you don't know everything and you can't know everything.
And after graduating I kind of feel like I know nothing - I don't know
nothing, but MIT keeps you in check. It never lets you get too big;
always keeps you humble.
I would like to thank MIT for partially getting this really interesting
group of people together that is the Class of 2014. I've made so
many great friends.
My peers and all the students here are an incredible support
system and inspire me every day with the stamina and
intensity and passion with which they pursue all their interests.
MIT has really, really taught me so much and I feel like I've grown
and I'm a completely different person than I was four years ago.
And without all the resources here at MIT I know that would not
have been possible, so thank you.
So I think one of the coolest moments I've had at MIT was
definitely some of my time spent at Simmons Hall, where I was
house chair. A couple summers ago I helped plan their tenth
anniversary celebration. It was kind of chaotic at first because
you're negotiating contracts and still managing your research
everyday in the lab. But seeing a huge event with all the residents
and alumni and help the alumni association come together
was such a nice reward.
My first impression of MIT, of what it is like to really like to learn
from a place like MIT actually happened when I was visiting
the campus during CPW. I was sitting in a class and the professor
was talking about about this mechanism and pathways of this
particular molecule. And after the end of the lecture he basically
said, "Oh by the way I discovered this molecule five years ago."
I was just in awe at that moment and I feel like the past four years
my education here has been nothing short of that.
Its really an amazing place and the professors who teach you are
so absolutely accomplished but at the same time are so down-to-earth
and just the opportunity that you get to interact with people who
discovered the most fundamental aspects of your field, for me that's
biology, is just incredible. And to have them teach you those things
that they discovered is really amazing. And just the doors this place
has opened for me, I wouldn't have even been able to open them if I
hadn't gone here.
I got to work with a woman who was blind and severely hearing
impaired and she wanted some sort of device that would help her
communicate with her phone. And so my partner and I built her a
bracelet that vibrates when her phone rings, and it communicates
with her phone via bluetooth. It was just so inspiring to me to be able
to get my hands on some sort of work that was actually going to
help someone.
I run cross-country and track and field here at MIT, and every year
our big team championship is the New England Division Three
Championships. This year was the first year both the men and
women's team won the championship at the same time.
So at the end of the meet we all got together in a big circle and both
the guys and girls we had a really big, "MIT! MIT! MIT!"
and for me that was just a phenomenal closing meet for my college
track experience because a) it was the best team cheer that we've
ever done, but also I just really felt like I had found a group of people
that I really loved and who were all passionate about the same thing
and we really achieved something amazing.
So after commencement I will be doing data analytics as a research
assistant for social policy work, focusing on all kinds of different
social problems, and measuring them them, and trying to find solutions
and mechanisms behind why they happen. It's definitely been a
dream of mine, coming from a neuroscience background to take the
theory about how individuals make decisions and broadening that
to how populations make decisions.
Next year I will be going to the University of California in San
Francisco for medical school. I'm actually doing a five-year program,
it's an MD with a masters in Public Health, geared towards doctors
who want to treat the urban underserved. And I hope that my career
in the future will have both an international and U.S. component to it.
After commencement I just plan to go home and relax with my family.
Spend some quality time in Seattle, and relax my brain for the next
big thing which is medical school.
Directly after MIT I'm going to take a break this summer but then
next fall I'll be attending Stanford University for my PhD
in bioengineering.
I'm very excited to head over to the other side of town at
Harvard Medical School to pursue a combined MD/PhD program
under the HST program.
Next year I will be doing a Marshall Scholarship at Oxford University
in the radiation/biology program and I'll do a one-year masters there.
And then after that I'm coming back to do the Harvard MD/PhD
program in the HST program.
I did it! I just want to say thank you again to MIT. It's been a really
amazing four years, and I've grown so much.
So I'd like to thank my family and friends for their fierce support
over the four years here at MIT.
My ma, baba and didi thank you and I love you.
Thank you aneb, baba, Layla my wonderful perfect family for
always being there for me, catching me when I fell. But most of all
for pushing me to work hard and dream big every day, even when
I didn't want to be pushed.
I obviously want to thank all my friends who are an amazing
support group, but I also want to thank the Men's Hockey Team which
I've been a part of for the past four years and my coach Dave Hunter.
It's honestly been one of the best parts of my MIT experiences, getting
to play on the team and its just the best group of friends I could ask for.
Class of 2014: we made it!
Woooooooo! Guys, we're done! We're so awesome! Class of 2014:
we rock. I'm so proud to be part of this class and we're done! Yeah!
It's really over. . .I can't believe it. We really did it! Yay!

---

### Today MIT, tomorrow the world: The Class of 2013 says goodbye
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4P9xx9ysTI

Idioma: en

I want to take this
time to say thank
you so much to
MIT for everything
that you guys gave me here.
I thank MIT.
You've done an
amazing job fostering
environment of just openness,
and learning, and curiosity.
Everyone who was
committed to our learning,
and to our progress,
and our success.
At MIT, really learned
to push our limits.
I've done things that I
never thought were possible,
including not sleeping
much, and still waking up
the next morning, and
being super happy,
and going to my next like
PSAT, or job, or interview.
MIT allows us to take classes
in any department or school
regardless of what
we're majoring in,
and I really enjoyed
some of the classes
I've taken that were
completely outside of my course
requirements.
So I just wanted to
thank MIT for letting
us have that opportunity.
Coming in of as a
freshmen, I didn't
realize how much opportunity
that I would have here.
Opportunity both in MIT, as
was globally to go abroad.
I realized MIT is
really no joke, nothing
like I've ever done before.
And it was time for me to turn
up the dial all the way out
and really, really dedicate
myself to performing well here.
I was coaching crew
at Riverside Boat Club
down the Charles River and I
asked my boss why he hired me.
And he goes you're
an MIT student.
And I was like, what does
have to do with anything,
does that have to do with crew?
And he goes two
reasons, One, I know
you've been through
hell and back,
and so you can handle
anything that I throw at you
and that you have
to do as a coach.
And two, you can problem solve.
MIT is just nothing in
comparison to any other work
I've ever done and
probably will never do.
So I feel lucky to
have been able to spend
four years of my life here.
I've now gained
something I'm going
to have for the rest
of my life, thank you.
One of my favorite
memories is actually
from my archeology
class freshman year
where we got to
work in the metal
forge under the Material
Science Department
to replicate a
process that was done
thousands of years ago by
metallurgists in the Inca
Empire.
I'm on the men's soccer team.
And he played soccer
for four years,
and finally, earlier this
year, the MIT men's soccer team
won their first ever
NEWMAC soccer championship.
And it was a very MIT moment.
I realize going to away games,
you know studying on the buss,
doing work, trying to get
home early as early as
possible so we can study
for tests and things
like that tomorrow, but
to come together as a team
and win the first ever
championship my senior year
after four years is really
like an amazing experience
to share with the guys.
My favorite memory here at MIT
was during my sophomore year
when we had the 150th
celebration of MIT.
The greatest day was when
we had the 150th open house,
and I think that's
my favorite just
because it was a time where
all of the MIT community
came together.
I remember specifically
doing the flash mob,
when there's students,
staff, alumni,
and even the president,
Hatfield, at the time.
I remember going through the
semester for a whole semester
with this team of people,
all for one cause of building
this new product.
And at the end, the memory
that sticks out to me
is when we presented
our product and how
professional this whole
presentation was, and how--
and what a big deal it was
for the community and for us.
So in the future, I'm working
for the Jameel Poverty Action
Lab from August to
mid-November, and then I'm
actually doing a Fulbright
Research Fellowship
in Botswana, where I'm going
to be studying the interaction
between HIV and education.
And then I'm coming back to
the Harvard Kennedy School
in Cambridge.
So I'm not leaving the
MIT neighborhood too far.
But that's sort of my plan.
And I really learned at MIT that
my biggest passion is actually
using math and
economics to uncover
causal relationships in the
real world, what causes what.
And so that's what I want
to devote my life to,
in education, and health.
And so I'm really
excited about it.
I'm excited about
the next three years.
After graduation, I'll be
starting a full time job down
in DC working in
building technology.
And I hope to use my
background in material science
to really make buildings better.
So after graduation,
I love MIT so
much I'll be coming
back for another year
to do a masters of science
in nuclear engineering.
I'm also in the Navy.
So after that one year, I'll
be on a nuclear submarine
for about four to five years.
And I hope one day
to be able to take
all the MIT technical knowledge
and apply it to nuclear policy
and energy policy.
Next year I'll be starting
to work at Boeing.
At Boeing, I'll be an
Integration Manager
at the satellite
development factory.
And I'm really excited to be
able to apply the work ethic
that I've acquired here,
there, at this new place
and with this new challenge.
After my time here
at MIT, I'm going
to be participating in a
global public service program
through Duke University.
And so through this
program, I'm going
to have the opportunity to
go abroad to both Guatemala
and St. Vincent, and work
in clinics while helping
a group of high school students
develop their own global health
projects.
When I'm not abroad, I'll
be researching at Duke
and applying to medical
schools for fall 2014.
Wooh!, Did it, made it.
Thanks mom and dad.
Thanks Brian and [? Kala ?] for
all the help over the years.
I want to thank my
parents and my family
back home who have supported
me through this entire journey.
And also all the friends that
I've made while I've been here.
Yeah, I did it.
I'm so excited.
I made it out of MIT with
flying colors, I hope.
Thank you [? Ima, ?] [? Ava, ?]
that's my parents name
in Hebrew, my sister, [? Adi, ?]
my grandparents, all my really,
really close friends at
MIT, lifelong friends.
I'm so excited.
Mommy, Poppy,
Alison, [INAUDIBLE],
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
Thank you and we did it.
Wooh!
Thank you, mommy and daddy,
Victor, Peace, Patience
and little Faith, for
all encouraging me.

---

### MIT's 146th Commencement - by the numbers
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rWcUKAImMs

Transcrição não disponível

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### MIT Commencement 2011
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I44aBO9hYUU

Transcrição não disponível

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### MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS) Advanced Degree Ceremony Interviews
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hyu-IpNgRHw

Idioma: en

[MUSIC PLAYING]
I just finished my PhD in
economics and statistics.
I studied political science.
Economics.
Economics.
I studied linguistics.
Data, economics, and
development policy.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Thrilled.
Very grateful for
having the experience.
Very happy.
Sense of relief, happiness.
Excited.
A little exhausted.
It's excitement.
It's been a journey.
And so this is a culmination
of lots of hard work,
sleepless nights,
tough assignments.
So it's exciting to actually
get to the finish line.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Starting a postdoc at Harvard,
and applying the research
that I conducted at MIT to study
education policy in New York.
Specifically, I'm
understanding what's
the causal effect that
charter schools are
having in kids in New York.
Now I'm better able to process
data, evaluate whether whatever
I am-- whatever I am
reviewing is actually
going to be impactful, and
actually draw a causation.
I work for an organization
that conducts survey research
on democracy and governance.
And I've already
started applying
lots of the lessons I
learned in my degree,
both in terms of technical,
how to do the research,
but also in terms
of interpersonally
how to work with others and
collaborate on research.
I learned a lot about the
research process here.
So, as I'm transitioning to
being an assistant professor
at the University
of Maryland, I'll
be directly applying
those skills.
I work on water
security, sanitation,
and hygiene programs.
So now I'm using the information
I learned on applying evidence,
economics, and data
science to improving access
to water and sanitation in
some of the most water stressed
and low-income
countries in the world.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
It was certainly not
a walk in the park.
It was a very treacherous hike
through very tough terrain.
It was really fun to study.
I think I really enjoy it.
There were times
during that journey
that I wasn't sure I'd
make it to the end.
Sometimes you have a hard
time convincing yourself
that what you're
doing is meaningful.
It was a lot of effort.
Very intense nights and days and
a lot of studies and thinking
really hard.
I had a pretty severe stroke
during my PHD, had a few kids.
It was really challenging
to get through.
MIT was incredibly
nice to me and
helpful throughout the process.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I'll be moving to California.
I'll be in Ghana.
Traveling around Europe.
We're moving in a week
to Ann Arbor, Michigan.
I'll be doing a post-doctoral
fellowship at the National
Bureau of Economic Research.
I am doing a postdoc.
Already started my postdoc.
So I'm probably
going to be working.
To go back to working.
Continue working for my company
on US-government-funded programs
in the water sector.
So I'm going to be working
on a lot of programming
in the Philippines and
Haiti on water security.
[MUSIC PLAYING]

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