This was my entry for the 2006 Engineering commencement address. Not good enough to win, but for the record, here it is: (with thanks to all those who helped me edit it)
Fellow graduates, as we gather here today with our family and our peers, we remember those who came before and think of those who will come after, and we must ask ourselves: what makes this class different? The answer, I believe, is in each one of us, the unique individuals in this class and the unique actions that have defined the last 4 years in this college. We came from as close as Boston itself or as far as the other side of the world. We had different reasons for coming to this university and we had different experiences while here: We struggled and triumphed in different areas, yet as we stand today, we are all the same. We are brought together because each of us has completed training in the field of engineering, a discipline that transcends national, ethnic, and social, boundaries in its mission of applying math and science to achieve humanity's ultimate goal of making the world a better place.
Now, just as suddenly as they converged here 4 years ago, our lives are about to diverge. As we go off in our separate paths to pursue various goals, each of us will draw on what we learned here to change the world in our own unique way. Some of us will design medical devices that save lives, some of us will design electronics that improve the way we communicate, and many of us will design or manufacture products that we can only imagine today. The only certainty is that each of these innovations will be the result of our unique applications of the common knowledge that we now share.
One thing I remember very clearly from my kindergarten graduation was a song about possibility. This must have reflected the wonderment that our parents and teachers felt when they considered what this group of small children might grow up to become. Today, 16 years later, on the day of a much more significant graduation, as I reflect on the possibility that lies before us, I am filled with a similar sense of wonderment. Back in 1990, as you may recall, we had no hybrid vehicles, automated defibrillators, or iPods. Few Americans had used a cell phone or heard of the internet. Technology has grown and changed in all those interceding years, and so has each one of us. Our success in reaching this point shows that we have successfully adapted and conformed to this changing technical world. Yet conforming should not be the goal of intelligent and creative individuals, and so this brings me back to the possibility. Possibility. At this point, as we begin our careers as engineers and scientists, we will be presented for the first time with the opportunity to change and direct the evolution of our technical world. From now on, our success will be tied to how much we change the world, as opposed to how much we conform to it, and that fact is empowering. As young engineers, our knowledge and skills empower us to take the drivers seat in advancing the progress of our society. Businessmen can pride themselves on adapting to change, but we will pride ourselves on causing it.
As a final consideration, our capacity for good is limitless, yet so is our capacity to harm or corrupt. The methods and equations that we have learned in academia are amoral, and in a world that is not, we must strive to rise above the corrupting influences of politics or greed. Keeping this in mind, we must go fourth and ply our trade in ways that are mutually beneficial, so that someday, 20 years from now, as we watch our children grow and adapt, we can reflect on how our lives have been improved by the work of those standing next to us today. Thank you all in advance, and good luck.
