(upbeat music)
- Howdy.
I am honored to congratulate
you on the completion
of your course of study
at Texas A&M University.
This is a special time amidst
extraordinary circumstances.
Let me begin by saying that this
is not a commencement ceremony.
As you know, on March 17th, we announced
the postponement of this ceremony
due to the pandemic and
resulting in person restrictions.
I have chosen to wear my
regalia to honor each of you,
our beloved Aggie student graduates.
I wear it also to symbolize hope.
We want to welcome you to
return to Texas A&M to walk
in a future commencement
exercise when the university
is able to return to
this important tradition.
We will continue to closely
monitor public health guidance,
and keep you informed of
options and scheduling.
Your academic achievement,
and willing sacrifice
this semester, has proven to all of us
that the Aggie spirit remains
an undeniable force for good.
By practicing social
distancing, and working with
your professors to complete
your studies in new ways,
you have helped to slow
the exponential spread
of this virus, for the great benefit
of the health and safety for our campuses,
our communities, and each
of us in the Aggie family.
For that, I thank you.
Today is about your successful completion
of academic requirements,
a wonderful milestone,
and the conferral of your degree.
Today we acknowledge the
accomplishment and commitment
of our Texas A&M students at the doctoral,
master's, and bachelor's
levels in College Station,
as well as at our branch campuses
in Galveston, Texas, and Doha,
Qatar, and our educational
sites and professional
schools located around Texas.
I speak on behalf of
deans, department heads,
faculty, and university administration,
who acknowledge your
demonstration of the Aggie spirit,
and salute your academic achievement
with this video and official
conferring of degrees.
Joining in this conferral of degrees
and celebratory video are
Chancellor John Sharp,
to offer his warm regards,
Elaine Mendoza, Chairman
of the Board of Regents of the
Texas A&M University System,
to officially convey
authority for President Young
to award your degrees today,
and President Michael K. Young,
to confer degrees, and offer
a charge to you as graduates.
But first, we believe it is fitting
that you hear from one of your own,
the 2019-2020 student body
president, Mikey Jaillet,
who has completed his
course of study in finance
from the Mays School of Business.
Mikey, would you please
share our invocation?
- Please join me in a posture of prayer,
self-reflection, or appreciation.
We come together today with gratitude,
having met the challenges,
attained the knowledge,
gained the experience, and
achieved our chosen goal
to graduate this day from our
beloved Texas A&M University.
Today is not just about
our individual sense
of achievement, but
also about all that has
brought us to this time and place.
We give thanks for all
the friends, family,
professors, and mentors,
who have surrounded us
with love and support, and
given their entire selves
in teaching, and showing us
what it means to be an Aggie.
As these degrees are
conferred, let all engaged
in celebrating your
success resolve to honor
all the values we have to come
to know in the Aggie spirit:
excellence, integrity,
leadership, loyalty,
respect, and selfless service.
May we go out today to work
alongside with our fellow Aggies
and citizens, to serve
our communities, nation,
and the world, for the
greater good of all.
Amen.
- Howdy.
I'm John Sharp, Chancellor
of the Texas A&M
University System, and
it's my honor and privilege
to congratulate you,
the May 2020 graduates.
I commend you for the
fortitude, determination,
and perseverance that you have exhibited
during these trying and challenging times.
Obviously, this is not the
ceremony you had hoped to attend,
but this is certainly a time
we will not soon forget.
Had we been together at a
graduation ceremony today,
this is the point that I
would have reminded you
that none of us knows what
all the future holds for you,
as you go into the next
chapter of your life.
Today's pandemic is a harsh
reminder of that truth.
As college graduates, you
are more prepared than most
to adapt to change, and change will come
many, many times in your life.
I have no doubt you're prepared for it,
thanks in large part to what you learned
during your time with us, so on behalf
of the Texas A&M System faculty, staff,
and administration,
congratulations to you,
your families, friends, and loved ones,
who celebrate with you today,
in person or in spirit.
Gig 'Em.
- Hello.
I'm Elaine Mendoza, Chairman
of the Board of Regents
for the Texas A&M University System.
I am honored to bring greetings on behalf
of the entire Board of Regents.
Today is a special day.
While this may not be
the graduation you hoped
to experience, nothing,
nothing can take away from you
the significance of earning your degree
and graduating with your diploma.
This is big.
Do you remember the excitement
and anticipation you felt
the day you found out you were accepted?
The anxiousness of the first day of class?
The joys, and surely some
fear and heartache you felt?
The friendships and
transformational learning experience
you had, finding your
way to this very day?
Your hard work paid off.
You did it.
Graduates, we are counting
on you to do great things.
We all should feel
better knowing that you,
each of you, who have navigated
unprecedented challenges
to finish what you began,
will be our neighbors,
leaders, and visionaries,
so live with purpose,
Godspeed, and congratulations.
Now, by the authority of
the Texas A&M University
System Board of Regents,
it is my sincere pleasure
to authorize Texas A&M
University President
Michael K. Young to confer the respective
academic degree for which
you have been recommended,
with all the rights,
privileges, responsibilities,
and obligations pertaining thereto.
- Thank you, Regent Mendoza,
Chancellor Sharp, and Mikey Jaillet.
Finally, the moment you have all
been waiting for, the
conferral of degrees.
It is my privilege to ask all
degree candidates to rise as able.
President Young, based
upon the recommendation
of the faculty of Texas A&M University,
I certify that these
candidates have fulfilled
all of the academic requirements
necessary for receiving a diploma.
I am honored to present them to you
for the conferral of
their respective degrees.
- Thank you, Provost Fierke.
Upon the recommendation of the faculties
of this university, and by the authority
vested in me as President,
by the state of Texas,
and the Board of Regents of the
Texas A&M University System,
I hereby confer upon you, individually,
the degree to which you're
entitled, with all the rights,
privileges, and responsibilities
pertaining thereto.
Let me be the very first
to congratulate the great
and most recent graduate
class of Texas A&M University.
Congratulations to you and your families,
and thank you for all
you do, and all you are.
Now, if you're a mother
or father, grandparent,
aunt, uncle, anyone feeling
particularly maternal
or paternal towards our graduates today,
or a sibling, guardian,
mentor, whether watching
this video with your graduate,
or apart from your graduate,
could I ask you to stand
up and let us thank you?
That's right, those of you who are family,
or a mentor to the graduate
you know, please stand up,
wherever you may be, as you watch this,
and let us express our
thanks and appreciation.
I honor you.
I personally thank you
for helping this graduate
find their way to Texas A&M, and again,
honor you for your important support
that led to this degree today.
Thank you.
In a moment, we will conclude
this conferral of degrees
with a special video marking
powerful images and events
that happened during your
time at Texas A&M University.
It's staggering to think
about all that has happened.
Many of you participated
in student-led volunteer
and leadership
opportunities, the Big Event,
Carpool, Fish Camp, student government,
the Corp of Cadets, shared experiences
that I want to assure you
bettered our university
by your very presence, and your gifts.
And in your participation,
I hope you'll agree
that you also developed
skills that will serve you
throughout your lifetime
as you serve others.
I marvel at your resilience,
the way that the love
in your heart rises
not only in good times,
but also in challenging
times, be it a hurricane,
a thousand year flood, and
now a worldwide pandemic.
I marvel at your enduring commitment
to the success of each
other, and the communities,
and state, and nation,
and world you serve.
I also know that some of you are members
of the Corp of Cadets, the
Keepers of the Spirit, who are
commissioning today to
serve in the US military.
We're so proud of your achievements
in this regard as well.
Congratulations, and Godspeed
as you serve our great nation.
We hope to see you again at Aggieland,
on the graduation stage,
and other times as well.
But in the meantime,
congratulations to all of you,
and God bless you all.
(inspiring music)
Howdy! I'm Scott Schaefer, the department head
of computer science and engineering,
Howdy! I'm Scott Schaefer, the department head
of computer science and engineering,
and welcome to our department's
graduation recognition celebration.
Whether you're receiving a bachelor's,
master's or Ph.D. degree,
your time at A&M has seen significant
changes brought about by computing.
Today, computing is ubiquitous and has impacted
nearly every field and aspect of our lives.
During your time here,
you likely saw the rise of the first
decentralized digital currency.
Cyber security has become more important than
ever and fields like data science have emerged
to help us understand the vast
quantities of data at our fingertips.
Perhaps a bit more close to home, we
changed our courses to online classes
nearly instantly this semester
largely by relying on computing.
We now connect virtually, coordinate our grocery
pickup, deliver our purchases to our doorstep
and stream our entertainment through technology.
If the stay-at-home directive
happened even 10 or 15 years ago,
we would have had a much more
difficult time than today,
because of advances in computing technology.
Even the platform you're using
right now to watch the celebration
is made possible through computing.
Digital technology will continue to change our world
and the need for computing will continue to grow.
We ask nothing less of you in that you help us change the world.
I am, of course, biased, but I think there's no
better field to be in than in computing.
I'm excited to see all of you complete your degrees.
On behalf of the Department of
Computer Science and Engineering,
let me be one of the first to tell you congratulations.
Doctor of Philosophy, Computer Engineering
Xiao Huang
Jason Lin
Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science
Yi-Pin Lai
Read Mullan Sandstrom
Han Wang
Blake Williford
Master of Computer Science
Janardhana Swamy Adapa
Aditya Kumar
Akshaye Anitha Pradeep
Mahesh Avadhanam
Rahul Baghel
Angshul Riveau Banerjee
Srujana Bhaskarabhatta
Andrew Daniel Bregger
Jee Su Byun
Jeff Chang
Shao-En Chen
Chun-Jung Chien
Yi-Min Chou
Anthony Joseph Criscione
Abhishek Deb
Xuanli Deng
Pranay Dhariwal
Nikita Duseja
Sai Eswar Epuri
Sowmya Gaja Kumar
Abhishek Singh Gajuri
Rafael Gama Bortolatto
Harika Raju Gangaraju
Sukanto Guha
Suryakiran Suresh Gurumoorthy Iyer
Varsha Khanna
Rui Kou
Sarwesh Krishnan
Aaron Lee
Yi Liu
Ziyi Liu
Minjie Lu
Kamala Akhila Mangipudi
Venkata Naidu Marineni
Kevin J. Nguyen
Tao Ni
Anvay Govind Pandit
Manmeetkumar Rajendrakumar Patel
Vihangkumar Bhaveshkumar Patel
Manoj Reddy Rupireddy
Buvaneish Sundar
Ashwin Sura Ravi
Shibin Tazhe Veettil
Osama Aftab Toor
Ying Wei
Jia-Hung Wu
Chu-Ya Yang
Tsung-Lin Yang
Master of Engineering, Computer Engineering
Amita Banchhor
Robert Jackson Delametter
Pranav Kulkarni
Michael Asher Nelson
Akhilesh Rawat
Master of Science, Computer Engineering
Vansh Narula
John Mathai Reji
Master of Science, Computer Science
Kate Ashley Catalena
Jonathan Nathaniel Grimes
Kunping Huang
Samia Kabir
Harish Kumar
Prakhar Mohan
Sanuj Sharma
Bachelor of Science, Computer Engineering
Tarek Farid Adlouni
Luis M. Alvarado
Faizan Shafqat Bangash
Saul Savier Barraza
Anabeth Rose Blakeslee
Mia Shermayne Brown
Alex Paul Cavasso
Shreyas Choudhary
Iain Ross Fortson
Austin Daniel Fry
Aranpreet Singh Gill
Matthew Christopher Giuffrida
Baltazar Napoleon Guerra Leal
Nicholas Edward Harris
Arthur Lyle Helmen
Adolfo Herrera Jr.
Caleb R. Johnson
Karsen Travis Keith
Christopher Matthew Kirfman
Nicholas Haley March
Justin Alan Matthews
Juan F. Minor
Yara Ahmed Mohamed
Benjamin Daniel Njus
Faheem Noorddin Noorani
Venkatesh Padala
Aylah McQueen Poe
Shawn Khissrou Popal
Rowan Walker Prihoda
Jesus Hurtado Ramos
Kimberly Ramos
Alex Anthony Ramponi
Rahul Rana
Philip Timothy Rettenmaier
Ismael Rodriguez
Benjamin Alan Shiller
Alexander J. Staggs
Caleb Kayle Stephens
William Donavan Taylor
Branden Ly Thevanh
Maria Theresia Valerie Sekar Tyas
Ruben Alejandro Vazquez-Chapa
Joshua Thomas Vessell
Anders William Wallace
Benjamin Wong
Zihao Zheng
Bachelor of Science, Computer Science
Pedro Cesar Alvarez
Parker Andrew Ammar
Eric M. Anderson
Spencer Charles Anderson
Leuel A. Asnake
Tate Anderson Banks
Fernando Barragan-Rodriguez
Holden Ross Batte
Ethan William Benkel
Collin Christopher Benton
Sournav Sekhar Bhattacharya
Gabriel Wade Britain
Jeremy Joseph Brown
John Daniel Bunch
Aisha Cabrera
Quintin Robert Calvin
Abdul Campos Quintanilla
Drew Anthony Carr
Andrew Hwa-Ming Chin
Tyler James Clark
Bo Dylan Corman
Garrett Andrew Cox
Austin Dale Dauzat
Travis Preston DeMoss
Merryll Derivandy Dewabrata
Robert Michael Dominguez
Lloyd Joseph Donelan
John Alford Dorman
Jeslyn Lee Duran
Mitchell Wesley Eldridge
Nicholas Riley Enochs
Grace Fan
Kexin Feng
Haley Marie Ferguson
Nicolaus L. Flug
Peter Jordan French
Jack Ryland Friedberg
Troy Daniel Fulton
Nandan Reddy Gade
Garrett Vaughn Garbee
Jose Gerardo Garza
Nabin Gautam
Elijah Daniel Gonzales Intharakhumhang
Hannah Marie Gooden
Luke Austin Grammer
Keqing Guan
Benton Phillipy Guess
Xucheng Guo
Kassandra Astraea Guzman
Daniel Andres Hain Trevino
Murtaza Hakimi
Julia Inge Hann
Ross Carl Hardin
Samantha Rasmussen Hay
Joshua Ellingsen Haynes
Grant Alexander Hill
Jacob Lee Horner
Jeffrey Austin Hykin
Jonathan Edward Innis
Darryl Cherian Jacob
Jeevika Mayur Jarmarwala
Hayoung Jeon
Kevin Ruoyun Jiang
James McLain Johnson
Nathaniel Scott Johnston
Esther Joseph
Louis Ian Julian
Wilson Dale Kahlich
Stephanie Heather Keck
Feras Abdellatif Khemakhem
Seung Jin Kim
Alicia Ivy Kincaid
Rohan Vivekananda Kini
Branden Wayne Klar
Jason Anthony Kolodziej
Jordan David Lamkin
Daniel Le
Kayoung Lee
Seungchan Lee
Taige Li
Shao Lien
Pengchuan Lin
Jasmine Hsinmin Liu
Alejandro Londono
Carter Keith Long
Justin Robert Lovelace
Ivan Chi Lu
Cody Matthew Maffucci
Colby Brandon Mainard
Vishaal Saleem Makani
Eduardo Enrique Maltez
Ahad Maqsood
Adam Robert Marek
Michael Hunter Martin
Edgar Fermin Martinez
Joshua Devon McAfee
Mark Douglas McCauley
Brandon Neal McCulloh
Thomas Edward Jefferson McDonald
Benjamin Daniel McKenzie
Brett Tyler Medlin
Sebastian A. Michko
Ryan Alexander Mickus
Tyler Alan Murdock
Nicholas Gene Nelson
Durian Vinh Nguyen
Dustin Blake Nguyen
Emily Elizabeth O'Dea
Christopher Edward Olson
Robert Ifechi Osonma
Patrick Michael Palmer
Jonathan Henry Pape
Jae Sang Park
Biraj Patel
Kishan Jayesh Patel
Sagar J. Patel
Jalen Isaac Perkins
Ryan Jacob Pfeifer
Chinmay Milind Phulse
Isaac Pitblado
Mekayla Beth Potter
Nathan Daniel Powell
Jingchun Qu
John Quach
Ankit Rajesh Ramchandani
Zackary Wilson Ramirez
Paige Hopkins Raun
Justin Nguyen Rodriguez
Diego Alberto Ruvalcaba
Joseph Santana-Martinez
Omar Santos
Shashank Saxena
Anthony Kaicheng Shao
Arman Sharifian
Sidney Ricardo Shaw
Nabeel Sheikh
Jack Ryan Shirley
Siman Lal Shrestha
Kevin Hong Yone Sittser
Cole Stephen Smith
Nathan M. Smith
Walter Timothy Stager
Gabriel Stella
Preston Andrew Stepic
Erik Charles Swanson
Joseph Stephen Sziveri
Reuben Shem Tadpatri
Piyush Tandon
Kevin Dexin Tang
Aksel Kaan Taylan
Justin Tiger Teng
Trent Jonathan Thompson
Pape Sow Traore
Daniel Trejo
Allen Varghese
Jonathan Robert Weishuhn
Ryan Andrew Wells
Grace Elizabeth Westerman
Asher Armando Williams
Cody Paul Williams
Luke Dakota Witt
Andrew Yanchuen Wong
Charles K. Wong
Xin Yu Xiao
Zheng Wei Xiao
Everett Siyan Yang
James Yun
Eric Shuan Zhang
Margaret Cordelia von Ebers
Bachelor of Arts, Computing
Johnny Roberto Hernandez
Alex Duy Nam Pham
Xiaoyu Wu
Congratulations, graduates!
(Porter S. Garner, president and CEO, The Association of Former Students): Howdy.
On behalf of The Association
of Former Students
and our worldwide Aggie network,
congratulations on earning
your degree from Texas A&M.
Throughout the last two months,
you have handled the
disruption of this semester
in alignment with our core
values of excellence, integrity,
leadership, loyalty, respect
and selfless service.
These values which you take with you
are constants that you can rely on
throughout your lifetime.
So too is your connection
to the Aggie network
and The Association of Former Students.
For 141 years, The
Association of Former Students
has provided critical and
tangible financial support
to our university which
is unmatched and unrivaled
by any alumni organization in the world.
Our organization was created,
nurtured and preserved
by the generations of Aggies
who walked our campus before you
and you now join their ranks
in service and support.
The association you inherit today
was founded and exists
to promote the interest
and welfare of Texas A&M
and perpetuate the ties of comradery
formed during college days.
It is my privilege to officially
induct and welcome you
into The Association of Former Students
of Texas A&M University.
To signify this important transition,
I ask you to take a
look at your Aggie ring.
Our ring represents our core values
of excellence, integrity, leadership,
loyalty, respect and selfless service
and reminds us of the vast Aggie network
to which we all proudly belong.
Since earning your Aggie ring,
your class year has faced you.
At this time, I ask
you to remove your ring
and turn it so that your
class year now points outward.
This simple act symbolizes your first step
towards the future as a proud
former student of Texas A&M.
Standing with you as you take this step
are your outstanding Texas A&M education,
our core values and our
worldwide Aggie network.
As you pursue life's journey,
wear your Aggie ring with pride
and remember that you are
forever a Texas Aggie.
We encourage you to stay
connected to Texas A&M
by supporting The Association
of Former Students,
joining and serving a local A&M club
and participating in Muster
and A&M club activities.
We look forward to celebrating
your achievement soon
during our All Aggie
Graduation Celebration
and to being a part of
your lifelong affiliation
with Texas A&M.
Remember, future generations of Aggies
are counting on your support.
I know you will be there for them,
just as others were there for you.
Congratulations and Gig 'Em.
[photo of students looking at laptop]
[student photo collage]
[quote by Dr. Hyunyoung Lee]
[student photo collage]
[quote by Dr. Anxiao (Andrew) Jiang]
[student photo]
[quote by Maria Blandon]
[student photo]
[quote by Jennifer Welch]
[group photo of students]
[humorous computer code]
