May 6, 2024
The loved ones of more than 200 SCI graduate and undergradate students gathered together on April 27 to celebrate the students’ success and achievements throughout their time at the University of Pittsburgh.
Associate Dean and Professor Adam Lee welcomed the master’s and doctoral graduates and their families, friends and other loved ones to the ceremony at Lawrence Hall, where he highlighted their accomplishments and cherished memories at SCI.
“From the little joys of everyday to the fond memories you take with you to the impacts you have made on those around you, you all are setting a standard of excellence for the graduates who will follow you. And the skills, motivation, creativity, and talents you now will bring out into the world are essential to nearly every facet of society,” said Lee.
Lee’s remarks were followed by Summer Fowler, SCI alumna and Chief Information Security Officer at Torc Robotics. Fowler emphasized the importance of building relationships and networking for career success.
“From the beginning of your career, use the time you get for lunch intentionally. Two times a month, I want you to pick a lunch and set up time with someone that you want to know more about, you want to network with, or you want to learn from. If you do this twice a month, you will have 24 networking activities a year, during business hours. If I had done this from the start of my career, I would have had 576 networking opportunities from the time I graduated until now. Don't wait until you’re well into your career, like I did,” said Fowler.
SCI faculty Associate Professor Jake Biehl, Associate Professor Balaji Palanisamy, and Department of Information Culture and Data Stewardship Chair Mary Kay Biagini presented the graduates. Senior Director of Student and Academic Affairs Wesley Lipschultz welcomed the graduates as SCI alumni.
Later that evening, SCI commemorated undergraduate students at the undergraduate recognition ceremony at 6:30 p.m. Dean and Professor Bruce Childers commenced the ceremony and acknowledged the outstanding performance of the graduates.
“While technology continues to transform our world, it is important that each of you, as future leaders, work to ensure that the world we are building is more equitable and inclusive than the one we live in today. You may find yourselves on the frontlines of technological innovation. It is up to you to make sure that we implement and utilize these technologies in an ethical and empowering way. There will be difficult challenges ahead, but you are well-equipped to address them,” said Childers.
Graduation speaker Chris Valasek, SCI alumnus and Senior Director of Cybersecurity at Cruise, then addressed the graduates. Valasek shared that it is not only successes that lead to growth, but also failures.
“My first two years at Pitt were really hard for me, but I stuck with it. The real benefit was pushing through all these hard problems, figuring out how to solve them, and at the very least figuring out where I’ve failed. I’ve failed at way more things than I’ve succeeded, and you will too. Don't let any of the failures you have dictate your future success. Being here today proves that you’re worthy of going on to do bigger and better things. You’ve all learned from your failures, and you’ll all bounce into success,” said Valasek.
Following Valasek’s address, Director of the Computer Science Undergraduate Program John C. Ramirez and Clinical Associate Professor Dmitriy Babichenko presented the graduates. Childers concluded the ceremony by congratulating the new SCI alumni.
“Thank you for taking the time to celebrate these graduates and their achievements with us, and we wish you the best in what we hope will be a very promising future!”
Join us in congratulating the graduates of Spring 2024!
--Alyssa Morales
