2025 Convocation Message from Azer Bestavros
Convocation Remarks: Azer Bestavros, May 17, 2025
Good Morning! What a wonderful day! Beautiful campus; accomplished graduates; proud parents, family, and friends; cheerful faculty… What more could one ask for?
On behalf of the faculty of Computing & Data Sciences, I would like to extend a warm welcome to all those in attendance – to our esteemed guest of honor and Advisory Board member, Marjorie Hsu, to the CDS Faculty and Staff, to the parents, relatives, friends, and other well-wishers; and last but not least to our graduates – the CDS Class of 2025.
For those who don’t know me, my name is Azer Bestavros, and I am the Associate Provost for Computing & Data Sciences. And it is my honor to open today’s ceremony by congratulating all members of our Class of 2025 for a job well done.
The class of 2025 will always hold a special place in our collective memory in CDS and indeed for all of us at BU. You will always be remembered as the largest and the last cohort of crossovers into the DS major: every one of you started your BU journey in a different college and chose to join CDS’s data science program as soon as it was born.
You chose us – you adopted us! You took a leap of faith, parting with your original choice of a program at BU to join a brand-new academic home unlike any other. Your belief in CDS fueled its development. You are truly fearless trailblazers—exactly what our world needs right now!
You are also the first cohort of CDS graduates who can rightly claim our remarkable “Jenga” building as your home base on campus, having enjoyed it since its opening in the same semester you started your journey at BU.
As the class that launched CDS’s Student Government, your legacy will endure in the culture you have helped us build—one that values student voice, grassroots leadership, and a strong sense of community. Your keen interest in participatory and collaborative governance is inspiring. Your persistent advocacy and innovative ideas for creating an environment where all students feel a sense of belonging will define our student experience for years to come.
Beyond BU, history books will also note that you are the first post-pandemic class to graduate in a world that has changed drastically, not only by the repercussions of that pandemic, but also by the reverberations ushered by generative AI.
In many ways, having dealt with these disruptions throughout your undergraduate experience has prepared you well. If there is any group of graduates who are prepared to deal with disruptions, it is you, the Class of 2025.
Today, as you begin a new journey, remember that you are carrying the hopes and dreams of many people – friends, family, and yes, all of us faculty and staff in CDS. We are proud of you, and we hope that in the many years to come, you will always remember with pride BU, your Alma Mater, and CDS, your adopted home.
Graduation speeches are a terrible genre. All I remember from my own is that I listened patiently to what sounded like a sermon about how “momentous” a graduation event is and how it underscores the manner in which a graduating class will “change the world” and how it will “leave its mark” on society and technology, and how it will serve its Alma Mater for years to come.
Back then, it all sounded hyped up and hollow. I did not mind it, but I really had my doubts as to whether a few students could really “change the world” or “leave their mark”, etc. etc.
Well, I am here today to tell you that this is exactly what all of us in CDS expect of you! CDS was created with a singular vision to (quote-unquote)
“Improve the human condition by bringing computational and data-driven technologies, systems, and processes to bear on the greatest challenges facing our world.”
Let me talk a little about these challenges…
We live in a world that is defined by data and shaped by how computers gather, manipulate, interpret, and use that data. Our media feeds are inundated by content from marketers and advertisers and their AI agents based on our explicit likes and dislikes. Our creative works and even our informal online chatter have been captured in Large Language Models used by generative AI to increasingly blur the lines between humans and machines. Our online public exchanges have become fodder for special interest groups to infer, if not influence our political leanings, engineer how we vote, and even rewrite history and justify the unjustifiable.
And then there are the bad actors who steal our data, hijack our identities, fake our news, and use all of these new technologies to wreak havoc in our world. One can look at this brave new world with anxiety and even fear as the gap between the haves and have-nots (programmers and programmed) continues to widen. What’s to become of our society when our decision-making processes are increasingly reliant on the use of obscure machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies? What’s to become of our democracy when reasoned civic discourse and even freedom of expression become casualties of targeted misinformation and disinformation campaigns? What’s to become of our humanity when data becomes our only window to the world and computer algorithms govern our interactions? Those are all fair and reasonable concerns that we all have a duty to address.
But there is another, more optimistic, view.
One can also look at this new data-driven world as an empowering one, a world where data, computation over data, and AI are merely tools that we can (and should) domesticate for a better society. This can be a world where data and algorithms are inclusive of the viewpoints and values of the communities most impacted by their usage – a world where “data speaks louder than money”; a world made more resilient, efficient, and fair through the use of evidence-based policymaking.
This more optimistic viewpoint is the world that CDS envisions and strives to make a reality.
It is a world in which leveraging data and computation is an equal opportunity, a world in which mastering the tools of the trade is not a barrier to entry, but rather the lingua franca for collaboration that breaks down boundaries. It is a world in which technology enhances society, drives economic prosperity, and improves the human condition.
This is the world that we hope you, our 2025 graduates, will help us build. Graduates, as you step into this ever-evolving world, armed with your knowledge and skills, I want to remind you of some timeless values that can guide you on your path. First and foremost, remember the importance of integrity. In a field driven by innovation, it's crucial to hold onto your moral compass. Let honesty, fairness, and respect for others be the guiding light that steers your professional choices.
As you navigate the ever-more complex landscape of computing and AI technologies, embrace the virtue of humility. Recognize that no matter how skilled or knowledgeable you become, there is always more to learn. Stay open-minded, eager to collaborate, willing to learn from others -- acknowledging that your abilities are a gift, and that true success comes from serving others. Embrace the power of empathy in all your endeavors and consider the needs, concerns, and aspirations of the people who will use what you create.
Be resilient! The world of technology is dynamic and often presents unexpected hurdles. When you encounter these hurdles, embrace them with a positive mindset. Put faith in your education, knowing that every obstacle can become an opportunity for growth and improvement.
And, last but not least, remember to enjoy the journey and to share that enjoyment with your loved ones! Celebrate your successes and those of your peers and collaborators who are vested in your professional growth and success as much as you are vested in theirs!
Congratulations again!
- Associate Provost Azer Bestavros