{"id":152194,"date":"2024-05-20T13:10:14","date_gmt":"2024-05-20T17:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/?p=152194"},"modified":"2024-05-22T15:45:25","modified_gmt":"2024-05-22T19:45:25","slug":"engineered-for-kindness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/2024\/05\/20\/engineered-for-kindness\/","title":{"rendered":"ENG Graduation: Engineered for Kindness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amazon technologist urges Class of 2024\u00a0 to try hard, be kind and curious<\/strong><\/h3>\n

By Isabella Bachman
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

The latest cohort of <\/span>Societal Engineers<\/span><\/a> took the stage at Agganis Arena for the 2024 College of Engineering Undergraduate Commencement. The celebration was part of a series of events honoring this year\u2019s earners of bachelor\u2019s, master\u2019s, and doctoral degrees at Boston University.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Guest speaker Tye Brady <\/span>(ENG\u201990)<\/span> recognized the unique resilience and grit of this particular graduating class. \u201cIt was your class who faced Covid as incoming freshmen,\u201d he said. \u201cYou found a way to make it work, to help others, and to invest in the greatest gift one can ever give or receive, your education.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Tye
Guest speaker Tye Brady (ENG\u201990) addresses crowd.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Brady, the chief technologist at Amazon Robotics, imparted a simple motto for graduates to lean into both professionally and personally, \u201cTCB\u201d or \u201cTake care of business,\u201d he said, \u201cby trying your best, choosing kindness, and being curious.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Of his position at Amazon, Brady said, \u201cI find passion here and have built a career with just 100% trying. Just because you love it, does not mean instant success. On the contrary, it is a series of failures and successes, each with learnings, both good and bad, that allows each of us to reach the next level.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On choosing kindness, Brady said, \u201cKindness is the elixir that builds great teams and sets the gold standard with how we should interact with each other. . . . When I look back on my career, it is not the tech that I think of first, but the character of the people who actually developed the tech.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Brady assured students a fruitful life would follow a \u201cmindset [to] learn and be curious.\u201d Just as \u201cwork never gets old, for there is always a learning to be found,\u201d he said, the same applies to all facets of life.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Brady left graduates to ruminate on the following question, \u201cWe believe in you. Will you believe in you?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Student speaker Yousuf Shehadi reinforced Brady\u2019s message on the importance of kindness, saying, \u201cFriends and family in the audience, sitting in front of you, are<\/span> [321]<\/span> of the brightest, most hardworking, most resilient, but most importantly, <\/span>kindest<\/span><\/i> engineers in the world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Shehadi, graduating with a bachelor\u2019s degree in biomedical engineering, shared how kindness has anchored his experience as an engineer. \u201cBU Engineering really reinforces the idea of the Societal Engineer,\u201d he said, \u201cand has invested a lot of energy to ensure we have the necessary skill set to alleviate some of this world\u2019s pressures, and ensure equal economic opportunity for everyone\u2026 because at its core, this is a discipline of empathy and improving the human condition.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBe proud of each other,\u201d Shehadi concluded. \u201cBe proud of how far you\u2019ve come. And most importantly, be proud to BU!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Dean
Dean ad interim Elise Morgan congratulates student.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dean ad interim Elise Morgan<\/span><\/a> also addressed the class, expressing a message of promise and enthusiasm for the graduates. \u201cThree weeks ago, you all presented your senior capstone design projects, and you lit up the rooms,\u201d she said. \u201cTechnical mastery, polished communication skills, excitement and pride in your work. . . . That\u2019s a powerful combination, and it was on full display.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Indicative of the class\u2019 academic excellence, there was a three-way tie for valedictorian: Pranet Sharma, Pen Qiu (Pong Chui), and Timothy Borunov shared the honor.<\/span><\/p>\n

As for faculty, <\/span>Associate Professor Michael Smith (BME)<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Professor Roberto Paiella (ECE)<\/span><\/a>, and<\/span> Assistant Professor Sean Lubner (ME)<\/span><\/a> each earned their Department Award for Teaching Excellence. <\/span>Master Lecturer Caleb Farny (ME)<\/span><\/a> was voted Professor of the Year. <\/span>Associate Professor Mary Dunlop (BME)<\/span><\/a> earned the Faculty Service Award.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Department Awards for Teaching Excellence displayed at graduation ceremony.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the ENG Graduate Convocation, held earlier in the week in the Case Center, Sharad Rastogi (ENG’91) addressed an audience of 53 doctoral degree recipients and 178 master’s degree recipients, and their families and guests. Rastogi is the CEO of Work Dynamics Technology at Jones Lang LaSalle, and a member of the ENG Dean’s Leadership Advisory Board.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

“Boston University changed the trajectory of my life,” said Rastogi, who came to Boston from India to earn his master’s degree in mechanical engineering. “I\u2019m excited to see how BU will impact your lives as well.”<\/p>\n

\"Sharad
Sharad Rastogi (ENG’91)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As they contemplate their own paths ahead, Rastogi urged the graduates, “Solve hard problems which excite you. The harder the problem you solve, the greater the value you create.”<\/p>\n

These graduates, especially, are “fully capable of solving complex problems right now,” Rastogi added. “BU has trained you to be Societal Engineers: you are logical, data driven. You can work across disciplines and apply technology to solve real world problems. You know how to work hard and persevere.<\/p>\n

“Take advantage of the wonderful developments that have come before you to tackle the challenges that lie ahead of you. Go test your skills to the maximum, go solve the problems that are most compelling to you. Dream big and do something meaningful!”<\/p>\n

Reporting contributed by Patrick L. Kennedy<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cYou found a way to make it work, to help others, and to invest in the greatest gift one can ever give or receive, your education.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2662,"featured_media":152255,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[236,1041],"tags":[788,983,894,1215,1216,1197],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152194"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152194"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":152331,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152194\/revisions\/152331"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}