 Today we're gathered in formal convocation to celebrate the 240th commencement exercises at Purdue University. Please rise and join in singing our national anthem and then remain standing for the invocation offered today by Father Patrick Bacowskis, Pastor and Director of Campus Ministry, St. Thomas Aquinas. There was a woman who died not so very long ago who has inspired millions of people by her life's example and her encouragement for all of us to be attentive to a higher, more purposeful calling. In the places where Mother Teresa of Calcutta lived and worked, she would have these words placed on the walls. And as you go forth today from Purdue, may this reflection she had in front of her every day inspire you as well. People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies. Succeed anyway. If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you. Be honest and frank anyway. What you spend years building someone could destroy overnight. Build anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today, people will often forget. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough. Give the world the best you've got anyway. You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God. It was never between you and them, anyway. This is the moment, this is the talk, and make some sense at last, this is the day. I never expected this. To be addressing you with me in an empty hall and you far away. Wherever you're watching this virtual ceremony, I hope you're surrounded by people you love, people who helped you reach this moment of achievement. As is my practice, I wrote a commencement speech over last Christmas at a time when COVID-19 had only recently gotten its name. I chose a theme without any clue what was coming. In a different year, I might have felt obliged to start over, but as things have unfolded, the events of recent months have in some ways made my chosen topic seem at least as relevant as the day I wrote it. So here goes. Welcome, graduates and friends, to this day of celebration. Those of you in the caps and gowns are gathered to celebrate the great accomplishment that is a degree from Purdue University. Meanwhile, your parents are, I know, quietly celebrating the clearing of the final tuition check. Congratulations to you all. Purdue celebrated its own landmark this year, our 150th anniversary. Since it coincided with the 50th anniversary of the moon landing by our most famous alum, Neil Armstrong's stories were abundant. My favorite claims that later in life, Commander Armstrong took to telling corny, lame jokes about the moon. And when nobody laughed, he'd say, well, I guess you had to be there. A year or so ago, a major national journalist visited our campus and later wrote a gracious complimentary article about what he saw here. While I enjoyed his accounts of the progress and successful results he thought he'd witnessed, my favorite part of the column was a single phrase, basically a throwaway line. He described Purdue as a happy place. It got me wondering how many college campuses these days would strike a visitor quite that way. I hope it's been that kind of place for you. We know you've worked hard and fought through a lot of pressure. You'll probably remember that. Just wait for those scary dreams where you haven't studied for the test or can't find the exam room. But I hope that among your memories of these years, I was happy there, is prominent among them. I've reflected on that more and more during your last couple years with us. Your parents love you and are proud of you. But from time to time, they also must worry about you. That's what we parents do. I hope it's okay if I worry about you and your futures a little also. I've sometimes used these commencements to fret out loud about trends that trouble me in that big wide world you're about to enter. In recent years, I've spoken about the tribalism that now divides Americans. I've talked about the seeming shortage of emotional resilience and grit in your peer group. Twice, I've found myself urging graduates to guard against the so-called big sort, the tendency for young people of your quality and educational attainment to cluster together professionally and socially and to drift apart from those of different backgrounds. But one thing I never expected to worry about, but now do a little, is you being lonely. I have known you and met thousands of you personally in an environment that, despite our size, does a pretty good job of getting people together, creating bonds among them. A thousand clubs, dozens of faith-based organizations, our Greek system, and maybe our best examples of true communities are co-op residential houses where students not only live but cook, clean, and do repairs together. And most recently, the learning communities where thousands of boiler makers live in mutual support with others who are studying the same subject matter. But elsewhere, the academic journals and lay periodicals are now filled with research about the, quote, epidemic of loneliness, quote, in our society. Surveys report record numbers of Americans living alone and suffering from strong feelings of isolation. Many view it as a new public health crisis linked to rising rates of depression, anxiety, even suicide. A lack of strong social relationships has been found to raise the risk of premature death by as much as 50 percent. It's as bad for you as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. It's not just an American phenomenon. The government of Britain has appointed a minister for loneliness. And all this was before anyone heard of COVID-19. Most startling and alarming are studies finding that the worst loneliness today is not among adults or the elderly, but in your age group. Astonishing percentages of today's young people say they have few, if any, close friends. Dating and other traditional forms of youthful interaction have declined sharply. The University of Southern California recently named a director of belonging. And while the title may be unique, I'm sure the idea is not. We humans are social creatures or as sometimes said relational beings. The ability to communicate, interact, and collaborate is what defines us and what assured our evolution as the dominant civilizing species on this planet. We thrive on contact with others. We suffer severely from its absence. The worst punishment we impose on a heinous criminal is solitary confinement. Much of our literature and religious tradition thinks of hell as a state of total permanent aloneness. So an outbreak of loneliness is worth worrying about, especially where those with the longest to live are a big part of it. In the case of your elders, sociologists can identify some obvious causes. Plummeting birth rates play a role. Having fewer children and fewer siblings limits the opportunity for caring contact. In a short two decades, the percentage of retirement age citizens living within 10 miles of their children in the same neighborhood with any relative or having a good friend living nearby dropped by double digits. It's easy to see how that leads to greater loneliness. But particularly in the case of your age cohort, there is no doubt that the sudden eruption and dominance of what we call social media, I often think anti-social media would be a better term, has played a huge role. Some scholars put all the blame there. One major article was titled, Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? It wasn't supposed to be this way. The original promise of all the Facebooks and Twitters was that they would connect us in wonderful new ways. But connection over a text message or what is often a glamorized presentation of one's daily life just isn't the same as in-person contact. In fact, it often turns out to separate and alienate its users more than it brings them together. I remain concerned that as members of the new knowledge aristocracy, absent a little special effort, you will rarely make friends different from yourselves. Now, studying the growing evidence about isolation, I'm concerned that you, the first age group raised entirely in the iPhone era, won't make many friends at all. In my own college days, a briefly famous Harvard professor offered probably the worst advice ever given to a younger generation. Encouraging both drug use and a non-productive lifestyle, Dr. Timothy Leary suggested, quote, turn on, tune in, drop out. Lately, I've been thinking the best advice one could give you, tomorrow's leaders, might be the exact opposite. Turn off, tune out, drop in. As in, turn off the phone more often, tune out the video screen, drop in personally on friends old and new. For most of human history, personal contact was hard to avoid. Suddenly, our digital age can mean it requires extra effort. Confession being good for the soul, it's only right that I make one here. I am not a good role model for the advice I'm foisting on you. I have not devoted the time I should have to deepen acquaintances into true friendships or to stay in closer touch with the old friends I do have. I've let the call of work get in the way. I've told myself that jobs of broad responsibility mean that one can't get too close to coworkers and colleagues. I've procrastinated and rationalized and skipped too many chances to spend meaningful time with people I admire and even love. I regret it, and I'm the worst for it. You can do better. The same research that is documenting the loneliness epidemic reveals ways to immunize oneself against it. Geographic rootedness makes a difference. People who live in the same community for extended periods are far less likely to be lonely. The great CS Lewis wrote, friendship is the greatest of worldly goods, the chief happiness of life. If I had to give a piece of advice to a young person about where to live, I would say sacrifice almost everything to live near your friends. Having a religious affiliation also correlates strongly with feelings of connectedness. And nothing statistically reduces the chance of loneliness more than marriage, especially marriage with children. It's a sermon for another Sunday, but I do hope most of you will not miss the joy and the lifelong education of raising children. I promise it's life's greatest reward and the best graduate school you'll ever attend. I heard about one wise guy commencement speaker who instructed his audience, remember, in life it's not who you know, it's whom. I've thought of that as just a joke, but in our new situation, it takes on a more serious tone. A lot of your success and happiness will depend on whom you know and know well. The author Gore Vidal once said, we never know when we are happy, only when we were. I hope in your case that proves way too cynical, that there'll be countless moments when you are truly happy and know it. But I also hope that when you reflect back on times when you were happy, your days at this university will rank high among them. And when people ask you, what was it about Purdue that made it such a great place for you? You can just answer, well, I guess you had to be there. I know great achievements lie ahead for you. My wish for you is that so do great friendships. Hail Purdue and each of you. Exercising the authority of the trustees of Purdue University, legally vested by the people of the state of Indiana and upon the recommendation of the Purdue faculty, I now confer upon each of you who have fulfilled the first stated requirements, the appropriate baccalaureate degree and associate degree, with all the rights, privileges, duties, and responsibilities of that degree. As evidence of your achievement, you will now receive an appropriately inscribed diploma. I now ask our orders to read aloud the names of all students who are earning baccalaureate degrees. Graduates, I invite you to have your special designee present your diploma to you now. I want to capture a photo of this to share with us. Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering. Sadiq Adiniji. Dhruv Pakhaj Agrawal. Cameron Allen. John Alloy. Suhas Anand. Connor Austin. William Axley. Vincent Bartels. Jacob Bartkovich. Sandeep Bhaskar. Jonathan Bass. Hesham Balsing. Eugene Black. Adam Brewer. Alessandro Braun. Megan Brown. Zachary Carroll. Alexander Chapa. Rogov Chari. Zachary Church. Jacob Cottrell. Jordan Quayar. Sarah Kulp. Nicholas D'Angelo. Justin D'Naro. Chu Hao Deng. Jacob Devine. Benjamin Dolan. Brendan Donahue. Devon Doubledy. Timothy Dublin. Eric Egan. Aaron Engstrom. Parker Fareesey. Kristen Fleher. David Fox. Riley Franklin. Pedro Augusta Freites de Arojo. Paul Fuchs. Payton Garrison. Elias Gazal. Matthew Granger. Samuel Granton. Milo Green. Brandon Green. Alexander Greer. Allen Gross. Rishabh Gupta. Yasho Arden Gupta. Hanson Lee Harjono. Katelyn Hauver. Samuel Hazel. Sean Hepe. Griffin Holland. Qua Chenghu. Kevin Huang. Zachary Hull. Bryce Hurl. Kuzae Aysel. Dakota Jandik. Marvin Jesse. Thiago K. Life. Tashi Kapoor. John Kemp. Jihil Gim. Harith Kallaganti. Smriti Kumar. Wesley Quo. Benjamin Curris. Jihil Jandik. Jihil Jandik. Jihil Jandik. Benjamin Curris. Do-Huan Huan. Steven Locke. Michael Lagrange. John Lathrop. Hunter Lawson. Joshua Lever. Ying Wang Evan Lee. Jacob Liet. Anthony Laidley. Nolan Lewis. Dao Yi Li. Eduardo Lindenmeier-Toso. Dean Lantau. Jory Lyons. Hannah Mackinshank. Noah Maines. Walter Manuel. Javid Mardinov. Benjamin Mardix. Nicholas Martinez-Cruces. Austin Martinez. Katrina May. Jordan Mayer. Peyton McGow. Raul Moeda. Collin Miller. Yoshmishra. Takayuki Miyachi. Abby Moe. Jack Molnar. Alexander Moore. David Morgan. Samantha Ness. Carl Nielsen. Nicholas Aya. David Morgan. David Morgan. David Morgan. Nicholas Otting. Jacob Packard. Yash Pahadeh. Rishabh Pandian. Sean Patel. Shlok Patel. Luke Perrin. Pat Pesa. Griffin Pfaff. Rohit Pilai. Alan Pineda. Arch Plampagna. Michael Porter. Matthew Powell. Zadarth Prasad. Bethany Price. Yu Zhao Xiang. Kai Ping Kua. Benjamin Raft. Sarah Rash. Zachary Roche. Patrick Reilly Hayward. Nicholas Rich. Frederico Rias Toscan. Nicholas Rohan. Rachel Rock. Mikaela Rumpel. Eric Salata. Peter Selec. William Sanders. Andrew Sonowski. Michael Smalley. Joshua Schmidler. Emily Schott. Sarah Skogan. Tae Hwan So. Tristan Shaheen. Eli Stitchin. Paige Smating. Eric Smith. Eric Smith. Jacob Smith. Jay Suksong. Madis Stankas. Noah Stover. Ryan Strelow. Adam Thomason. Joseph Tiberi. Henry Tingle. Clark Town. Kevin Van Fanten. Louise Via. Andres T. Andres T. Louise Via. Mark Vitale. Michael Vreeland. Andrew Vuong. Peter Waller. Brady Walter. Jonathan Walters. Jonathan Webb. Ethan West. Phoebe Whitmore. Kyle Weitrak. Joseph Williamson. Timothy Wintering. Adam Wooten. D Show. Huan Xu. Chenguang Yang. Zhuting Yang. Zhangpeng Yang. Natasha Yarlagada. Alexi Yinin. Biomedical Engineering. Ali Abu Saleh. Joseph Ansel. Jared Badgley. Christina Bagnati. Andres T. Andres T. Christina Bagnati. Kristen Bearinghouse. Nicholas Bloom. Katherine Brennan. Nicholas Chaleles. Yiting Cheng. Joshua Daman. Callista Dentis. Aditya Desai. Ana Diaz. Erica Dow. Nicolette Ellsbury. Machae Yung. Nicolette Ellsbury. Machae Philar. Andrew Vox. Jessica Frankie. Minseong Kim. Srinivas Govindan. Connor Harrell. Ryan Harris. Madeline Henderson. Jonathan Hicks. Megan Hofstetter. Marissa Hughes. Sahar Ibrahim. Maya Johnson. Connor Kalsh. Nicholas Layton. Samir Lele. Ryan Lindsay. Elizabeth Mainz. Wolfgang Matki. Priska Ambachu. Mariah McDonald. Trevor Meyer. Alexander Miller. Michael Myers. Sainimagata. Miriam Nuru. Ethan Pappas. Emma Roberts. Rear Smith. Sarah Smith. Sydney Safranicci. Dalton Sullivan. Jason Amel. Tyler Villa. Jenna Walker. Benjamin Walters. Michael Williams. Lakmini Wilson. Shuki Irina Wong. Alex Kevin Yeh. Ava Yazaras. Amna Zame. Electrical and Computer Engineering. Aidan Abney. Omar Abu Hussein. Ragid Abu-Aliz. Paras Adikari. Dhruv Agrawal. Anthony Agostino. Alexander Agrawal. Srinivas Govindan. Srinivas Govindan. Srinivas Govindan. Alexander Agrawal. Jonah Aifua. Ayumide Akande. Mohamed Alani. James Allen. Robert Allen. Stone Allen. Brittany Ammerman. Jack Anderson. Madison Anderson. Ankeep Anapur. Anusha Akande. Rajad Arora. Yusaf Ashmawi. Aditya Christian Eiler. Pratik Bamsal. Wenjing Bao. Yukai Bao. Baudri Bhaskaran. Sneha Basu. Tyler Baumgartner. Srinivas Govindan. Srinivas Govindan. Srinivas Govindan. Srinivas Govindan. Srinivas Govindan. Baumgartner. Suthri Baya Paratti. Ayumide Beyo. Roberto Beltran. Shannon Berry. Niharika Bardwaj. Tunvi Bardwaj. Shubham Himant Bakari. Aditya Biala. Daniel Beagle. Bonyabiju. Joshua Binian. Danyal Biala. Danyal Biala. Joshua Binian. Nicholas Birmingham. Romita Bisvas. Peter Blomer. Jacob Bobson. Kate Brady. Joshua Brard. Daniel Burns. Colin Kassens. Aditya Chakraborty. Zachary Chard. Austin Chan. Brian Chan. Gloria Chan. Jason Chan. Songling Chan. Shi Chun. Zifei Chun. Christopher Chiminski. Jessica Chin. Yu Jiaqiu. Zilong Cao. Wilson Chao. Eric Kokonig. Patrick Cole. Thomas Kilmer. Lucas Kong. Ashton Kaui. Ariel Crowe. Parker Crowell. Michael Kupka. Chi Dai. David Dong. Jackson Davis. Antonio Dacondia. Gabriel Delgado. Wellse Demonia. Cameron Deppin. Kenneth Deruque. The Ion Institute. Mark Dobus. Nicholas Dory. Dennis Dolzhenko. Reed Domingo. David Dowd. Samuel Dinoco. Leonard Eastlick III. Nicholas Ebert. Joshua Aylhurt. Michael Erickson. Michael Aylhurt. Michael Aylhurt. Michael Aylhart. Michael Aylhart. Michael Erickson. David Evans. Ji Wei Fang. Maxwell Franke. Cassidy Frederick. Mason Fritzen. Erin Froy. Yeh Phan Phu. Hoven Garces. Marco Antonio Garcia. Kyle Gardiner. Sagar Garg. Steven Garacci. Renesa Gosh Gosh. Job Gilliat. Nathan Givens. Alexander Goken. Joshua Goldenberg. Fengcheng Gong. Hao Da Gong. Andrew Gottschalk. Dhruv Goud. Brian Graves. Alan Gregorian. Zi Yu Guo. Lu Yi. Lu Yi. Lu Gua. Louise Haddock. Matthew Haynes. Alexander Han. Thomas Happle. Morgan Harris. Colin Harrison. Haifa Kisnina Binti Hassan-Nurden. Nicholas Haythorn. Arunabh Harzarika. Itao Hu. Calvin Henselman. Brian Helfrecht. Nora Leeden Hendy. Zachary Hensler. Benjamin Hauwainco. Suk Hong. Thomas Horninger. Anthony Ho. Brent Rapsky. Sung Lin Xia. Yu Hao Hu. Mao Huan Huang. Yi Ning Huang. Courtney Huddleston. Tyler Huter. Shreya Ilongo. Seth Irons. Megha Jia. Xiaoxi Jiang. Brian Jimenez. Zi Jing. Alexander Johnson. Zeng Lin Xia. Yu Hao Hu. Mao Huan Huang. Yi Ning Huang. Alexander Johnson. David Johnson. Christopher Javonovic. Yang Jingzheng. Benjamin Jungworth. Ali Kase. Omir Bugrakhanber. Sana Kapoor. Cameron Kuiper. Carson Kelly. Tiffany Kennedy. Thomas Cannell. Karitpal Khanna. Ji Ming Kim. So Young Kim. Zhu Gim. Elijah Klein. Surya Prasad Kanditi. Clayton Kroger. Hao Tingkong. Jae Young Guan. Zang Ming Yan. Zhang Qian Li. Lawrence Li. Kiersten Long. Michael Leppert. Chen Li. Josiah Lillestrand. Zi Zhuang Ling. Zi Peng Ling. Yuan Lu. Wan Chen Lo. Jordan Lozier. Nathan Longgo. Jordan Louie. Zachary Loy. Yi Ming Ma. Ryan Madden. Ashley Maddock. Yitika Mahajan. Karthik Maya. Cushan Manchella. Austin Margolis. Kyle Masa. Louis Fernando Maroran Botello. Morgan Mayardic. Mitchell McGee. Niraj Manikantadas Menon. Daniel Mulbrook. Adrian Moe. Nur Nadira Akila Moe. Daniel Moe. Daniel Moe. Daniel Moe. Daniel Moe. Nur Nadira Akila Moe Shah. Nathan Moore. Yunqin Na. Jiwon Nam. Jayun Nasebov. Cole Nelson. Molly Newquist. Gavin Naiman. Baokuang Nguyen. Dong Nguyen. Melissa Nguyen. Matthew Nichols. Nicky Furroff. Atif Niaz. Karan Oberoi. Christopher O'Flaherty. Samuel Olufiisola Oguncoya. Benjamin O'Haren. Ian O'Call. Matthew Oland. Cody Onishi. Montenolo O'Rederu. Frederick Owens. Matthew O'Oland. Cody Onishi. Montenolo O'Rederu. Frederick Owens. Victor Pan. Tsu-Huen Pan. Radeh Patel. Ryan Patout. Zachary Peetz. Joel Peterson. Lucas Pfeiffer. Alexander Prypritchke. Rohan Prabhu. Kritika Pradhan. Breetvi Prasada. Chayathan Pughelm. Saivan Khada Sravann Putikam. Ziyun Chao. Yi Chao. Feng Reichen. Holden Ran. Akash Raju. Shiran Ramji. Nizhura Ramli. Sun Zhongri. Joseph Rena. Dominique Rijani. Ayushi Roy. Josiah Rudge. Izuki Sakamoto. Austin Sale. Colin Selig. Jihan Salsabia. Kun Chetan Samani. Abhay Sassidharan. Michael Seaborg. Karthik Shankar. Kavir Shakhar. Benjamin Shun. Fangjia Shun. Erkva Shikhar. Kavir Shikhar. Benjamin Shun. Erkva Shardawalla. Wenxiang Shi. Connor Schrader. Sabar Shzidu. Sabrina Singh. Brendan Skiles. Jackson Smith. McCray Smith. Bradley Schmurdell. Nathan Somenali. Wenbo Song. Christopher Sorensen. Andrew St. Pierre. Jared Stubbs. Jia Haosun. Minghao Sun. Saishran Sundar. Yuchiro Suzuki. Robert Swan. Gustav Swanson. Carson Tabushka. Michael Tam. Xuanqiu Tan. Chen Tao. Nobel Goek Hong-Tae. Herin T. Garden. Francis Tangi. Shu-Hua To. Aditya Thagarthi Arun. Tome Tome. Hans Torsina. Amanda Tran. Anthony Tran. William Tran. Autry Traheel. Andi T. Andi T. Andi T. Andi T. Autry Traheel. Ninad Trumapoti. Obita Odoye. Charles Vamos. Carell Vundermarva. Prithvi Vipuri. Malika Venkata Shalam. Mimam's Verma. Abhishek Vyase. Gadfri Walker. Daniel Walsh. Zachary Walters. Jiaxing Wang, Dwingyi Wang, Rui Wang, Yuanhao Wang, Zihan Wang, Evelyn Ware, Charles Watts, Daniel Weld, Ruby Wellin, Michael White, Erin Weewald, Matthew Wilmson, Alexander Wilson, Patrick Wingard, Eric Wong, Ryan Wright, Xiwu, Fei Di Xia, Jiaxian Xu, Jingjing Xu, Li Taoshu, Rui Yan, Yun Lei Yan, Jiaxing Yang, Zongyang Yao, Kaqxing Yao, Hao Tian Ying, Zhang Sang Yu, Jeremy Yu, Michael Yu, Joshua Yung, Mohamed Hazwan Zainouden, Cynthia Zatlakewicz, Zhengming Zhang, Hai Yi Zhang, Ling Feng Zhang, Yun Xu Zhang, Hao Tian Zhang, Yi Zheng Hu, Edward Zimmer, Environmental and Ecological Engineering, Noah Alucino, Caleb Brehm, Dylan Buchler, Christian Cambrun, Hong Yu Tan, Julian Clark, Emily Conti, Timothy Gallagher, Megan Garrity, Mason Hall, Samuel Hensley, Nathaniel Ibarzula, Rachel Longo, Caroline Metzger, Cassie Neganthavi, Boer Nie, Kelly Paulson, Niu Fong, Megan Pintosi, Michael Raun, Maria Redman, Kayla Reiser, Emerson Ringer, Alexander Roberts, Kyle Rothschild, Tanya Roy, Noah Runyan-Light, McCommel Sanju, Madeline Skipworth, Melanie Stepanovic, Kira Sullivan, Elise Tesaro, Benjamin Turczyk, Elizabeth Vantriek, Evan White, Carly Wilhelm, Margo Zook, Interdisciplinary in Multidisciplinary Engineering, Michael Abbate, Nathan Beedle, Alec Brooks, Rachel Cassetti, Eleanor Coffin, Logan Dodson, Jake Ender, Jacob Aspinosa, Kenan Freilich, Marissa Garceau, Carly Jagle, Sing Yong Li, Brian Lehmert, Eric Leong, Kevin Marzo, Joseph Miguel Russell, Madeline Moisio, Aditya Morali, Amy Palock, Alexa Raymer, John Ryan, Emma Schaefer, Daniel Shembrie Wismair, Yana Shurfheida, Siddharth Singh, Karuna Shrivastava, Haru Takano, Dhruv Ors, Atreya Verma, Daniel Young, Industrial Engineering, Matthew Abramo, Maurice Ademe, Sean Addington, Brittany Allen, Adam Averell, Zachary Baker, Vaibhav Barak, Alexis Barnes, Srinan Baaz, Arjan Basiljanova, Emily Beach, Brendan Bell, Jared Burkey, Keith Bittner, Emily Blackburn, Austin Bolett, Heather Bush, Sydney Boyce, Benjamin Bridge, Dante Bruno, Philippine Buisson, Michael Campbell, Ian Cartmell, Samuel Chadwick, Emma Chen, Haotxi Chen, Hongyi Chen, Lingxi Cheng, Michael Collins, Julia Conversa, Jacob Cook, John Crook, Amanda Crowe, Madison Danon, Mauricio De Vila, Kira De Rezenje Del Teto, Anibila Deb, Tess Devinger, Christine Deweyzi, Ana Diaz Abad, Mark Dillon, Melissa Dove, Katherine Dube, Taylor Duffy, Katherine Dunbar, Grace Dunker, Rebecca Dvorak, Samantha Dykus, Kimone Ikonamu, William Edwards, Coleman Ellis, Nolan Ellsbury, Steven Emill, Emily Endicott, Daniel Evangelista Poe, Alan Evans, Caroline Fallon, Carsten Faustic, Daniel Fernandez, Michael Fulta, Patrick Foster, Adam Frankel, Pedro Augusto Freitas de Arojo, Matthew Garten, Luciano Gaticca, Utkuhan Gench, Devide Garely, Rohan Ghosh, Richard Gibbs, Thomas Giordino, Kenneth Gray, Grant Green, Edward Guevara, Joseph Guss, Brandon Haberman, Christopher Hadisirjo, Mazur Hakim, Abigail Hancock, Rachel Harmon, Giovanni Harold, Jiani He, Jonathan Hadrick, Kira Hurtow, Mitchell Halsappel, Maxim Romis, Ben Huang, Agam Jain, Sona Jain, Ruchab Jajodia, Shawn Johnson, Kyle Johnston, Jeremiah Jones, Simran Chhatru, Ilaida Karagol, Bayreel Karagos, Jack Kelly, Charles Katt, Andrew Killen, Christopher Koshiba, Robert Crane, Jessica Kurniavon, Brandon Locke, Michael Laird, Andrew Lapel, Riek Law, Chad Lawrence, Chenlong Li, Jason Lee, Ann LaFredo, Wei Ling Liu, Nicholas Lukot, Aaron Lund, Catherine Mack, Ivo Marrero Arana, Matthew Mayer, Megan McHale, Sarah McKenzie, Mark Cedric Menciano, Matthew Marucci, Ryan Miller, Samantha Miller, Jacob Mechler, Laura Mudge, Michael Maralena, Luke Murphy, Aaron Murray, Vinayak Nadhigar, Shyam Narasimharaj, Julia Nywayme, Lucas Nymer Vicentini, Steven Uggbana, Jaizurum Okireke, Marcus Olson, Temi Lo Laulua One Deco, Rachel Osborne, Prune Parak, Kayla Parker, Riley Patnode, Sharina Paul, Richa Prasad, Charles Prachaska, Vedant Raghavan, Jean Rashid, Braxton Raitkin, John Rao, Andrew Reed, Anna Renkel, Axel Rivera-Barrientos, Roy Rivera, Joseph Robertson, Gianroca Grandez, Jimena Rodriguez, Regina Rojas Gamboa, Esther Roslar, Maggie Ra, Aitya Roy, Ridae Sachdev, Michael Selina, Nadeem Samour, Gayatri Savita Raj, Jonathan Schacht, Nathan Shaker, Madison Sheshsel, Oliver Schroeder, Julia Schweiderman, Natalie Scott, Karthik Sharma, Nia Rika Sharma, Maxwell Shepard, Aditya Srivastava, Nithika Sivashankar, Alexander Skarstein, Marissa Smith, Varshini Srinivas, Ashwini Srinivasaprasad, Kelly Stanton, Dylan Stance, Patrick Stuff, Pritham Swaminathan, Anasheshko, Jennifer Tiefi, Takashi Terouchi, Michael Timo, Monica Troncosco, Erica Tyler, Alexandra Urbanik, Jorge Valdez, Abhijith Vamadave, Andres Varela, Ryan Walters, Shaotian Wang, Hamza Waseem, Lucas Wenzappel, Ananda Wibawu, Alexander Wiedeker, Corey Wogenstahl, Nathan Workman, Tiancha Haochengying, Yudong Ying, Reishi Zhang, Yue Zou, Nuclear Engineering, David Champlin, Landon Connor, Mark Deloya, Adam Dix, Ellen Durran, Emily Downing, Trevor Drewyard, Alyssa Granito, Catalan Haribaju, Natalie Hoteylan, Elizabeth Jay, Reza Karimi, Zachary Kroll, Jeremy Marquardt, Brennan McFerrin, Nicholas Migliore, Stefan Orzorov, Jeremiah Pike, Richard Ramos, Jalen Rice, Christopher Schwapack, Matthew Van Dogenberg, Joseph Wider, Christian Young, John Zupke, Chemical Engineering, Rika Francine Albano, Isra Abdel Salam, Nersikina Abdul-Jabbar, Olawasepa Abagandai, Tracy Achola Okat, Quentin Adubhai, Matthew Alsop, Teresa Anderson, Phoebe Appel, Vanda Hay Apte, Alejandra Aranda, Jacob Arbitman, Steven Armbruster, Jennifer Barrett, Lucas Baston, Tejas Betty, Elizabeth Bell, Jennifer Beyasi, Norsedetal Nisa Mohamed Fazil, Nicole Blaise, Devon Boone, Anna Carolina Braga, Eric Brill, Hope Brumbaw, Daniel Blavis, Christopher Burke, Noah Kassidy, Anna Collins, Caleb Klanslik, Riley Cook, Steven Kregger, Frank Delgadillo, Rosta Ryder, Yulia Duchenco, Rohan Diga, Ryan Dockery, Kathleen Dudek, Juan DeLore Ezenwukwa, Elon Ezra, Nelson Fong, Morgan Farrell, Nathan Fisher, Claire Fosna, Tommy Fox, Zachary Frank, Catherine Franco, Hannah Gasper, Stephanie Gutteschen, Carlos Gonzalez, Lucas Graham, Hersh Gupta, Michael Hanley, Mark Harbison, Bailey Hayes, Kelly Herman, Harvey Holman, Kaylee Hulahan, Thu Han, Matthew Jacob, Garrett Chakobi, Colin Jamison, Madeline Jensen, Jin Hong Ju, Natalie Kandlubowski, Christopher Kaptur, Jason Kaurick, Connor Keveny, Hishankana, Bruno Keepe, Dita Karane, Parsefa Khothri, Priyanna Prahahlad, Kaylee Kuhn, Arman Kumar, Megan Louise Lim, Nathan Limix, Christopher Lu, Ian Lu, Anthony Maquette, Haley Mason, Michael Mayer, Ryan Morris, Matthew Muller, Rayya Nargan, Ethan Neowetti, Ashley Nigro, Jihan Oh, Anish Patel, Chandani Patel, Annie Peters, Zachary Piontek, Timothy Portia, Benjamin Pratt, Bracken Rainey, Baron Reeder, Nicholas Rydell, Brittany Rivera, Elizabeth Ruff, Cassidy Ryan, Nathan Sae, Andrew Sartorio, Carson Schneider, Christopher Shore, Adam Schultz, Corinne Scott, Deeply Sendil Kumar, Justin Sinek, Tyler Shammy, Rishi Sharma, Nicole Schof, Daniel Soca, Matthew Schraders, Clark Stebbins, Jacob Stone, Yufei Sun, Dwi Sutandar, Nicholas Swanberg, Laura Titzer, Victoria Trinkinshu, Adam Trautman, Russell Tsai, Joseph Turpin, Amala Yuli, Saadhir Vel, Danbayo Levo, Danawong, Jae Xiong Wang, Kristen Webb, Curtis Werman, Dana Weinstein, Samantha Wolfe, Jia Yong Wu, Catherine Waisaki, Takashi Yokokura, Cassandra Zamora, Daniel Ziya, Civil Engineering, Divyat Agrawal, Diego Amar, Samuel Andrews, Burkhan Arpaki, Spencer Barr, Mathias Burmio, Matthew Bernike, Sarah Bigelow, Benjamin Bowman, Maximino Brual, Emily Bruas, Cole Burke, Alberto Castillo, Paul Cater, Brooke Cedarquist, Michael Krapek, Cameron Curry, Paul Dolly, Nathan Dawson, Ryan Dolphus, William Dong, Ryan Dudar, Julia Duncan, Patrick Dunn, Rachel Zuitkowski, Eric Eggebracht, Jacob Emmons, Benjamin Evans, Emily Faclum, Megan Faribach, Sean Fields, Nicholas Fryberger, Donald Fusternau, Grace Funderberger, Megan Gaby, Trusha Devankar, Addison Gilbert, Dominic Grant, Zachary Grant, Justin Greel, Rebecca Gregory, Juan Gutierrez, Elizabeth Hacker, Alexander Harden, Aaron Hayes, Landon Hur, Gilligan Hestel, Jose Ignacio Higua Cabera, Dominic Hoijer, Merrick Howarth, Edward Hutchison, Cindy Hoon, Doug Johnston, Maximo Jones, Spencer Cabat, Emra Karaman, Andrew Kay, Colleen Kelch, Benjamin Kelly, Roshan Kowaja, Youngtae Kim, Elhamid Kobayesi, Alexander Krine, Scott Lenz, Alexander Liu, Alexander Long, Adam McConowitz, Stephanie Maldonado, Tim Mark, Filippo Mosebrio, Ramey Monir Douse-Mata, Evan Meeks, Jacob Mickey, Thaddeus Milton, Melissa Monogro, Connor Moore, Madison Moore, Mark Mearns, Audrey Murray, Panagotis Nikitas, Dominic Odin, Patrick O'Donovan, Rada Patel, Claire Payne, Ryan Peggles, Michael Phalen, Alexandra Plotcher, Dominic Raffin, Trevor Reich, Casey Rogers, Maxwell Runnigan, Robert Rust, Maxwell Rutman, Verneri Samarra Wicarama, Bruno Sanchez Ortiz, Brian Slang, Molly Schrager, Jayant Sharma, Zachary Sisson, Paul Slack, Jared Snowball, Patrick Sawinski, Thomas Staublin, Madeline Steele, Nicola Stephens, Logan Stewart, Zachary Stewart, Victoria Sullivan, Kyle Ting, Dylan Ulainer, Muhammad Usman, Christine Victrup, Kelsey Vogt, William Weerfritz, Sean Wolf, How Yin, Ahmad Fafi Bin Zahari, Construction Engineering, Alexander Brand, Sean Herrera, Kareem Quader, Dominic Lombardo, Kareem McCauley, Mark Mattal, Nicholas Rademacher, Turner Ryan, Justice Schumann, Brooke Sarig, Andrew Stumler, John Sullivan, Benjamin Van Dyke, Amy Watts, Jessica Whitfield. Okay, it's official. You are now graduates of Purdue University. It's time for you to observe the tradition of moving your tassel from the right side of the mortarboard to the left, signifying your new status. Congratulations to all our new alums. This year's winner. It's appropriate at this time that we give special recognition to those graduates who have demonstrated outstanding scholastic achievement, leadership and service to the university community. You can read the names of the recipients of those recognitions in your commencement program. Additional special awards have been noted on your division's ceremony page. On behalf of the trustees and the faculty, congratulations on your accomplishments. We're counting on you to continue making exceptional contributions in all your future endeavors. Some of our graduates receive red, white and blue cords, signifying that they are veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces. They deserve our recognition and our sincere gratitude for their patriotism. We honor these graduates for their hard work and accomplishments, but they'd be the first to tell us they did not make the journey alone. So will the graduates please take this moment to offer thanks and appreciation to your parents, grandparents, spouses, brothers, sisters and other family members and friends for their long and loving support that brought you to this moment. The audience is invited to sing the Purdue hymn. The words are located inside the front cover of the program and will be projected. Will you please stand? I'm pleased to introduce Mark Deloya who was selected as today's student responder in recognition of his leadership in many student and campus organizations. Mark's receiving a Bachelor of Science in Nuclear Engineering. Following graduation, he'll join an imaging spectrometer startup as a sales engineer. Please welcome Mark Deloya. First of all, I wanna give a big thank you to everybody that made today possible. I know things are not how any of us expected them to be. Regardless of that, there is a team behind the scenes making sure today feels just as magical and special as if we were all in Elliot. Thank you for your hard work and perseverance through this trying time. To my fellow class of 2020 graduates, whoof, they really tried to put us through it, didn't they? I want everybody to close your eyes and take a deep breath. Feel this moment. We're here. No doubt we will remember this day for the rest of our lives. I do have one question for you all today. How do you wanna be remembered? I know for a fact each and every one of us was able to make our mark on this university. We've all accomplished so many different feats and overcome many obstacles, whether those be in research, student organizations, athletics, the classroom, or anything else. There is so much to be proud of and celebrate. While our achievements are impressive and definitely things to be remembered, I challenge you all to look at the bigger picture. At the end of the day, we go to bed at night with only ourselves and those that we've connected to. Relationships supersede titles and trophies. So why do we remember each other for our kindness, for the friendships we've built and for the way we love one another? I always thought my proudest moments of college would be earning my leadership positions or landing the fanciest, highest-paying job. Quite frankly, I was wrong. As I've progressed at Purdue, I've been most proud of the way that I've loved other people. If you know me, you know I'm pretty adamant about telling the people around me that I love them and telling them often. To be honest, I love people really hard. It feels so good to be loved. So why don't we tell each other more? Don't be afraid to tell people you care about them or that you want them to succeed. It goes a long way. As can be seen by today's current global situation, there are times when we need to come together. When compassion, empathy, and kindness become defining characteristics, now more than ever, we need to look out for each other. No matter how different our race, sexuality, gender identity, or political beliefs, we all share the same sky, the same planet. We are all a shared humanity with a common human experience. So class of 2020, let us be remembered by the way we love and care for those around us. As a class that set aside our differences and recognize that we can all be proud to be human. Even though we aren't all in Elliot today and you might not even be wearing a cap and gown, don't let that undermine all that you have done. We should all be extremely proud to be Boilermakers. Let's continue to make change and lead with love. Thank you. Today you are standing on the edge of possibility. We pause to give thanks for the deep sense of accomplishment, pride, and hope of this very moment. We pause today to reflect on your time here and the hope for your future. We gather with abundant joy and overwhelming gratitude. We pray the experience here embodies our vision of education as an engaged and dynamic partnership between the university and the wider world. The work here has never been merely for personal use but always for public good. And so today we celebrate collective commitment to creating a better and more just world. May we appreciate the joy of this day and may the dedication and patient perseverance that has brought us to this moment carry us forth to create a world marked by peace, justice, and compassion beyond measure. Go forth to do the good work set before you. Be tireless. Seek the common good. Love and nurture the people and things you value. Attend to your work with integrity so that what you believe may be what you do. And when you feel as if you might become defeated, think back on this day and know that you already have accomplished much. May you be blessed and may your lives be a blessing to all of us. Amen. You shall go out with joy. You shall go out with joy. Joy, joy, joy, joy. As we conclude today's commencement ceremony, thank you for joining this celebration of our newest Boilermaker graduates. On behalf of the trustees, faculty, and all the Purdue family, I bid you farewell, Godspeed, Hail Purdue.