Dozens of GW Environmental and Energy Management graduates and their families celebrated their achievements in front of almost 5,000 spectators at the SEAS Graduation Celebration, conducted in the Smith Center on Friday evening, May 17, 2019. The 2019 graduation Celebration marked the 137th year of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the 198th year of the George Washington University. This year SEAS graduated almost 1,000 students, and close to 40% of SEAS undergraduate class were women, about twice the national average.
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Carlos Slim Fellow and 2019 EEM grad Stephanie Gonzalez with Prof. Deason |
As School Marshal, EEMI Co-Director Professor Jonathan Deason served as the master of ceremonies for the event. 1997 SEAS graduate Dr. Serena Auñon-Chancellor was the graduation speaker. Dr. Auñon-Chancellor is a renowned NASA astronaut, medical doctor, and of course a SEAS alumna. Like Serena, both of her parents are GW alumni and both attended this year’s Graduation Celebration.
After finishing her undergraduate degree at GW, Serena enrolled in medical school at the University of Texas-Health Science Center at Houston. She completed her residency in internal medicine, followed by an additional residency in aerospace medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch. In 2006, acting on her lifelong interest in the space program, Serena began working at Johnson Space Center as a flight surgeon, a civilian physician who looks after the members of the astronaut corps and their families. Three years later, in July 2009, she was selected to the NASA astronaut corps as one of 14 members of its 20th astronaut class.
Over the following nine years, Serena underwent a range of extensive training and served in a number of roles to support NASA missions. Last year she served as a flight engineer for Expedition 56/57, travelling to the International Space Station in June 2018, and returning to Earth 197 days later, in December of last year.
In recent years, Serena has spoken on several other occasions at GW, ranging from discussions on becoming an astronaut, to our annual Frank Howard Lecture, to a NASA downlink last September when she spoke to us from the International Space Station. Serena gave a remarkably inspirational keynote address at the Graduation Celebration, you can watch the keynote below:
This year’s student speaker was Madeline Elizabeth Federle from Connecticut. Madeline graduated with a Bachelor of Science in mechanical and aerospace engineering with a minor in Philosophy and has accepted a position at Raytheon in Rhode Island. In her remarks, SEAS Interim Dean Rumana Riffat told the graduates “Each one of you sitting here tonight should be very proud of what you have accomplished. You have completed some of the most challenging majors that the George Washington University has to offer. Now you have an opportunity to use your expertise, and the passion you bring to it, to make the world a better place.
| Student awardees this year were as follows: | Benjamin C. Cruickshanks Awards: | ||
| SEAS Dean’s Alumni Prize: | Audrey Bacskai | Biomedical Engineering: | Jared Slosberg |
| William and Louise Corcoran Service Award: | Jeremy Waldron | Civil Engineering: | Madison Haley |
| Philip B. Kaplan Prize: | Joelle Dowling | Computer Engineering: | Brandon Waller |
| Alfred Martin Freudenthal Prize: | Jared Slosberg | Computer Science BS: | Shamere Yearwood |
| Distinguished Scholar: | Dietrich Reidenbaugh | Electrical Engineering: | Joelle Dowling |
| Mechanical Engineering: | Noah Curtiss | ||
| Systems Engineering: | Jaclyn Bellefeuille | ||
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Kushal Malvania, Stephanie Gonzalez and Negar Khalili with Prof Deason | Kushal with his proud parents | Prof. Deason with group of 2019 EEM grads |
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| Prof. Shittu with grads & family members | Prof Deason directs the ceremony as School Marshall | Professor Deason with Doctoral Graduate Steven Burns |
