Keynotes & Honorees
Keynote Speakers
Jared L. Cohon
President Emeritus, Carnegie Mellon University
In recognition of his exceptional leadership in guiding Carnegie Mellon University to unprecedented success and growth as a global university, CMU is honored to present President Emeritus Jared L. Cohon as the keynote speaker for its 116th commencement. President Emeritus Cohon's address will culminate his 16-year tenure in which he has led Carnegie Mellon to new heights on all strategic fronts. He will be stepping down as president on June 30.
Dr. Cohon has been president of Carnegie Mellon University since 1997. He came to Carnegie Mellon from Yale, where he was dean of the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies from 1992 to 1997. He started his teaching and research career in 1973 at Johns Hopkins, where he was a faculty member in the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering for 19 years. He also served as assistant and associate dean of engineering and vice provost for research at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Cohon earned a B.S. degree in civil engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 1969 and a Ph.D. in civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1973.
Author, coauthor or editor of one book and more than 80 professional publications, Dr. Cohon is an authority on environmental and water resource systems analysis, an interdisciplinary field that combines engineering, economics and applied mathematics. He has worked on water resource problems in the United States, South America and Asia and on energy facility siting, including nuclear waste shipping and storage. In addition to his academic experience, he served in 1977 and 1978 as legislative assistant for energy and the environment to the late Honorable Daniel Patrick Moynihan, United States senator from New York. President Bill Clinton appointed Dr. Cohon to the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board in 1995 and appointed him as chairman in 1997. His term on the board ended in 2002. President George W. Bush appointed Dr. Cohon in 2002 to the Homeland Security Advisory Council and President Barack Obama reappointed him in 2009.
During his presidency, Carnegie Mellon has continued along its trajectory of innovation and growth. Priorities have included: undergraduate education; new interdisciplinary initiatives in information technology, biotechnology, energy and environment, and the fine arts and humanities; diversity; international initiatives; and the economic development of southwest Pennsylvania.
Aron Ralston (E '97)
In May 2003, Aron Ralston was trapped alone in a Utah canyon for nearly a week, his right hand pinned by a half-ton boulder. He faced a choice: his limb or his life. He chose life, amputating his right forearm with a pocket knife, rappelling 65 feet, and hiking seven miles to a miraculous rescue.
Mr. Ralston's 2004 memoir of his harrowing fight for survival, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, became a New York Times bestseller and inspired the film 127 Hours, which received six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.
A 1997 graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, Mr. Ralston majored in mechanical engineering and French, and minored in piano performance. As a student, he was a two-time resident assistant, played trombone in the Kiltie Band, studied abroad in Switzerland, and was inducted into seven honor societies, including Phi Beta Kappa. He earned the respect of his peers for his work ethic, adventurous spirit, and great humor. Upon graduation, he hired on as a mechanical engineer with Intel Corp. Then, in 2002, he left the company to follow his passion for outdoor adventures in Colorado.
Ten years after his life-altering experience in that canyon, Mr. Ralston's passion is undiminished. Today, he is a dedicated father, wilderness advocate, and public speaker. With the aid of prosthetic devices that he helped design, he has climbed all 59 of Colorado's highest peaks solo, in winter; skied from the summit of Denali, North America's tallest mountain; and, led a rafting expedition through the Grand Canyon.
In every sense, Mr. Ralston remains the engineer of his own fate.
Student Speaker & Honorary Degree Recipients
Student Speaker Brian Groudan (DC'12)
Many Carnegie Mellon graduates become entrepreneurs; fewer, like Brian Groudan, become entrepreneurs while still in college. Together with three other Carnegie Mellon students, Mr. Groudan founded PayTango, an early-stage startup focused on providing biometric identification for payments and access control applications.
After winning three awards at PennApps, the University of Pennsylvania's biannual hackathon, and developing the product in Luis von Ahn’s Tech Startup Lab this past fall, the PayTango team applied to and was accepted at Y Combinator, a startup accelerator in Mountain View, California. PayTango has already received accolades, including being named among “America’s Coolest College Startups” by Inc. magazine, and has been featured in countless technology-focused websites and publications.
Mr. Groudan is very comfortable working in interdisciplinary teams and practicing the creative process across a broad range of media. He was a member of the teams that won first place at the Microsoft Windows 8 Hackathon and the Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII) Website Redesign Contest. For his undergraduate capstone, Mr. Groudan created a prototype for The Economist’s online debates platform. He previously interned at The Boeing Company as a usability engineer and the Mozilla Corporation as a user experience researcher for Firefox. The mantra “make something people want” has always guided Mr. Groudan’s work as an interaction designer.
Mr. Groudan credits Carnegie Mellon with helping him come out of his shell, solidify his career path and seize a myriad of opportunities. On campus, Mr. Groudan was active in Student Life, serving as an orientation counselor for two years and a resident assistant. He was also vice president and booth chair for Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity, webmaster for TEDxCMU, and a teaching assistant for two courses in the Information Systems Department.
He graduated with university honors from the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences in December 2012 with a double major in information systems and human-computer interaction, and a minor in communication design. Mr. Groudan remembers his time at Carnegie Mellon as “diverse and always rewarding.”
He will address Carnegie Mellon’s unique brand of “cool” and why it is never boring.
Honorary Degree Recipient Jules Fisher (A'60)
Lighting Designer and Producer
Doctor of Fine Arts
Carnegie Mellon University can claim many stars among its alumni. However, few have shaped their field as Jules Fisher has. Mr. Fisher's contributions in lighting design have set the standard for theatrical lighting that brings a scene to life, creating an ambiance that draws viewers as active participants in a performance, often creating new technologies to achieve specific artistic effects.
Following graduation, he was soon immersed in the off-Broadway production scene with "All the Kings Men." In 1963, Mr. Fisher broke onto Broadway, lighting "Spoon River Anthology." During that season, he also lit his first two musicals, Stephen Sondheim's "Anyone Can Whistle" and Noel Coward's "High Spirits." He has gone on to win eight Tony Awards, the most a lighting designer has ever earned. In a field where technology change is constant, Mr. Fisher remains an innovative leader.
His influence spans Broadway and off-Broadway productions, film, television, ballet, opera and rock concert tours. For example, he designed the lighting for Kevin Kline's production of "Hamlet" for WNET-TV, and lit productions of "Porgy and Bess" at the New York City Opera and Il Trittico at the MET. Mr. Fisher was the production supervisor for tours of the Rolling Stones, KISS and David Bowie. He has designed lighting for Crosby Stills and Nash, Whitney Houston, and the Simon and Garfunkel concert in Central Park. For President Clinton's first inaugural, he lit the Quincy Jones concert, which was nominated for an Emmy Award.
Mr. Fisher is a founder and principal in Fisher Dachs Associates (FDA), one of the world's leading theatre planning and design consultants, as well as Fisher Marantz Stone (FMS) the internationally recognized architectural lighting design consultancy. He is a partner with Peggy Eisenhauer (CMU 1983) in Third Eye, providing lighting for the entertainment industry. Both are nominated for a 2013 Tony Award for their collaboration on the late Nora Ephron’s “Lucky Guy,” Tom Hanks’ Broadway debut. Mr. Fisher has been a mentor and advocate of numerous young designers, extending opportunities to generations of Carnegie Mellon students.
Honorary Degree Recipient Charles M. Geschke (S'73)
Chairman of the Board, Adobe Systems Incorporated
Doctor of Science and Technology
Charles Geschke cofounded Adobe Systems, one of the world’s most diversified software companies, in 1982 with Dr. John Warnock. Adobe has made an important impact on the digital landscape with its reputation for excellence and a portfolio of highly recognizable software brands, including Adobe Photoshop, Flash, Acrobat, InDesign and Dreamweaver.
Their initial innovation, the Adobe PostScript printer language, marked the first step in a quiet revolution that democratized publishing and enhanced the dissemination of ideas and information. The Portable Document Format (PDF) was launched in 1993. Today, governments, corporations and individuals worldwide use PDFs for universal, reliable document exchange.
In 2000, Dr. Geschke retired from his position as Adobe's president, remaining as co-chairman, with Dr. Warnock, of its board of directors. In 2009, the two were awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation by President Obama. They also received the Marconi Prize in 2010. The American Electronics Association honored them with the Medal of Achievement in 2006, making them the first software leaders to receive this medal.
In 2000, Dr. Geschke was ranked as the seventh most influential graphics person of the last millennium by Graphic Exchange magazine. He is a member of the American Philosophical Society, the National Academy of Arts and Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and has been honored by the Association for Computing Machinery, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, National Computer Graphics Association and Rochester Institute of Technology.
Dr. Geschke was awarded an honorary degree from Xavier University, his alma mater, in 2011 and from John Carroll University in 2012. He served four years as board chairman at the University of San Francisco. He received his Ph.D. in computer science from Carnegie Mellon in 1973.
Honorary Degree Recipient Mark A. Nordenberg
Chancellor and Distinguished Service Professor of Law, University of Pittsburgh
Doctor of Humane Letters
Mark Nordenberg has served the University of Pittsburgh during a period of great advances and multiple successes. An unprecedented fundraising campaign exceeded its ambitious goal in 2012, and last fall, an accreditation team reported that Pitt was making steady progress as a "world-class research university," citing its "unwavering commitment to excellence" and its "extraordinarily talented and beloved leadership team." Pitt now ranks fifth among all American universities in terms of the federal research support attracted by members of its faculty.
Distinguished Service Professor of Law Nordenberg joined the University of Pittsburgh School of Law faculty in 1977 and later served as dean of the law school. He has been honored for teaching excellence by both the law school and the university. He has served on the U.S. Advisory Committee on Civil Rules and the Pennsylvania Civil Procedural Rules Committee. He also has been a committed contributor to the community, leading efforts on such key issues as the consolidation of city and county governments, the challenges faced by urban schools and regional workforce development needs.Chancellor Nordenberg places an especially high value on his partnership with President Cohon and on the culture of institutional alliance they have nurtured together. Today, Pitt and Carnegie Mellon collaborate in eight joint research centers, eight joint degree programs, and numerous and varied collaborations in undergraduate education and in many streams of research.
As community leaders, President Cohon and Chancellor Nordenberg served as the founding co-chairs of such major technology-based economic development initiatives as the Pittsburgh Digital Greenhouse, Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse, Pittsburgh Robotics Foundry, and Technology Collaborative. They also were co-recipients of such honors as Pittsburghers of the Year by Pittsburgh magazine, Persons of Vision by Pittsburgh Vision Services, the Kesher Award from the Edward and Rose Berman Hillel Jewish University Center, and the Community Impact Award from the Pittsburgh Area Jewish Committee.
Honorary Degree Recipient Ratan N. Tata
Chairman, Tata Trusts
Doctor of Business Practice
Ratan Tata is one of the most accomplished businessmen of our time. He is widely respected in his native India and around the world for his broad operating experience. He has been remarkably successful at expanding the Tata conglomerate, and is credited with globalizing and bringing increased cohesion to the network of Tata companies.
Until 2012, Mr. Tata was the chairman of Tata Sons and several major Tata companies. Under his leadership, the Tata Group and its affiliates were able to acquire many world-renowned companies. Currently, he is chairman emeritus of several Tata companies and chairman of the philanthropic Tata Trusts.
Serving at the helm of India’s biggest industrial group led Mr. Tata to become a global citizen and accomplished innovator. Also a committed philanthropist, he is passionate about many issues, including improvement of the quality of life for people in rural areas, water conservation and ocean vitality, and improvement of the nutrition of children and pregnant women. Mr. Tata sits on the board of directors of Alcoa and Mondelez International. He also serves on the board of trustees of Cornell University and the University of Southern California.
Among his many honors, Mr. Tata received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Rockefeller Foundation and Ernst & Young. The Government of India honored Mr. Tata with its second-highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan in 2008, and he accepted the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy on behalf of his family in 2007.
Mr. Tata received a bachelor of architecture degree from Cornell University in 1962. He completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in 1975. He has also received honorary doctorates from universities in Asia, Europe, India and the United States.
Honorary Degree Recipient Charles M. Vest
President, National Academy of Engineering
President Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Doctor of Science and Technology
Charles M. Vest is president of the National Academy of Engineering and president emeritus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he served as president from 1990 to 2004. During his tenure, MIT launched its OpenCourseWare initiative; co-founded the Alliance for Global Sustainability; enhanced the racial, gender and cultural diversity of its students and faculty; established major new institutes in neuroscience and genomic medicine; and redeveloped much of its campus.
In 2007, Dr. Vest was elected to serve as president of the National Academy of Engineering. Under his leadership, the NAE proposed 14 critical challenges for engineers in the 21st century, which, if met, will improve the quality of life for humankind. This “Grand Challenges” program brought about summits at universities and contributed to a better understanding of the importance of engineering. Expanding internationally, NAE’s Frontiers of Engineering program included partnerships with China, Japan, Germany and the European Union. With the Institute of Peace, the NAE addressed how the application of technology, knowledge, and methods of engineering and science can enhance conflict prevention and resolution.
Dr. Vest has played a prominent role in redefining engineering research, practice and education, and in identifying the attributes future engineers will require to compete and lead in the emerging global economy. He serves on the boards of several nonprofit organizations and foundations devoted to education, science and technology. He has authored a book on holographic interferometry and two books on higher education. A recipient of honorary doctoral degrees from 17 universities, he was awarded the 2006 National Medal of Technology by President Bush and received the 2011 Vannevar Bush Award from the National Science Board.
A Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, he taught at the University of Michigan in the areas of heat transfer, thermodynamics and fluid mechanics, and conducted research in heat transfer and engineering applications of laser optics and holography.