Veteran Justin Foreman with wife, Ebony; son, Jeremiah; and daughter, Gabriella recently honored during the Veteran Cord Ceremony. Foreman is graduating with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.

Dr. Rafael Martín gave PhD graduate students words of wisdom, beginning with a quote from Spiderman. “With great power comes great responsibility,” Martin said. “Become an ambassador for your expertise. You need three ingredients for success – expertise, integrity and benevolence.”

Dr. Mayank Chetan posed with his faculty advisor Dr. Todd Griffith, associate professor of mechanical engineering. Chetan began working on wind engineering research as a co-designer of the world’s largest wind turbine. “I’m starting at NREL,” Chetan said. “NREL is the National Renewable Energy Laboratory – it’s the premiere research institution for wind research,” Griffith said.

From left to right: Dr. Ali Saadat, Dr. Mehrdad Rostami Osanloo, Dr. William Vandenberghe associate professor of materials science and engineering, and Dr. Sabyasachi Tiwari celebrated outside the doctoral hooding ceremony. Vandenberghe hooded three PhD graduates this spring, including one PhD in physics, who are headed to positions at Texas Instruments Inc., UT Austin and Toyko Electron. “We focused on computational materials, especially 2D materials,” he said.

Research team Dr. Badri Jaggannath, Dr. Ashlesha Bhide and Dr. Ambalika Tanak posed with their dissertation advisor Dr. Shalini Prasad, Department of Bioengineering. The three new graduates focused their research on wearable biomedical sensor technology and are taking their expertise to careers in industry. Bhide, who is now working for Roche Diagnostics in Indianapolis, returned to the DFW area to join her lab mates.

Marwa Yahiaoui, soon to be a mom, posed with her spouse outside the Activity Center. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in computer science.

Haley Spiegel’s family posed with her on the mall. Spiegel managed to plan and keep up with her bioengineering courses through her organizational skills, which should serve her well in her future career. Haley’s advice to future Comets is, “Don’t be too hard on yourself!”

Recent graduate Co Nhan joined his family outside the magnolia trees lining the mall. He will begin working as a software engineer following graduation. “The professors were really nice, especially Dr. Klyne Smith,” Nhan said about the assistant professor of instruction in computer science and his experience at UT Dallas.

God’spower Osa celebrated his graduation with family who cheered enthusiastically for him at his commencement ceremony and draped him with a Nigerian flag. Osa majored in software engineering and is looking forward to starting his future career in industry.

Steven Marks posed with Brenda Rains from the Department of Systems Engineering. . Rains, an academic support coordinator, and other staff members across the Jonsson School have dedicated countless hours of mentoring and facilitating students’ progress through their degree programs, then showed up to volunteer at commencement and cheer for their graduates.

Barkhad Madar completed his bachelor’s degree in computer science and says his best memory of UT Dallas is “staying up late for tailgates and late studies.”

Alinta Wang earned her master’s degree in computer science with a focus in information assurance. She will begin her career as a systems engineer at Raytheon following graduation.

Luis Garcia received a Hawaiian lei made of money as a graduation gift for completing his bachelor’s degree in computer science. Garcia will begin his career locally at Motio Inc. in Plano.

“UTD was awesome!” said Laura Vargas Ortizsaid Laura Vargas Ortiz, who earned a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering. “I’m grateful for all the friendships and dance breaks between homework engagements. WHOOSH! I’m also starting medical school in August.”