More than 450 B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. receipients celebrated their graduation during the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department’s Spring Graduation Ceremony on Friday, May 12. Held at the newly renovated William Neal Reynolds Coliseum at NC State, they were joined there by more than 2,500 friends, relatives, and guests, and watched on live stream by over 2,000 guests unable to attend in person.
The Spring graduating class included 15 Ph.D. recipients, 242 Masters of Science, and 172 Bachelors of Science, joining the more-than 15,000 alumni of the department.
Among the graduates, several were chosen for awards: Terance Chandler was recognized as the Faculty Senior Scholar and received the Service and Citizenship Award; William Glasscock received the Leadership Awards; Julien Chomette received the Scholarly Achivement Award; and the Humanities Award went to Augustus Vieweg.
Of the B.S. graduates, 35 graduated with the highest honors of Summa Cum Laude, 38 graduated Magna Cum Laude, and 42 graduated Cum Laude.
The graduates were honored to be addressed by Dr. Mark Buff, the President and Founder of Mohu, a Raleigh based consumer electronics company who helps millions of Americans get free live TV with its flagship product, the paper thin Leaf antenna. Buff received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from NCSU in 2006, his MS in Computer Engineering in 2004 and his BS in Electrical Engineering in 1994.
During his address, Buff stressed the values often cited by our corporate partners – the importance of being able to work responsibly amongst teams with differing viewpoints and to ensure project and team success over personal ambition.
Buff was joined in speaking by Juncheng “Bill” Zhou, who graduated Summa Cum Laude and was chosen as the student speaker for the graduating class, and who recounted experiences over his years in ECE – noting how, as a non-native English speaker, the transformation he went through during his time at NC State leading to his ability to comfortably address the thousands in front of him in English. Zhou goes on to join Qovro in Greensboro, NC, before returning to NC State in the fall to pursue his Masters.
Also in attendance was the family of Cheyanne Hass, who tragically lost her life in a car accident days before she was due to graduate with her classmates. Her brother walked to receive her B.S. degree in her stead, with the support of all those in attendance.