President Susan Hockfield’s charge to the 2012 graduates
Below is the prepared text of the charge to the graduates by MIT President Susan Hockfield for the Institute’s 146th Commencement, held June 8, 2012.Gathered here in Killian Court, we feel the deep currents of history. The majestic architecture of the Main Group recalls our MIT predecessors who, in 1916, erected these buildings. In their grandeur, these buildings expressed a vision for the technological century that was about to unfold. And in the names carved above us — those ancestral geniuses of science and engineering, who encourage our work every day — these buildings also remind us of all those who came before: our compatriots in the search for truth. These great thinkers and doers laid, stone by stone, the intellectual foundations upon which all of our contributions now rise. We gather here, in this iconic space, humbled and inspired by our past, to celebrate the extraordinary success of the...