The Khoury College Commencement Chronicles

Photos by Kanon Ciarrocchi.

Northeastern University’s 2021 graduation season proceeded in a way that any graduate would have found unbelievable when they first joined the university.

With the COVID-19 pandemic in full force, graduates commenced at Fenway Park with limited family attendance. The Khoury College of Computer Sciences, like many of Northeastern’s constituent schools, went virtual for its celebration, with graduates tuning in from across the world.

What a relief it was then, when Khoury College’s departing undergraduate and graduate students gathered on May 11, 2022 in a well-decorated Matthews Arena to celebrate themselves, each other, and the institution — in person this time.

Photo by Heratch Ekmekjian.

The technical and the ethical

“I want to spend a few minutes talking about what comes next,” Dean Elizabeth Mynatt said in her first Khoury College commencement address. “Not just the immediate next — new job, new city — but how you build upon your Khoury foundation to launch your career and your life.”

Mynatt’s message mirrored her distinguished alumna address at North Carolina State University five years prior. It was one half cautionary tale about the dangers of irresponsibly wielded computer science, one half exhortation to the graduates to oppose bad actors.

Photo by Heratch Ekmekjian.

“Computing touches so many aspects of everyday life. It touches almost every industry, from health care to commerce to transportation to manufacturing and more,” Mynatt told the graduates. “Akin to engineering and bridge-building, we have a special obligation to safety and security, and these obligations are more important now than ever.”

Mynatt cited security breaches, data theft, cyber warfare, ransomware, and the mass collection and misuse of personal data — sometimes for discriminatory ends — as growing threats.

“Security is no longer a specialized obligation; it is now the job of every computer scientist,” she continued. “If security is our engineering obligation, then protecting privacy is our Hippocratic Oath.”

It was that comparison that prompted Mynatt to pen an oath she’d originally proposed in her NC State speech, one exploring the computer scientist’s obligation to their fellow humans given the field’s great capacity for benefit and harm. Each graduate received a take-home copy of the oath at their seat, and Mynatt recited it to conclude her address.

READ: Dean Mynatt proposes oath for computer scientists at Khoury College graduation

“My call to you is to be purposeful in your decisions,” Mynatt said. “Your values for how you serve society are your own. Just know that your profession calls you to integrate those values with your professional practice.”

From Netflix to Nairobi: The graduates weigh in

A pair of ceremonies requires a pair of student speakers and, in this case, a pair of extended metaphors.

Undergraduate speaker Gwen Friedman, a combined computer science and interaction design major, drew inspiration from her immediate future as a UI engineer at Netflix.

“Our Khoury experience has been a bit like bingeing a great show on Netflix,” she quipped. “It flew by, I have a hard time telling seasons apart, and it kept me up way too late staring at a screen. But we kept coming back semester after semester, wanting more.”

READ: Roommates, friends, and now graduation speakers

Photo by Heratch Ekmekjian.

Co-ops were akin to sampling shows until you found a fit. Job searches mirrored a fervent search for your next favorite show. And friends and family inquiring, ‘Have you graduated yet?’ resembled Netflix asking ‘Are you still watching?’ during a late-night binge.

“All of us should be proud of what we have accomplished at Khoury College,” Friedman said. “The biggest, lasting impact we can have is nurturing these connections with each other. It’s always more fun to watch TV with friends. So out into the world we go, carrying these connections with us.”

While Friedman looked to her future for a parallel, graduate speaker Devina Raithatha looked to her past. She compared her Khoury College experience with her family’s safaris in Nairobi National Park, which juxtaposes expansive plains with the comforts of the nearby Kenyan capital where Raithatha grew up.

“Despite having gone on over 1,000 safaris in my lifetime, I can attest that nothing can prepare you for each unique experience,” Raithatha said. “Even if you take a familiar path, you won’t have the same experience. Each new juncture leads you to an unimaginable variation.”

She’d know better than most. After five years in Northeastern’s business administration program, Raithatha entered Align, Khoury College’s master’s program for students without computer science backgrounds. It was there that she found a similar sense of novelty and awe in a place she had already grown to call home.

Photo by Heratch Ekmekjian.

“Even though I had never written a single line of code in my undergraduate years, I asked myself, ‘How different can this be?’” Raithatha said. “Little did I know that no amount of preparation or anticipation would be enough.”

It was a safari all over again, only with a Khoury community of students, TAs, advisors, and faculty instead of her family. But this time, Raithatha understood that accepting whatever comes was the key to absorbing the most knowledge and having the most fun. The smorgasbord of titles she earned along the way — including president of the Graduate Women Coders, executive vice president of the Graduate Student Government, and ambassador for Women Who Empower — attest to the quality of the philosophy.

“I have learned the importance of navigating and pivoting during the journey, welcoming uncertainty, and celebrating the inevitable surprises along the way,” Raithatha said, before imploring her fellow graduates to continue building communities that are “nurturing, dynamic, and beneficial for all of us.”

WATCH: Khoury Class of 2022 Recognition Ceremony Video

Awards, degrees, and a send-off

A handful of Khoury College graduates walked away with more than just a diploma.

University honorees included undergraduate students Max Daniels (Hodgkinson Award) and Fiona McCrae (Compass Award), plus graduate students Josh Miller (Outstanding Graduate Student Award in Humanics), Everlyne Kimani (Outstanding Graduate Student Award in Research), and Devina Raithatha (Outstanding Graduate Student Award in Leadership). Raithatha also netted a Huntington 100 nomination, as did undergraduates Chloe Gold, Conner Nilsen, Dania Alnahdi, Harsh Sethia, Jaana Dominique Tabalon, Maitreyee Joshi, Margaret Morehead, Max Daniels, Rahul Suryadevara, and William Stenzel.

Photo by Heratch Ekmekjian.

Khoury College handed out its own awards too, with Kevin Hui (Outstanding Co-op) and Jaana Dominique Tabalon (Khoury/CAMD Special Achievement for Combined Majors) joining a litany of peers:

And after the candidates crossed the stage one by one in the world’s oldest hockey arena, Associate Dean Benjamin Hescott had the last word.

“Today you go forth as a Khoury graduate, a member of society with an obligation to use computer science to enhance society, to protect the dignity of our users, respect the privacy of all people, to make a positive impact on this world,” Hescott said. “Now let’s get to it.”

Photo by Heratch Ekmekjian.

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