‘Be proud, go forth and change the world’: RPI gradates more than 1700 at Bicentennial Commencement

TROY, N.Y. — Saturday morning under an overcast sky, the graduates of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute received their doctorate, masters and bachelor degrees for the 200th year.

“When you explain (that RPI stands for) Rensselaer and not Rochester,” said commencement speaker, an honorary doctorate recipient and astronaut Reid Wiseman, “they are immediately going to know your pedigree, they are going to see your drive, they are going to see your resilience. They are going to know that you care about the world, you have a zest for life and a compassion for doing what is right.”

Held in the East Campus Athletic Village Stadium, the lawn and grandstand were packed with families and friends shouting, clapping and cheering for the graduates. Alongside Wiseman, the college also presented an honorary posthumous doctorate to Emily Roebling, the woman who oversaw the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge after her husband (an RPI grad) fell sick mid-project.

Also the first person to ever cross the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883, Roebling continued her education and promoted women’s rights, though her role in the bridge wasn’t acknowledged until the mid-1900s. On Saturday, her degree and stoll were presented to two descendants: Kriss Roebling, a musician and Roebling family historian, and Antoinette Maniatty, an RPI professor and head of the Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering Department.

Through a twist of heavy research, AI generative tool ChatGPT4 and human editing, Liz Wisan, an actor who portrays Roebling in “The Gilded Age” TV show, gave a commencement speech in Roebling’s style. In it, she reminded the graduates of the future, their challenges and the gifts their education has afforded them.

“In your hands lies the future, a future that will undoubtedly be shaped by the challenges and opportunities of your time,” Wisan said in Roebling’s transatlantic voice. “As you stand on the threshold, embrace the unknown with courage and an unwavering commitment to excellence.”

Wiseman echoed her sentiments, abridging a quote from Roebling’s husband Washinton who called RPI a “terrible treadmill.” A 1997 RPI graduate, Wiseman spent six months as a flight engineer on the International Space Station in 2014.

He served as chief of the astronaut office from 2020 to 2022 and currently is the Commander of NASA’s Artemis II mission which will orbit the moon in preparation for future moon landings and travel to Mars. Though his prepared commencement speech disappeared and he had to improvise, the 10-minute delivery was met with laughter, cheering and a standing ovation.

He’d been in the students’ shoes, he said, getting a 16% on a materials engineering exam and having to get up the next day and move forward and on. To the over 120 doctorates, 350 masters and 1300 bachelors, he said RPI teaches them “failure resistance.”

“200 years,” Wiseman’s “unwritten speech that I just made up in my head,” closed with. “You all now are part of this legacy. Be proud, go forth and change the world.”