Biotechnology chief Noubar Afeyan PhD ’87 urged the MIT Class of 2024 to “settle for unattainable missions” for the betterment of the world, in a rousing keynote speech on the OneMIT Graduation ceremony this afternoon.
Afeyan is chair and co-founder of the biotechnology agency Moderna, whose groundbreaking Covid-19 vaccine has been distributed to billions of individuals in over 70 international locations. In his remarks, Afeyan briefly mentioned Moderna’s speedy improvement of the vaccine however targeted the vast majority of his ideas on this yr’s graduating class — whereas utilizing the “Mission: Not possible” tv present and films, a childhood favourite of his, as a motif.
“What I do need to discuss is what it takes to just accept your individual unattainable missions and why you, as graduates of MIT, are uniquely ready to take action,” Afeyan stated. “Uniquely ready — and likewise obligated. At a time when the world is beset by crises, your mission is nothing lower than to salvage what appears misplaced, reverse what appears inevitable, and save the planet. And identical to the brokers within the motion pictures, it is advisable settle for the mission — even when it appears unattainable.”
Afeyan spoke earlier than an viewers of 1000’s on MIT’s Killian Court docket, the place graduates gathered in attendance together with household, buddies, and MIT group members, throughout a day of brightening climate that adopted morning rain.
“Welcome lengthy odds,” Afeyan instructed the graduates. “Embrace uncertainty, and lead with creativeness.”
Afeyan’s speech was adopted by an tackle from MIT President Sally Kornbluth, who described the Institute’s graduating class as a “pure marvel,” in a portion of her remarks directed to household and buddies.
“You understand how pleasant and provoking and considerate they’re,” Kornbluth stated of this yr’s graduates. “It has been our privilege to show them, and to study along with them. And we share with you the best hopes for what they are going to do subsequent.”
The OneMIT Graduation ceremony is an Institute-wide occasion serving as a focus for 3 days of commencement actions, from Might 29 by means of Might 31.
MIT’s Class of 2024 encompasses 3,666 college students, incomes a complete of 1,386 undergraduate and a couple of,715 graduate levels. (Some college students are receiving multiple diploma at a time.) Undergraduate and graduate college students even have separate ceremonies, organized by tutorial models, during which their names are learn as they stroll throughout a stage.
Afeyan is a founder and the CEO of Flagship Pioneering, a enterprise agency began in 2000 that has developed greater than 100 corporations within the biotechnology business, which mixed have greater than 60 medication in scientific improvement.
A member of the MIT Company who earned his PhD from the Institute in biochemical engineering, Afeyan additionally served as a senior lecturer on the MIT Sloan College of Administration for 16 years. He’s at the moment on the advisory board of the MIT Abdul Latif Jameel Clinic for Machine Studying and has been a featured speaker at occasions resembling MIT Resolve. Afeyan is the co-founder of the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity, amongst different philanthropic efforts.
“You have already got a head begin, fairly a big one,” Afeyan instructed MIT’s graduates. “You graduate right this moment from MIT, and that claims volumes about your information, expertise, imaginative and prescient, ardour, and perseverance — all important attributes of the elite Twenty first-century agent.” He then drew laughs by quipping, “Oh, and I forgot to say our relaxed, uncompetitive nature, excellent social expertise, and the general coolness that characterizes us MIT grads.”
Afeyan additionally heralded the Institute itself, citing it as a spot essential to the event of the “phone, digital circuits, radar, e mail, web, the Human Genome Venture, managed drug supply, magnetic confinement fusion vitality, synthetic intelligence and all it’s enabling — these and lots of extra breakthroughs emerged from the work of extraordinary change brokers tied to MIT.”
Lengthy earlier than Afeyan himself got here to MIT, he grew up in an immigrant Armenian household in Beirut. After civil battle got here to Lebanon in 1975, he spent lengthy hours within the household condominium watching “Mission: Not possible” re-runs on tv.
As Afeyan famous, the particular brokers within the present at all times obtained a message starting, “Your mission, must you select to just accept it … ” He added: “Regardless of how lengthy the chances, or how nice the danger, the brokers at all times took the task. Within the 50 years since, I’ve been constantly drawn to unattainable missions, and right this moment I hope to persuade each one among you that you have to be too.”
To perform tough duties, Afeyan stated, individuals typically do three issues: think about, innovate, and immigrate, with the latter outlined broadly, not simply as a bodily relocation however an mental exploration.
“Creativeness, to my thoughts, is the foundational constructing block of breakthrough science,” Afeyan stated. “At its finest, scientific analysis is a profoundly artistic endeavor.”
Breakthroughs additionally deploy innovation, which Afeyan outlined as “creativeness in motion.” To make revolutionary leaps, he added, requires a type of “paranoid optimism. This implies toggling forwards and backwards between excessive optimism and deep-seated doubt,” in a method that “typically begins with an act of religion.”
Past that, Afeyan stated, “additionally, you will want the braveness of your convictions. Make no mistake, you allow MIT as particular brokers in demand. As you contemplate your many choices, I urge you to assume laborious about what legacy you need to depart, and to do that periodically all through your life. … You’re way over a technologist. You’re a ethical actor. The selection to maximise solely for income and energy will in the long run depart you hole. To overlook that is to fail the world — and finally to fail your self.”
Lastly, Afeyan famous, to make nice revolutionary leaps, it’s typically essential to “immigrate,” one thing that may take many types. Afeyan himself, as an Armenian from Lebanon who got here to the U.S., has skilled it as geographic and social relocation, and likewise because the act of fixing issues whereas remaining in place.
“Right here’s the actually attention-grabbing factor I’ve realized through the years,” Afeyan stated. “You don’t should be from elsewhere to immigrate. If the immigrant expertise could be described as leaving acquainted circumstances and being dropped into unknown territory, I might argue that all of you additionally arrived at MIT as an immigrant, regardless of the place you grew up. And as MIT immigrants, you’re all better off in the case of unattainable missions. You’ve left your consolation zone, you’ve entered unchartered territory, you’ve foregone the protection of the acquainted.”
Synthesizing these factors, Afeyan recommended, “For those who think about, innovate, and immigrate, you’re destined to a lifetime of uncertainty. Being surrounded by uncertainty could be unnerving, but it surely’s the place it is advisable be. That is the place the treasure lies. It’s floor zero for breakthroughs. Don’t conflate uncertainty and danger — or consider it as excessive danger. Uncertainty isn’t excessive danger; it’s unknown danger. It’s, in essence, alternative.”
Afeyan additionally famous that many individuals are “deeply troubled by the conflicts and tragedies we’re witnessing” on this planet right this moment.
“I want I had solutions for all of us, however after all, I don’t,” Afeyan stated. “However I do know this: Having conviction shouldn’t be confused with having all of the solutions. Over my a few years engaged in entrepreneurship and humanitarian philanthropy, I’ve realized that there’s huge profit in questioning what you assume you recognize, listening to individuals who assume in another way, and in search of frequent floor,” a comment that drew an ovation from the viewers.
In conclusion, Afeyan urged the Class of 2024 to withstand the world’s many challenges whereas getting used to a life outlined by tackling robust duties.
“Graduates, set forth in your unattainable missions,” Afeyan stated. “Settle for them. Embrace them. The world wants you, and it’s your flip to star within the action-adventure referred to as your life.”
Subsequent, Kornbluth, issuing the president’s conventional “cost to the graduates,” lauded the Class of 2024 for being “a group that runs on an irrepressible mixture of curiosity and creativity and drive. A group during which everybody you meet has one thing vital to show you. A group during which individuals anticipate excellence of themselves — and take nice care of each other.”
As Kornbluth famous, a lot of the seniors within the undergraduate Class of 2024 needed to research by means of, and work round, the Covid-19 pandemic. MIT, Kornbluth stated, is a spot the place individuals “fought the virus with the instruments of measurement and questioning and evaluation and self-discipline — and was due to this fact capable of pursue its mission nearly undeterred.”
The campus group, she added, “understands, in a deep method, that the vaccines, as Noubar simply stated, weren’t some ‘in a single day miracle’ — however somewhat the ultimate flowering of many years of labor by 1000’s of individuals, pushing the boundaries of basic science.”
And whereas the Class of 2024 has acquired quite a lot of information within the classroom and lab, Kornbluth thanked its members for what they’ve given to MIT, as nicely.
“The Institute you’re graduating from is — thanks partly to you — at all times reflecting and at all times altering,” Kornbluth stated. “And I take that as your cost to us.”
The OneMIT Graduation occasion began with a parade for alumni from the category of 1974, again on campus for his or her fiftieth anniversary reunion. The MIT Police Honor Guard entered subsequent as a part of the ceremonial procession, adopted by administration and college. The MIT Wind Ensemble, carried out by Fred Harris, Jr., supplied the accompanying music.
Mark Gorenberg ’76, chair of the MIT Company, formally opened the ceremony, and Thea Keith-Lucas, chaplain to the Institute, gave an invocation. The Chorallaries of MIT sang the nationwide anthem.
Afeyan’s remarks adopted, however have been delayed for a number of minutes by protesters holding indicators. After his speech, Lieutenant Mikala Nicole Molina, president of the Graduate Scholar Council, delivered remarks as nicely.
“Allow us to step ahead from right this moment with a dedication not solely to additional our personal targets, but in addition to make use of our expertise and information to contribute positively to our communities and the world,” Molina stated. “Our actions mirror the excellence and integrity that MIT has instilled in us.”
Penny Brant, president of the undergraduate Class of 2024, then supplied a salute to her classmates, saying “I do know I might not be graduating right here right this moment if not for all of you who’ve helped me alongside the best way. You all have had such a profound and constructive influence on me, our group, and the world.”
Kornbluth’s speech, which adopted, was momentarily interrupted by shouting from an viewers member, earlier than college students and different viewers members gave Kornbluth a sustained ovation and ceremonies resumed as deliberate.
R. Robert Wickham ’93, SM ’95, president of the MIT Alumni Affiliation and chief marshal of the Graduation ceremony, additionally supplied a standard greeting for graduates saying he was “welcoming you into our alumni household, your infinite connection to MIT.” There are actually nearly 147,000 MIT alumni worldwide.
The Chorallaries sang the college tune, “In reward of MIT,” in addition to one other Institute anthem, “Take Me Again to Tech,” moments after Gorenberg formally closed the ceremony.
Previous Afeyan, latest MIT Graduation audio system have been engineer and YouTuber Mark Rober, in 2023; Director-Normal of the World Commerce Group Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in 2022; lawyer and activist Bryan Stevenson, in 2021; and retired U.S. Navy four-star admiral William McRaven, in 2020.
