I am honored to address you tonight. On behalf of the graduating masters and doctoral students of Washington University's School

of Engineering and Applied Science, I would like to thank all the parents, spouses, families, and friends who encouraged and

supported us as we worked towards our graduate degrees. I would especially like to thank my own family, eight members of which

are in the audience today. I would also like to thank all of the department secretaries and other engineering school staff

members who always seemed to be there when confused graduate students needed help. And finally I would like to thank the

Washington University faculty members who served as our instructors, mentors, and friends
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As I think back on the seven-and-a-half years I spent at Washington University, my mind is filled with memories, happy, sad,

frustrating, and even humorous. World of warcraft Power Leveling

Tonight I would like to share with you some of the memories that I take with me as I leave Washington University.

I take with me the memory of my office on the fourth floor of Lopata Hall - the room at the end of the hallway that was too hot

in summer, too cold in winter, and always too far away from the women's restroom. The window was my office's best feature. Were

it not for the physics building across the way, it would have afforded me a clear view of the arch. But instead I got a view of

the roof of the physics building. I also had a view of one corner of the roof of Urbauer Hall, which seemed to be a favorite

perch for various species of birds who alternately won perching rights for several weeks at a time. And I had a nice view of the

physics courtyard, noteworthy as a good place for watching people run their dogs. It's amazing how fascinating these views became

the longer I worked on my dissertation.Multimedia file viewing and clickable links are available for registered members only!!  You need to or !!
, But my favorite view was

of a nearby oak tree. From my fourth-floor vantage point I had a rather intimate view of the tree and the various birds and

squirrels that inhabit it. Occasionally a bird would land on my window sill, which usually had the effect of startling both of

us.

I take with me the memory of two young professors who passed away while I was a graduate student. Anne Johnstone, the only female

professor from whom I took a course in the engineering school, and Bob Durr, a political science professor and a member of my

dissertation committee, both lost brave battles with cancer. I remember them fondly.

I take with me the memory of failing the first exam in one of the first engineering courses I took as an undergraduate. I

remember thinking the course was just too hard for me and that I would never be able to pass it. So I went to talk to the

professor, ready to drop the class. And he told me not to give up, he told me I could succeed in his class. For reasons that

seemed completely ludicrous at the time, he said he had faith in me. And after that my grades in the class slowly improved, and I

ended the semester with an A on the final exam. I remember how motivational it was to know that someone believed in me.
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,
I take with me memories of the midwestern friendliness that so surprised me when I arrived in St. Louis 8 years ago. Since moving

to New Jersey, I am sad to say, wow power levelingnobody has asked me where I went to high school.

I take with me the memory of the short-lived computer science graduate student social committee lunches. The idea was that groups

of CS grad students were supposed to take turns cooking a monthly lunch. But after one grad student prepared a pot of chicken

that poisoned almost the entire CS grad student population and one unlucky faculty member in one fell swoop, there wasn't much

enthusiasm for having more lunches.
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,
I take with me the memory of a more successful graduate student effort, the establishment of the Association of Graduate

Engineering Students, known as AGES. Started by a handful of engineering graduate students because we needed a way to elect

representatives to a campus-wide graduate student government, AGES soon grew into an organization that now sponsors a wide

variety of activities and has been instrumental in addressing a number of engineering graduate student concerns.

the memory