[Music] good morning morning morning and welcome to the 2024 Academic Year convocation ceremony of the University of Massachusetts Boston my name is Joseph berer and I am the Provost and vice Chancellor for academic Affairs while the start of every Academic Year is always exhilarating for me and for all of you this year is particularly so as I welcome you to a campus this campus that is both renewed and in some ways very literally new Guided by our strategic plan for the times and through our shared Mission focused initiatives I am excited that this year we'll bring a further renewed sense of clarity and purpose to our critically important work as a university as we continue to stand proudly with and for the communities we serve and while I am ener ized at the prospect of welcoming you to a campus that is renewed and more aligned in spirit than ever before I am delighted to be welcoming you to with to what is without a doubt physically and aesthetically a very new campus to us all with the opening of our new Quad our very literal campus core We Begin the New Year celebrating this space of beauty which in my mind is much more than a space but an essential embodiment of what we as a university have to offer an opportunity to come together a point of Pride and most importantly a sense of place and belonging belonging for all this is clearly a pivotal moment in our history as a global Society but is also a truly significant chapter for UMass Boston moving into the future with a renewed dedication to holistic Student Success impactful research and all the ambitious priorities illuminated by our strategic plan as a university we exist for our students and improving Student Success is priority number one this requires an all Hands-On deck approach as we increase successful Pathways to and through um Boston so that students can fully realize their talents hopes Ambitions and dreams as the future citizens and leaders of local Regional National and Global communities as a research University Boston's only public research University the rigorous knowledge we produce makes a difference in the world and as articulated in our strategic planning Endeavors our efforts will be anchored our anchored by four grand scholarly challenges climate equity and herbal coastal areas bridging divides in Health Equity education for the future advancing a just Society local and Global dimensions in addition to our teaching and research Mission we are specifically for the city while our endeavors are impactful locally and globally we must never never forget that we are a place that we are a place based on this Harbor on this Columbia Point and in Dorchester in the heart of this great city of Boston even as we develop knowledge proof points and models that inform and impact the broader and rapidly changing world around us our integrity as a university requires that we ensure the Primacy of our commitment to deep and local engagement with these priorities in mind and with the celebratory Spirit of the new Academic Year upon us this morning I have the privilege and honor to honor our own Boston UMass Boston colleagues it gives me immense pleasure to congratulate 32 of our faculty colleagues who have been recognized with promotions for the quality of their research the impact of their teaching and the value of their service this includes 11 faculty members who received tenure and were promoted to associate professor 12 colleagues who were promoted to the rank of full professor 18 faculty members who were promoted in in the senior lecturer Rank and five Librarians who were promoted I ask all of you who are here this morning to write so that we can applaud you collectively for your accomplishments so congratulations to to you all we are also pleased to welcome 32 new tenear track faculty colleagues recruited to the campus this Academic Year through National searches I ask that all of you rise so that we can recognize and welcome you to our you to our campus your names are also listed on the screens please rise again welcome to you all importantly I also want to offer special recognition of the members of our teaching faculty those colleagues in the ranks of lecturer senior lecturer and Associate lecturer who do so much to enhance the educational experience of our students and contribute to the scholarly portfolio of the University I would like to ask that all members of the non-tenure track faculty whether or continuing to stand and be recognized ensuring that the university builds intellectual strength every year is an important Mission there is no better way to reach that goal than to continue to support and build the core strength of you our faculty a genuine thank you to you for all that you do with and for the the university and now I have the great pleasure of introducing our Chancellor Marcelo Suarez Orosco good morning morning thank you thank you Provost burger and good morning beacons I am delighted to welcome new and returning students faculty administrators and staff to the 2024 2025 Academic Year at UMass Boston to our new arrivals you have come to a very very special place you must Boston has long educated students who go on to live live purposeful lives and become leaders in their communities but first following the tradition of our convocation past I like to begin by recognizing the winner of the 2024 John W Ryan award an honor bestowed annually on the Junior with the highest GPA name for the first Chancellor of our University the Ryan award commemorates our first convocation and celebrates academic excellence in our extraordinary student body I am thrilled to announce the winner of the 2024 John W Ryan award hayen tan hayen please join me stay here for a minute stay here for a minute one of her instructors had this to say about hawin quote she is an outstanding artist her paintings which blend surrealism pop culture and abstraction are joyous and funny in all of my courses with hawin she has shown a seriousness of purpose and a playful experimental approach to her work this honor is well deserved end of quote congratulations hayn well well done [Applause] wonderful now before I introduce our convocation speaker CEO entrepreneur and Life Sciences innovator Dr avak kavian I'd like to offer a few Reflections on a defining issue of our times artificial intelligence and higher education when Dr cavan presented at the from climate crisis to climate resilience Global Summit in Rome last spring he talked about how artificial intelligence has Amplified translational science and accelerated the development of biom medicines that saves lives and prepare us for the health consequences of climate change to be sure the rise of AI is the story of our times and certainly AI is doing wondrous things in the battle against climate change for example it has given us new powerful tools like autonomous energy and water grids climate models improved climate models and data dashboards that can track deforestation and coral Reef bleaching in health care and Dr cavian has been at the Forefront of many of these developments artificial intelligence helps detect disease identify cancer cells and develop programmable medicines and in the domain of Aging the Hasbro toy company produces an AI power robotics cats and dogs yes cats and dogs I'm not going to say anything else cats and dogs that provide interactive companionship and joy for older folk like myself but like all transformative Technologies since the dawn of reading and writing and agriculture AI can expand possib abilities but also unleash new threats we see for example a flood of bogus AI generated content that influences markets damages reputations Royals politics and sustains race racist narratives we see loan approval AI algorithms that show bias against minorities and we see the privacy of consumer data compromise these threats need to be addressed indeed higher education must must begin educating all for an ey artificial intelligence future that is first and foremost humane we must focus on the humanistic gains that AI can facilitate like nurturing Justice ethics Health Equity and the practice of democratic citizenship and let's be clear this is challenging when the AI conversation is driven by how it enhances the logic of the market or improves efficiencies that's important but that's only half of the algorithm our pole English applied artificial intelligence Institute will not only support the incorporation of artificial intelligence competencies into the curriculum and provide students with the apply AI skills they're going to need in today's and tomorrow Workforce it would also critically address the ethical challenges associated with artificial intelligence as we develop new academic and research programs around AI we will ask how can we use applied artificial intelligence as a tool for creating Equitable opportunity in our communities how can we use artificial intelligence as a powerful teaching and learning tool anchored in ethical considerations going forward we want to lead in incentivizing artificial intelligence for the greater good our engagement with AI aims to ensure that a UMAS Boston education cultivate the ability to apply artificial intelligence to improving the ways we live let me conclude this introduction with the following statement it is true that we can use AI to mine the text of Shakespearean sonets to determine their pattering and Providence but can they Point pinpoint what Shakespeare was feeling and why when he wrote Sonet 43 I quote all days are nights to see till I see thee and night's bright days when dreams do show thee me end of quote or when the Great an Antonio Mach wrote nooo can AI explain the inspiration behind these sequences of words that have enthrall people around the world for centuries similarly do AI have the intuitive human main skills required to negotiate a diplomatic agreement or the creativity to generate a solution for improving test scores in public schools or the ethical property to call out public corruption and apply justly the loss no these are innately human Endeavors as Professor Renee Goslin the head of the human first AI group at mit's initiative on the digital economy put it last fall in our campus AI quote is not sentient or conscious it does not think only you can do that Embrace that idea that you must use AI in ways that are human first end of quote in the AI era we must be our Humanity our Humanity must set us apart AI can enhance our intelligence but it can never know what it feels like to be inspired to be moved AI can never know what it feels like to have compassion or to experience that most of all humans feelings true love an AI can never know what it feels like to live with a conscience or aspire to be excellent thank you [Applause] on that happy note thank you it is my honor to introduce our convocation speaker Dr avak cavian a Serial entrepreneur and Life Sciences innovator avak has co-founded more than 10 companies since 2011 he has been a partner at Flagship pioneering where he heads a team that pioneers and launches new therapeutic Platforms in addition to his many entrepreneurial achie achievements I will note that avac also serves as chairman of the board of international of The International Institute of New England Eng an institution that creates opportunities opportunities for refugees and immigrants to succeed through resettlement education career advancement Pathways to citizenship issues that I have devoted my entire professional life to researching please join me in giving a warm Beacon welcome to Dr abak cavan Dr cavian thank you so much Marcelo and good morning UMass Community I'm delighted to join you in celebrating the start of an academic New Year when Marcelo extended this invitation I was a bit intimidated this is my first ever convocation address but I also knew I had to say yes as I'm sure you know Marcelo is a force of nature he has dedicated his career to ensuring that education is widely accessible something I too care about deeply he recognizes that education is one of the greatest equalizers and catalyzers to create a vibrant prosperous diverse and healthy Society all of you here at UMass share this vision and more than that it's you who make it real students faculty administrators friends and supporters this school embodies your hopes and dreams your work makes it possible let me start by congratulating and thanking every one of you like many of you and like Marcelo I am an immigrant and because of this I I especially appreciate all that UMass Boston does to ensure that students from all places and walks of life have a better chance to thrive and to reach their full potential I was a baby when my Armenian family left the Civil War in Lebanon for Canada my family left everything behind except their education thanks to his engineering training my father got back on his feet much faster than he otherwise would have and years later I would take advantage of the Canadian system to get an advanced degree in Biochemistry which ultimately fueled my journey to Boston then becoming the epicenter of the biotech Revolution at UMass you are making such lives possible for a new generation of students I am proud to stand with you but I also have another reason for being here today today we happen to be neighbors right now we are just over a mile from South Line a life sciences and Innovation Hub that is home to three biotechnology companies that I co-founded a biologics Ampersand biomedicines and profound Therapeutics South Line is the former Boston Globe headquarters which actually used to house their large printing presses and Flagship was the first tenant initially alone in this hulking shell of a building happily that's changed with the arrival of noble the athletic wear company and portal an early stage Venture Capital incubator and as an interesting aside tb12 and no bull merged recently so there's a chance one can catch a glimpse of Tom Brady when he visits his company and here's another fun fact for you beacons the name of South the South Line redeveloper is Beacon Capital partners today I want to share some thoughts about neighbors and neighborhoods why they are so important and how we can help them Thrive unleashing new possibilities and building a better future strong neighborhoods are built on connection neighbors know each other so in that spirit let me briefly introduce to you the company I work for Flagship pioneering as Marcelo mentioned our mission is to transform Healthcare and sustainability and to that end we have created resourced and founded more than than 100 bioplatform companies in other words Flagship pioneering is a company that creates companies the most well-known is madna which became something of a household name during the pandemic madna generated a safe and effective co9 vaccine at record speed a feat only possible because its mRNA bioplatform 10 years in the making was already up and running as a result the company was able to generate the MRNA instructions to produce a Corona virus vaccine just 48 hours after receiving the DNA sequence for the SARS K2 Spike protein by some estimates mad's vaccine saved more than 2 million lives during the pandemic I hope some of you and your loved ones benefited from it firsthand while scientific research and commercialization generally build incrementally on what's known Flagship takes big leaps Beyond such adjacencies one of our axioms is trust your crazy ideas we start by asking what if but that isn't to say we mindlessly go off in whatever direction we have a rigorous system to stress test our ideas ruthlessly culling those that fail to fulfill their initial promise this is reflected in the fact that we don't even name our early stage projects they only get numbers that way it's easier to change their mandate if they don't pan out since meeting Marcelo I've come to see how much UMass and Flagship have in common we share a commitment to inclusive excellence and Big Ideas we know that progress happens when we work together in ways both large and small you know how neighbors share things with each other a snowblower a cup of sugar that sort of thing or team up to tackle small projects that's what we're doing with UMass as one example UMass is collaborating with us at a biologics the newest of the three Flagship companies operating out of South Line sharing specialized equipment along with expertise and to the students here today now that flagships on your radar perhaps some of you will come to work at Flagship or one of its companies or in the larger neighborhood of Boston area Life Sciences in biotech speaking of which I urge you to take full advantage of this amazing City it can be hard to fully appreciate what's happening in Boston on the surface it can look just like a bunch of nondescript buildings and the molecules we focus on are literally invisible yet throughout this remarkable Community breakthroughs are in the making while they're not always something you can point to like a rocket or an electric car together they have the potential to transform the world fueled by advances in Ai and machine learning we are revolutionizing drug Discovery and developing life-saving medicines we are pioneering new approaches to both feed the world and heal the planet historically drug Discovery has been an artisanal trial and error process with low odds of success today it can increasingly be thought of as an engineering problem one where we can use computer design and then prototype and test biological materials in the real world at a scale and speed previously unimaginable AI is enhancing our capacity to imagine at Flagship we often talk about AI not as artificial intelligence but as augmented imagination we once thought of science uh we once thought of as science fiction and it's now simply becoming science the possibilities are endless and it's all happening right here in your neighborhood and to be clear I'm not only speaking to the scientists among you but to everyone here the biotechnology industry is growing and it is drawing from more and more disciplines with implications across Society so I've been talking about physical neighborhoods the areas where we live and work but they're not the only kind cultures religions communities of Interest these twoo are neighborhoods the same is also true of academic Fields here at you UMass you have many of these from business to biology smaller neighborhoods within the larger Village or city if you're anything like me you likely feel most at home in one field or maybe too but here's the thing if we never leave our block we miss out on opportunities just around the corner this is not only bad for us it's also bad for the world from Human Health to climate change to Global Prosperity the world's greatest challenge require us to work across disciplines now it isn't always easy something I know firsthand a few years back I decided to take a course in machine learn learning which was already rapidly shifting our thinking around drug Discovery and development so in my so-called spare time I probably have about as much of that as all of you I signed up for a class on corsera taught by a luminary in the field by the name of Andrew Ing and that's how I found myself at 1:00 a.m. struggling to debug code like someone possessed my wife thought that there was something wrong with me or that I was having a crisis at work and this went on for six or eight assignments over several months I had no idea this course was going to make me write code and debug algorithms it was a giant pain in the you know what but you know something if I hadn't taken that course I don't think I would have co-founded a biologics in 2021 the company creates novel synthetic proteins we call them cines through computational design and chemical synthesis these cines promise to overcome many of the limitations of protein drugs known as biologics biologics are expensive to make and they're expensive ensive to take they generally need to be injected in a hospital or doctor's office virtually none can be taken orally these are among the world's most important Therapeutics used to treat a range of cancers Crohn's disease rheumatoid arthritis and other serious conditions but today due to their drawbacks they are inaccessible to many people around the world now imagine if instead we designed and made a ctin that could simply be taken as a pill that's one thing a biologics stands to make possible through new computationally designed synthetic proteins with Innovative functionalities and properties so those frustrations and late nights I spent debugging code I'd say they were well worth it the other night I was helping my daughter with her French homework and came across this quote from the 19th century poet and musician gust when you stay in place you exist but when you travel you live in closing I want to call on all of you to start this year by venturing Beyond familiar neighborhoods introduce yourself to someone you don't know see if you can learn something new from them explore what you have in common go to a lecture or take a class on a new topic something that interests you even if you don't know why plan a field trip to a place you've never been be open to surprise be open to new pathways now I imagine some of you are thinking sure that sounds great but who has time the school year is ramping up my plate is overflowing yes it's a good idea but it can wait believe me I understand but I don't agree breakthroughs arise from new experiences that drive new insights and connections this is the way to creative thinking the way to Innovation even if it feels like you're wasting time keep an open mind back in the early 2000s in another country at another University I was completing my PhD in Biochemistry and feeling a bit disillusioned toiling away in the lab struggling with a lack of purpose my research Focus was important but quite obscure few people had much interest the work I was doing years later it would pave the way for my being present at the birth of ls18 the 18th Life Sciences company to emerge from Flagship pioneering today it is known as madna turns out my graduate work in early mRNA research wasn't so meaningless after all to the contrary it involved what would become one of the most consequential biotechnologies of our lifetimes just like science life is an endless exploration ask bold questions experiment explore your neighborhoods travel to unfamiliar destinations may this year be filled with discoveries and vibrant new connections thank you endless exploration thank you thank you thank you abak for your timely remark for being here with us today as we celebrate the opening of the new academic year before I conclude this year's convocation ceremony I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the wonderful staff the team who work so hard to make this day possible your efforts your commitment your ethic of care and all you do for UMAS Boston are very very much appreciated muchas gracias now please join me and members of the UMAS Boston leadership team on the Campus Center Plaza for an amazing in barbecue luncheon I will be Manning one of the stations so come over uh they're hot they're juicy they're ready to go I'm talking about veggie burgers cheeseburgers the works thank you all for being with us today [Applause] go ahead Al elow Mas [Music]