2026 Berkeley Engineering PhD Commencement Speech

Defined by brilliance and purpose in your in your fellow Cal alums, you will find camaraderie and strength and just an amazing network to help you realize your goals. Congratulations Class

goals. Congratulations Class of 2026, Fiat Lux and Go Bears.

So I'm now delighted to introduce our PhD student, Commencement speaker, Megan Teng. She's receiving her degree in

Teng. She's receiving her degree in mechanical Engineering and is a Catherine and James Lau Fellowship recipient.

Her journey to this stage is a testament to resilience and the power of interdisciplinary passion. Originally

interdisciplinary passion. Originally from Taipei, Taiwan, Megan began her academic career studying international business at National Taiwan University. But she found

University. But she found herself drawn to engineering and in an interest that she traces back to her fascination with spacecraft, spacecraft and machines depicted in Star Wars and other science fiction movies.

Undaunted by words of discouragement from those who said it would be impossible, Berkeley engineers never accept that term impossible unless mathematically proven so.

So she she did not receive discouragement from those words of impossibles to join another major because of her late start, but she did. She decided to end mechanical and mechanical engineering as a second major and knitted up, graduating among the top of her class.

So with that background, she made her way to Berkeley for her graduate studies and joined Professor Leeway Lynn's lab to study automation, machine learning and robotics with a focus on micro and nanoelectromechanical. Systems.

nanoelectromechanical. Systems. She has earned numerous accolades including the Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center Outstanding Review Presentation and a Silver in Automations Best Paper competition. Extending her

impact beyond research, Megan has served as a dedicated mentor to local 7th graders as part. Of the BA Scientist Program, her leadership also includes representing fellowship recipients as a graduate student speaker for the Chancellor's National Campaign Steering Committee. She considers

Steering Committee. She considers her journey a living tribute to those who supported her in her academic career and has talked about returning to academia one day to pay it forward, helping and inspiring the next generation of engineers. But before she does that,

engineers. But before she does that, she'll spend some time in industry, with plans to join Qualcomm after graduation.

To work on intelligence systems and smart sensors. Please join me

sensors. Please join me in welcoming our 2026 PhD student Commencement speaker. Megan, please come

Commencement speaker. Megan, please come to the podium.

Little assist here.

Four score and seven years ago our father...

our father...

Wrong speech Welcome distinguished professors, fellow researchers, friends and family.

Thank you for paying for the gas to come here For those who are still wondering IE Mom "PhD" can mean many different things.

It can mean that we are partially healthy dreamers with permanent head damage who are probably heavily in debt.

now please hire, desperate Jokes aside, the past few years have been historic. Our cohort has been through the pandemic, the largest academic strike, and the rise and and the shockwaves of AI, ChatGPT.

And we are also navigating A shifting landscape where our values are constantly challenged. The world has

constantly challenged. The world has changed a lot, and so have we.

I still remember the first e-mail I got in my Berkeley account, the one e-mail that signified my grand entrance into this Great Hall of research. The

Berkeley WarnMe Crime alert.

At that time I was fresh, diffident, clueless and broke. And now

I'm mature, wise, confident, still broke but way more knowledgeable. And it

is also more than just knowledge that we learn here, it's the understanding that engineering is an ancient. Profound profession that shapes

ancient. Profound profession that shapes civilizations. From the first stone tools

civilizations. From the first stone tools to the steam engines to the AI we have today. We as

engineers have had the power to build and define an era, and that power comes with a cost or a responsibility Behind every system we build, there are real human lives, and our decisions carry weight, each and every one of them.

Including the one we made to come here to study. When I

study. When I decided to come to Berkeley, I was overjoyed. I was so excited, filled with

overjoyed. I was so excited, filled with ambition. And I got a phone call from my

ambition. And I got a phone call from my grandmother. she asked me, are you

grandmother. she asked me, are you really going to the US? and for how long?

And I said, yes, we're five years. I'm

going to be a doctor when I come back.

I'm so excited. Berkeley is such a great school But to my surprise, she fell silent.

When she finally spoke up, I realized she was crying and she said to me, But I don't want you to go because I don't know if I can wait the five years to see you come back as a doctor.

And in that moment, listening to those words coming from a 96 year old grandmother, I felt all my excitement shattered. She's a

shattered. She's a tough lady who survived civil wars, great wars, but that was the only time I ever saw her show weakness, and that was because five years of my life could mean a lifetime to her.

And I had to ask myself, what is the weight of a PhD?

It's the mentorship of the best scholars in the world. It's the numerous lonely, sleepless nights in the lab. It's also

the stories of our loved ones who support us, the sacrifice of those people who let us go so that we can grow.

Your friends, your parents, whose hair grows grayer every time you see them.

And it's hard. It's hard because we are human. We are flawed and driven

are human. We are flawed and driven by more than just what's logical, but it's also our capacity to feel that makes us better engineers. Because we

care. We are

not a product of optimization. Indeed,

we are imperfect and occasionally quite weird. But each of us is

weird. But each of us is so unique and full of character, and that's what makes the world so colorful. That

so colorful. That also means our success cannot be easily measured by some general, general metrics. You look around and you see

metrics. You look around and you see someone who's working towards curing cancer in their free time. You might feel like you're light years away from them, but that's OK. In this world, there are people who graduate with 10 Nobel Prize worthy publications. And there are also

worthy publications. And there are also people who graduate as a student speaker at the commencement. And

both are equally Berkeley.

So this is the day to be proud, and my grandmother feels the same. And in case you're wondering, she is alive and well and she still beats everyone at mahjong.

I go back to visit her often. She doesn't care about

her often. She doesn't care about piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers. That's my

transducers. That's my dissertation but she has been my most important secret co-author because when I built sensor, I built all the sensors picturing her living in a world with that technology. She grew up in a

that technology. She grew up in a turbulent time when she wasn't even allowed to finish elementary school and today?She gets to see her granddaughter

today?She gets to see her granddaughter become a PhD. And

to my grandmother, I know you're watching back home. Thank you. Thank you for

back home. Thank you. Thank you for being my inspiration. Thank you Grandma [Chinese] And with this opportunity, I would also like to invite all of you to wave to those who can't be here today, your grandparents, your parents, and all your friends wave through the camera so that they can see you. Thank you all. We're

leading the way. Look at us now. We made

it.

When we walk out of this hall, we might be on a path to become a professor, as CEO, or even the presidents of the United States. So if we get

States. So if we get some representation there. And

regardless of where we are from and where we are going, we will always have one thing in common. We are Berkeley engineers. We have the strength to build

engineers. We have the strength to build the hearts to care, and we are the ones who bring the light. FIAT LUX and GO BEARS Thank you, Megan, for the inspiring speech. We know you're going to continue

speech. We know you're going to continue to make us proud here at Berkeley. Good

luck on your next steps.

OK, it is now my profound honor to introduce a leader who embodies the very best of Berkeley Engineering.