Georgia Tech’s Fall 2024 Commencement Speakers
Georgia Tech’s Fall Commencement ceremonies will celebrate 1,819 summer graduates and 4,586 fall graduates. As students prepare to turn their tassels throughout the weekend, they’ll hear inspiring words to send them off on the next chapter. Meet the people who will share wisdom with this semester’s graduates.
Sassine Ghazi, Bachelor’s Ceremony
Friday, Dec. 13, 2 p.m.
Sassine Ghazi is president and chief executive officer of Synopsys and serves on the company’s board of directors. Named CEO in January, he has held several leadership roles at Synopsys across applications engineering, product development, sales, and operations. Previously, Ghazi led the EDA Design group, overseeing all digital and custom products that make up the company’s largest business. Before joining Synopsys in 1998 as an applications engineer, he began his career as a design engineer at Intel. Ghazi holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the Lebanese American University, a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech, and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Tennessee.
Sebastian Thrun, Master’s Ceremony
Saturday, Dec. 14, 9 a.m.
Sebastian Thrun is an adjunct professor of computer science at Georgia Tech and Stanford University. He is best known for the creation of Waymo, the world’s leading self-driving car company. Previously, Thrun helped create Google Street View, Google Glass, Google Brain, Google X, and a number of other high-profile Google initiatives. Thrun also founded Udacity, a global e-learning platform that assisted Georgia Tech in building its Online Master of Science in Computer Science, and the Kitty Hawk Corporation. He has published more than 400 scientific papers on AI and robotics and is one of the most respected computer scientists in the world. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering at age 39 in recognition of his early contributions to AI and self-driving cars. Thrun holds a doctorate from the University of Bonn and honorary degrees from the Instituto Politecnico National in Mexico, Delft University of Technology, and the University of Hildesheim. He will be awarded an honorary degree from Georgia Tech during this semester’s ceremony.
Dimitri Mavris, Ph.D. Ceremony
Thursday, Dec. 12, 5 p.m.
Dimitri Mavris is a Regents’ Professor, Boeing Professor of Advanced Aerospace Systems Analysis, and Langley Distinguished Professor in Advanced Aerospace Systems Architecture in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech. He is also the director of the Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory and executive director of the Professional Master’s in Applied Systems Engineering program. His expertise is in the analysis, design, and architecture of complex systems. He has served as principal investigator on more than 425 studies funded by government and industry organizations. Mavris is a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Royal Aeronautical Society. He earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in aerospace engineering from Georgia Tech.