More than 1,000 Stevens Institute of Technology students will receive degrees during two commencement ceremonies Wednesday in the Canavan Arena on Stevens Campus. Among the graduates, two in particular have a very special relationship.
In the morning, Mary Ann Rizk will receive her B.E. in Engineering Management as her mother and family look on. At an evening graduate ceremony, she joins her mother Kamilia as they walk across the stage together to receive their graduate degrees. Mary Ann will be obtaining a Masters Degree in Management with a concentration in Project Technology and Engineering Management, while Kamilia accepts her Masters in Information Systems with a concentration in Management.
The two have helped motivate each other in their studies. “It makes sense that my mother is graduating with me because she is like my best friend,” says Mary Ann. “We’ve helped and encouraged each other along the way, she adds. I think Stevens has brought us closer.” “I don’t know how she did it,” said Mary Ann of her mother’s degree. While going to school to earn her Masters degree, Kamilia was also busy holding down a vice presidency in a New York Insurance Company, working long hours, and commuting to Stevens from their home in Port Reading, NJ. On the other side of the coin, Mary Ann’s mother is equally as amazed at the monumental accomplishments of her daughter. She is impressed and proud that Mary Ann was able to earn dual degrees while also doing an internship and later continuing to work part time in Information Systems at Merck. In addition to that, Mary Ann is an R.A. (resident assistant) at her dorm, philanthropy chair of her Sorority Phi Sigma Sigma, a Varsity women’s lacrosse player, and the president of the Society of Women’s Engineers. The ceremony
This year’s undergraduate and graduate ceremonies will occur on the same day. The undergraduate ceremony will begin at 10:30 a.m. with more than 250 degree candidates receiving diplomas. The graduate ceremony is scheduled to commence at 6 p.m., and nearly 800 degrees will be given. One of the keynote speakers for the event will be Stevens Alumni Lawrence T. Babbio, Jr., who is Vice President of Verizon Communications and Chairman of the Stevens Board of Trustees. Babbio will deliver the undergraduate address. At Verizon, Babbio is responsible for the company’s domestic wire line business. He is also responsible for long distance information technology, procurement services, and technology research. Babbio is also a member of Verizon’s Wireless Board of Directors. Giving the commencement address for the graduate ceremony will be Fernando (Frank) L. Fernandez, former director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Central Research and Development Organization of the Department of Defense. Fernandez is also a Stevens alum. Both keynote speakers will also be bestowed with honorary Doctor of Engineering degrees. Also honored in the ceremonies will be the graduating seniors who are first in class. This year, four undergraduate students have achieved this honor by finishing with perfect 4.0 grade point averages. Eugene Chung of Poughkeepsie, N.Y. will be receiving two bachelors’ degrees – one in Chemical Biology and one in Philosophy. While at Stevens, Chung has received the award for Excellence in Research from the undergraduate projects in technology and medicine summer research program. Michael Enever who lives in Rouses Point, NY, but is a native of London, England is receiving his bachelor’s in Engineering Degree in Chemical Engineering, and while at Stevens, he was a member of the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honors Society, the American National Honor Society, and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. Ozoma Onunkwo, a native of Nigeria, is graduating with a 4.0 and a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering. At Stevens his awards and honors include: a National Science Foundations Fellowship, the American Scholars National Honor Society. Onunkwo plans to pursue his graduate studies in Computer Engineering at the Georgia Tech Institute of Technology with a Presidential Fellowship. Sumit Shah of Weehawken will receive his bachelor degree in Chemical Biology with a minor in Social Science. He has been an academic support center tutor, a chemistry review instructor, and has been a honor board member since his sophomore year. Shah will be enrolling at UMDMJ-NJ Medical School this August on an academic excellence scholarship. The graduate ceremony will include the hoodings of 29 doctoral candidates. One of the largest groups of students receiving PhD’s in Stevens’s history. Established in 1870, Stevens offers baccalaureate, masters, and doctoral degrees in Engineering, Science, Computer Science, Management, Technology Management, as well as a baccalaureate in Humanities and Liberal Arts. The university has a total enrollment of about 1600 undergraduates and 2600 graduate students.
Keeping it in the family Mother and daughter graduate together
