University of New Mexico
School of Engineering Convocation
Graduate Student Speech
May 12th, 2007
Rory L.P. McGuire
When I was told that I would be giving a speech here at this
convocation, I didn't know what to do. I never thought I'd be up
here. Heck, the first time I took Dave Ackley's CS 351, I failed.
So, to prepare for this speech, I talked to my friend Aaron Clauset,
the graduate speaker last semester; Dean Fleddermann, and Stephanie
Forrest, the recently appointed chair of the CS Department, whose
appointment is well deserved, I might add. After getting great
pointers from them, I decided to make this speech short and sweet. Of
course, like any good engineering student, I only started writing
after a sufficient amount of procrastination. Here's what I came up
with...
While job hunting the past few months, I noticed that several "big
name" companies don't do interviews on the UNM Campus. I read about
on-campus events by these companies at universities like MIT,
Stanford, Harvey Mudd, Carnegie Mellon, but few state schools like
UNM. I found this a bit discouraging -- would I be up to par with the
students being interviewed at these "big name" schools?
As it turns out, I should not have been discouraged. I received
offers from two "big name" companies, and attribute much of this
success to the education received here at UNM. This is not a second
rate school.
The faculty and staff should be proud of the quality of education they
provide. The grants, funding, and awards they receive from the likes
of the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, and the
Department of Energy are tremendous. Parents & family members can be
proud of their graduates and the education received here. And fellow
graduates, I know that for many of us, the acronym UNM stands for "The
University Near Mom", but you should be very proud of the privilege of
calling this your alma mater.
So now what do we do with all the theory we've learned, even the stuff
that seems to have no practical application whatsoever? First, let's
recall the difference between theory and practice: In theory, they're
the same, but in practice, they're different. For those of us who
will be continuing on with education, know that what we've learned
here will help in those endeavors. For those of us venturing out into
engineering jobs, know that we have been well prepared to do so.
But whatever it is you decide to do from here, make sure it's
something that you love. Quoting from a speech given by Steve Jobs
during an event much like this one:
Find [something] you love. [...] The only way to be truly satisfied is
to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great
work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep
looking. Don't settle.
The education we received from the University of New Mexico School of
Engineering is top notch. Don't be discouraged by the names on other
diplomas. Be proud of and love the names on yours. And where ever
you decide to go from here, don't settle for anything less than what
you love.