14 MAY 2026
VANCOUVER
This program is for ceremonial purposes only and is not to be considered an official confirmation of degree information. It contains only those details available at the publication deadline.
We ask those in attendance to kindly silence their electronic devices and to remain in their seats until the platform party has left the stage and the graduate recessional has finished.
D’Amore-McKim
Bouvé
Khoury
Founded in 1898, Northeastern is a global research university and recognized leader in experiential learning, renowned for its innovative approach to education. Yet its origins were remarkably humble.
At the end of the 19th century, immigrants and first-generation Americans constituted more than half of Boston’s population. Among the city’s institutions committed to helping newcomers improve their lives, the Boston YMCA stood out as a gathering place where young men attended lectures on literature, history, music, and other subjects considered essential to intellectual growth.
In response to enthusiastic demand for these lectures, the YMCA directors organized the Evening Institute for Young Men in May 1896. Frank Palmer Speare, a well-known teacher and high school principal, was hired as the institute’s director. Two years later, the YMCA established the “Department of Law of the Boston YMCA,” and on October 3, 1898, Robert Gray Dodge taught the first class. This program was an immediate success and marked the birth of Northeastern University. Speare would later remark, “We started with an eraser and two sticks of chalk.”
As demand for additional courses grew, Speare expanded the offerings. In 1909, full-time day colleges began instruction. That same year, the Evening Polytechnic School announced “cooperative engineering courses,” providing students opportunities to apply classroom knowledge in the workplace—the genesis of Northeastern’s signature cooperative education program.
The institution continued to grow, establishing the College of Business in 1922. More space was needed. The university acquired the former home of the Boston Red Sox in 1929, and in 1934, the distinguished Boston architectural firm Shepley, Bulfinch, Richardson, and Abbott was awarded the contract to design Richards Hall. Employing what would become a Boston campus signature—white brick—the firm created a neoclassical building. Opened in 1938, Richards Hall became the first structure on the front quadrangle.
As the physical campus expanded, so did academic programs. The addition of the College of Liberal Arts in 1935 signaled the institution’s evolution toward becoming a major university.
When Speare stepped down as president in 1940, Carl Stephens Ell, dean of the College of Engineering, succeeded him. Under Ell’s leadership, Northeastern admitted women to fulltime day programs for the first time.
In the postwar era, Northeastern experienced phenomenal enrollment growth. The university expanded programs to accommodate an increasingly diverse student population. Additional colleges were established in rapid succession: College of Education, 1953; University College, 1960; College of Pharmacy, 1962; College of Nursing, 1964; Boston Bouvé College, 1964; College of Criminal Justice, 1967; and College of Computer Science, 1982.
This expansion required substantial physical growth. When Ell retired in 1959, Asa S. Knowles assumed the presidency. Under his leadership, the university acquired suburban properties in Weston, Nahant, and Burlington, Massachusetts. The Boston campus flourished with new construction, including undergraduate dormitories for the growing residential student population at what had primarily been a commuter campus.
Kenneth G. Ryder succeeded Knowles in 1975, bringing unique perspective as someone who had risen from history department faculty member to executive vice president. Under his leadership, the university expanded programs, particularly in arts and humanities, while continuing facilities improvements. Plans for Snell Library were finalized, and the campus was beautified. Northeastern also deepened its commitment to Boston and surrounding neighborhoods.
In 1989, Ryder stepped down as the fourth president of the university. He was succeeded by John A. Curry, Northeastern’s executive vice president and its first alumnus to become president. Under Curry’s direction, the university embarked on a series of ambitious undertakings, including a science and engineering research center, a state-of-the-art classroom building, a recreation complex, and several new undergraduate and graduate programs.
To support these new ventures, Curry led a successful fundraising campaign; his tenure also featured significant institutional restructuring as the university prepared to enter its second century. After four decades of service, Curry retired in 1996, and the trustees elected Richard M. Freeland as the sixth president.
Elevating
A distinguished historian and administrator, President Freeland brought to the university a renewed sense of energy and mission. His initiatives supported his vision of Northeastern as a university that would be student-centered, practice-oriented, and urban. The university developed the West Campus with architecturally acclaimed residence halls and teaching facilities for the health sciences and computer science, and added new spaces to enrich campus life.
When Freeland stepped down in 2006, Joseph E. Aoun, an internationally recognized linguistics scholar, became Northeastern’s seventh president. President Aoun came from the University of Southern California, where he served as dean of the College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences. He developed an academic plan outlining the university’s vision in several areas: experiential learning, global outreach, use-inspired research, urban engagement, and intellectual life. He significantly expanded global co-op opportunities, and he aligned research with three worldwide imperatives—health, security, and sustainability— emphasizing interdisciplinary solutions.
Under Aoun’s leadership, Northeastern launched a campus system designed as platforms for lifelong learning aligned with regional economies. The first locations opened in Charlotte, North Carolina (2011), and Seattle (2013); additional campuses followed in Silicon Valley, California (2015), and Toronto (2016).
In 2016, Aoun led development of a new academic plan, Northeastern 2025, a blueprint for transforming the institution into a global university system—featuring networks of learners and innovators— designed to empower people to succeed in this era of unprecedented technological change. The university expanded its global campuses as platforms for learning, research, and industry partnerships. In 2019, Northeastern opened a Vancouver location and acquired New College of the Humanities in London, now officially Northeastern University London, offering undergraduates a unique opportunity to earn a dual U.S./U.K. degree. Later in 2019, Northeastern launched a research campus in Arlington, Virginia, complementing two existing research campuses in Nahant and Burlington, Massachusetts (formed in 1967 and 2012, respectively).
In January 2020, technology entrepreneur David Roux and his wife, Barbara, established the Roux Institute in Portland, Maine. The institute focuses on graduate studies and research in fields such as artificial intelligence, digital engineering, and advanced life sciences, amplified by industry partnerships. It was specifically designed to be a model of how higher education can ignite economic development in regions of the country largely bypassed by the innovation economy, setting a new bar for what the global university system could achieve.
Resilience and momentum
The revolutionary vision that inspired Northeastern 2025 infuses the university’s latest academic plan, Experience Unleashed. The plan is designed to deepen the impact of Northeastern’s global network by maximizing the power of experience to understand and solve the world’s interconnected, ever-evolving challenges.
In 2022, the university merged with Mills College in Oakland, California, becoming the first institution with comprehensive residential campuses for undergraduate and graduate students on both U.S. coasts. In 2023, Northeastern opened a Miami campus featuring graduate education and innovation partnerships aligned with South Florida’s economic growth. The following year, the university announced a New York City campus through a merger with Marymount Manhattan College.
Through dedication and vision, Frank Palmer Speare’s “eraser and two sticks of chalk” have evolved into one of the world’s most innovative universities. Our faculty collaborates fluidly with experts across industry, government, and community organizations. Ideas and solutions can be scaled. And our students are empowered to be global citizens, scientists, entrepreneurs, and creators—prepared to make lasting impact wherever they go.
Processional
Candidates for Master’s Degrees
Faculty
Platform Party led by Convocation Marshal Bethany Edmunds
Teaching Professor and Associate Dean of Computing Programs, West Coast
Land Acknowledgement and National Anthem
Marshal Bethany Edmunds
Teaching Professor and Associate Dean of Computing Programs, West Coast
Welcome
Carrie Chassels
Associate Dean, Northeastern University in Vancouver
Introduction of Student Speaker
Serena Conlon
Director of Student Services, Northeastern University in Vancouver
Student Convocation Speaker
Lawrence Dass, ’26
Class of 2026 Award Recipients
Waleed Meleis
Vice Provost for Graduate Education
Introduction of Convocation Speaker
Steve Eccles
Regional Dean and CEO, Northeastern University in Vancouver
Convocation Address
Bill Tam
Citation Presentation
Waleed Meleis
Vice Provost for Graduate Education
Degrees in Course
Steve Eccles
Regional Dean and CEO, Northeastern University in Vancouver College of Engineering represented by Gregory Abowd, Dean D’Amore-McKim School of Business represented byCarrie Chassels, Associate Dean, Northeastern University in Vancouver
Bouvé College of Health Sciences represented by Carrie Chassels, Associate Dean, Northeastern University in Vancouver
Khoury College of Computer Sciences represented by Bethany Edmunds, Teaching Professor and Associate Dean of Computing Programs, West Coast College of Arts, Media and Design represented by Ernesto Peña, Associate Teaching Professor College of Professional Studies represented by Hootan Kamran Habibkhani, Assistant Teaching Professor
Conferring of Degrees
Waleed Meleis
Vice Provost for Graduate Education
Honouring of Graduates
Carrie Chassels
Associate Dean, Northeastern University in Vancouver
Introduction of Alumni Representative
Steve Eccles
Regional Dean and CEO, Northeastern University in Vancouver
Alumni Greeting
Vismay Bhaveshbhai Viradiya, ’24
Class Charge
Steve Eccles
Regional Dean and CEO, Northeastern University in Vancouver
Recessional
The audience is requested to remain seated during the recessional.
Led by Marshal Bethany Edmunds, Teaching Professor and Associate Dean of Computing Programs, West Coast Platform Party Faculty Graduates
Convocation Speaker
Bill Tam
Bill Tam’s career is a testament to what becomes possible when rigorous education meets relentless determination. From electrical engineer to tech executive to architect of one of Canada’s most consequential innovation ecosystems, his trajectory speaks directly to the promise of this moment and to the values that define Northeastern’s Vancouver campus.
Tam is one of the preeminent leaders of British Columbia’s tech sector. An innovation strategist and lifelong entrepreneur with more than three decades of experience spanning technology, venture capital, and public policy, he has built a career on bringing together people, ideas, and institutions to realize what he calls “the art of the possible.”
Born in Hong Kong and raised in Toronto, Tam earned his bachelor’s in electrical engineering—a foundation that would prove instrumental in shaping everything that followed. He began his career at two major Canadian telecommunications companies before his passion for startup culture was ignited by a stint at a Bell division focused on new ventures. As a founding executive at MetroNet Communications, he helped guide the company from its earliest days to a landmark $7 billion acquisition. In 2005, he became chief executive officer of the mobile technology company EQO Communications.
In 2011, Tam joined the BC Tech Association, British Columbia’s largest tech industry organization, where as president and CEO he helped position Vancouver as one of the world’s premier startup ecosystems—earning the city recognition as a Top 15 global startup hub and the No. 1 ranked ecosystem in Canada.
That same commitment to collective advancement led him to co-found Canada’s Digital Technology Supercluster in 2017, a landmark national initiative that has united more than 1,200 organizations in pursuit of breakthroughs in digital health, artificial intelligence, and sustainability. As a founding partner of the strategic management consultancy ThoughtBridge, Tam currently advises organizations and governments on complex multistakeholder challenges, guided by his commitment to economic inclusivity and the power of collaboration.
He serves on the boards of AInBC, a nonprofit dedicated to cultivating the region’s AI ecosystem; the Centre for Digital Media, a graduate school in Vancouver; and CBC/RadioCanada, where he chairs the Technology and Infrastructure Committee.
Tam earned his Bachelor of Engineering from McGill University and a Master of Business Administration from the Ivey Business School.
Master of Science in Data Analytics Engineering
Sarvin Alizad shahir
Chen Jen
Qingyi Ji
Cosmos Ameyaw Kwakye
Mona Mahdavi
Master of Science in Information Systems
Kwadwo Agyenim Boateng
Jiawen Chen
Abdul-Razak Issahaku
Santhosh Kumar Jaishankar
Syed Mehar Ali Kirmani
Saurabh Kumar
Bhavik Babubhai Limbasiya
Chenxin Liu
Bright Semekor Midodzi
Anirudh Murale
Muskan Sharma
Hemalikaa Thirumavalavan
Thy Hoang Anh Tran
Thi Phuong Oanh Vu
Aminu Yiwere
Mara Ivy Pacres
Jiongkai Pang
Pavan Kamleshbhai Patel
Anees Ahmed Pinjari
Ismat Ara Tanima
Priyansh Chetanbhai Thakkar
Lokesh Vaddepally
Yucheng Yang
Yi Zhen
Master of Science in Business Analytics
Bernice Long Yan Chan
Master of Public Health
Victoria Patricia Williams
Jubril Adeyemi Akanbi
Sara Iqbal Bavan
Jialu Bi
Yuchen Cao
Jiacheng Chen
Shixian Chen
Shiyuan Chen
Xinlai Chen
Yibing Chen
Yidong Chen
Zihe Chen
Ziyan Chen
Meihao Cheng
Yao Cheng
Minchao Cong
Katherine Amanda Sewell Davis
Shuying Du
Carlos Semeho Edorh
Dominic Ehirim Ejiogu
Yi Fan
Steven Fang
Tianyu Fang
Annan Fu
Qianyi Fu
Jinghan Gao
Jieling Gong
Jiani Guo
Ziling Guo
Pan Hai
Fazheng Han
Wenwen Han
Yang Han
Jiahuan He
Jiawei He
Siyun He
Xiao He
Yang He
Robert Alexander Hortua Leal
Danni Hu
Steven Hu
Yuming Huang
Zihan Jiang
Wenbo Jiao
Dingyang Jin
Nuanxin Jin
Mengshan Li
Mingyi Li
Qingman Li
Rubing Li
Weifan Li
Zeyu Li
Zihao Li
Yin-shan Lin
Zhenziye Lin
Fang Liu
Fangqi Liu
Weiwei Liu
Yao Liu
Zhuoyuan Liu
Zilei Liu
Yuhao Lu
Ziqi Mao
Mansi Krishnakant Modi
Mulei Ni
Hao Niu
Meilin Niu
Yuchen Pan
Kalhar Kinjal Pandya
Xin Qi
Jiayi Qian
Wangfan Qian
Ziqi Shao
Boyuan Sun
Xu Tang
Yundi Tao
Meng Teng
Shichao Tian
Yuan Tian
Jiawei Tong
Xinghang Tong
Ya Wang
Yan Wang
Yaoyi Wang
Ying Wang
Yiyang Wang
Yue Wang
Yumei Wang
Yuxin Wang
Zhen Yu Wang
Chantelle Wu
Hao Wu
Tong Wu
Zhixiao Wu
Yuting Xie
Ge Xu
Shiyu Xu
Ziyi Xu
Hanchen Ye
Yuxuan Liv Ye
Tianze Yin
Yimeng Yin
Sisi You
Chendong Yu
Yue Yu
Xinyu Zeng
Hange Zhang
Weiwei Zhang
Youcheng Zhang
Chenxi Zhao
Chuanxing Zheng
Wenshuang Zhou
Yuxin Zhou
Tianqing Zhu
Master of Science in Information Design and Data Visualization
Michael Arthur
Ma. Cecilia Angelica Patricio De Vera
Olivia Wing Lum Lam
Thiago Maioli Azevedo
Serena Meghani
Akhere Sandra Onabirhekhanlen Jr.
Zhaoyue Wang
Minru Wu
Yuxin Zhang
Master of Professional Studies in Analytics
Adewole Fatai Adelana
Solomon Kofi Adofo
Joseph Adu
Josephine Agbedoawu
Edward Agyemang
Godfred Akoto
Derrick Nii Dodoo Amoo
Sandra Amponsah
Akash Annamdas
Oluwasegun Adetokunbo Awotokun
Oluwafemi Isaiah Babalola
Sanna K Baldeh
Aryan Bansal
Xin Bao
Rahul Reddy Basani
Adwoa Bempomaa
Samuel Addo Boye
Takudzwa Chando
Hsing-Han Chen
Shaohua Chen
Amarachi Jane Chuku
Evans Coffie
Abigail Dabanka-Frimpong
Nwanne Chidinma Daniel-Onu
Lawrence Dass
Devarsh Sudhirbhai Dave
Mengyuan Dong
Jonas Olando Dzakpasu
Eric Eshun
Iyanuoluwa Joseph Eyinade
Masoud Fathi
Shunshun Feng
Parita Pravin Gala
Shanmugapriya Gopalakrishnan
Nithin Raj Govindaraju
Truc Linh Hoang
Yue Huang
Rukaya Iddi
Dennis Bassey Isong
Sheriff Kwabena Issah
Jianyu Jia
Bigyan Khadka
Abraham Korang
Renlinhui Li
Yiran Li
Chenlu Liu
Jun Ma
Daniel Makala Mackaemba
Rita Manzie
Hao Mao
Sohail Mohammed Maqsood
Sara Mathai
Darshil Dinesh Mistry
Hung Hoang Nguyen
Linh Thi Hong Nguyen
Ly Kim Ngan Nguyen
Talata Nsobilla
Samuel Korsah Nyarko
Adetoun Feyisekemi Obaude
Emmanuel Eje Ogar
Eghosa Paul Ogbebor
Lawrence Obinna Okolo Mr
Temitope Olawumi Olatidoye
Ekene Innocent Onyemanjo
Raymond Twumasi Opoku
Raymond Ikedi Osondu
Hao Pang
Deepkumar Harshadbhai Patel
Dhruvkumar Anilbhai Patel
Nathaniel Pearson
Poe Ei Phyu
Rosy Elizabeth Pineda
Md Maniur Rahman
Rahul Singh Rajput
Princess Mariama Diaz Ramboyong
Collins Sarfo
Euna Eunha Seo
Zhiqing Shen
Jiansheng Shentu
Lin Shi
Nighat Sultana
Naveen Koushik Thotakura
Niravkumar Pravinbhai Vaghela
Honglin Wang
Jianjia Yan
Chuanli Yang
Zihui Yao
Niharika Yarlagadda
Abhinav Yellanki
Zixin You
Melika Zandi
Jingting Zhan Sr.
Bowen Zhang
Yuning Zhang
Yaping Zheng
Junyi Zhou
Hui Zhu
Master of Professional Studies in Digital Media
Stephen Oppong
Noah Christopher Petrides
Wei Tang Chaoting Yue
Master of Science in Global Studies and International Relations
Tiffany Shuwen Duff
The Outstanding Global Network Student Award
The Outstanding Global Network Student Award recognizes students pursing master’s or professional doctoral degrees in studies at one of Northeastern’s global campuses and who have excelled in one or more of the following areas: academics, research, leadership, teaching, and real-world impact.
Kalhar Kinjal Pandya Khoury College of Computer Sciences
The Laurel and Scroll 100 Award
Established in 2024, the Laurel and Scroll 100 honors exceptional graduate and professional students in their final year of study across Northeastern’s global campuses. The esteemed recognition, one of the university’s Societies of Distinction, celebrates students whose achievements, leadership, and character reflect the very best of Northeastern.
Santhosh Kumar Jaishankar College of Engineering
Yi Zhan College of Engineering
Joseph E. Aoun, President
Beth A. Winkelstein, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Kenneth W. Henderson, Chancellor and Senior Vice President for Learning
Michael Armini, Senior Vice President for External Affairs
Mary Ludden, Senior Vice President for Global Network and Strategic Initiatives
Diane Nishigaya MacGillivray, Senior Vice President for University Advancement
Thomas Nedell, Senior Vice President for Finance and Treasurer
Mary B. Strother, Senior Vice President and General Counsel
Gregory Abowd, College of Engineering
Rajesh Aggarwal, Interim, D’Amore-McKim School of Business
Jared Auclair, College of Professional Studies
James R. Hackney, School of Law
R. Benjamin Knapp, College of Arts, Media and Design
Beth D. Kochly, Mills College at Northeastern University
Elizabeth D. Mynatt, Khoury College of Computer Sciences
Brent Nelson, Interim, College of Science
Carmen Sceppa, Bouvé College of Health Sciences
Kellee Tsai, College of Social Sciences and Humanities
Members of the Board of Trustees
Richard D’Amore, Chair
Edward Galante, Vice Chair
Alan McKim, Vice Chair
Joseph E. Aoun, Ex Officio
Jeffrey Bornstein
Subodh Chanrai
Alice Chinebuah
Jeffrey Clarke
William Conley
Deborah Dunsire
Spencer Fung
Sir Lucian Grainge, CBE
David House
Frances Janis
Chaitanya Kanojia
Amin Khoury
William Lowell
Todd Manganaro
Honorary Trustees
Scott M. Black
Charles K. Gifford
Trustees Emeriti
Barbara C. Alleyne
George D. Behrakis, Vice Chair Emeritus
Margot Botsford
Frederick Brodsky
Frederick L. Brown
Peter B. Cameron
Richard P. Chapman Jr., Vice Chair Emeritus
William J. Cotter
John J. Cullinane
Harry T. Daniels
James Pallotta
Irene Panagopoulos
John Pulichino
Jean Eric Salata
Kathleen Sanborn
Winslow Sargeant
Jeannine Sargent
Maha Shair
Shelley Stewart Jr.
Hemant Taneja
Jean-Pascal Tricoire
Christopher Viehbacher
Gregory Waters
Christophe Weber
Lucille R. Zanghi
Susan S. Deitch
Neal F. Finnegan, Chair Emeritus
W. Kevin Fitzgerald
Arnold S. Hiatt
William S. Howard
Venetia Kontogouris
Richard G. Lesser
Diane H. Lupean
Roger M. Marino
Katherine S. McHugh, Vice Chair Emerita
Kathryn M. Nicholson
Arthur A. Pappas
Marcy L. Reed
Ronald L. Rossetti
Ronald Sargent
Carole J. Shapazian, Vice Chair Emerita
Robert J. Shillman
Janet M. Smith
Corporators Emeriti
Salah Al Wazzan
Quincy L. Allen
Tarek As’ad
Robert J. Awkward
Vincent F. Barletta
Richard L. Bready
John F. Burke Jr.
William P. Casey
Lawrence G. Cetrulo
Nassib G. Chamoun
William D. Chin
Steven J. Cody
Timothy J. Connelly
Joseph J. Cronin
Richard J. DeAgazio
Kevin A. DeNuccio
Robin W. Devereux
Robert E. DiCenso
Priscilla H. Douglas
Adriane J. Dudley
Michael J. Egan
Douglas M. Epstein
Joseph D. Feaster Jr.
Louise Firth Campbell
Lisa D. Foster
Francis A. Gicca
Gary R. Gregg
Nancy E. B. Haynes
Charles C. Hewitt III
Roderick Ireland
Mary Kay Leonard
Mark A. Krentzman
Joseph C. Lawler
Sy Sternberg, Chair Emeritus
Jean C. Tempel, Vice Chair Emerita
Alan D. Tobin, Vice Chair Emeritus
Joseph Tucci
Catherine A. White
Arthur W. Zafiropoulo
Michael Zamkow
Ellen M. Zane
M Benjamin Lipman
George A. MacConnell
Susan B. Major
Paul V. McDonough
Thomas P. McDonough
Kathleen McFeeters
Susan A. Morelli
Francis E. Murphy
James Q. Nolan Jr.
Peter J. Ogren
Lawrence A. O’Rourke
Leonard C. Perham
Valerie W. Perlowitz
Steven Picheny
John E. Pritchard
Eugene M. Reppucci Jr.
Rhondella Richardson
Patrick A. Rivelli
David J. Ryan
George P. Sakellaris
Richard A. Schoenfeld
Peter J. Smail
Karen Tay Koh
Gordon O. Thompson
Alexander L. Thorndike
James R. Turner
Mark L. Vachon
Laurie B. Werner
E. Leo Whitworth
Donald K. Williams Jr.
Donald L. Williams
Richard R. Yuse
The Registrar of the university maintains the official list of all graduates. This program is for ceremonial purposes only.