Largest Ever Fall Class to Graduate from Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach Campus
For the third year in a row, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Daytona Beach Campus is graduating its largest fall class in the school’s history. This commencement will also feature six students receiving doctoral degrees.
The ceremony for undergraduates starts at 10 a.m., Dec. 16, at the Ocean Center, 101 N. Atlantic Ave., Daytona Beach. Graduate degrees will be awarded 3 p.m. Dec. 16, in the ICI Center on campus.
Based on the latest available numbers, the classes graduating from both the Daytona Beach and Worldwide campuses on Dec. 16 includes 132 students receiving graduate degrees and 414 undergraduates receiving bachelor’s degrees.
Among the Daytona Beach Campus graduate students receiving doctoral degrees, Yifan “Ham” Tian is the first Ph.D. student to graduate from the Electrical Engineering & Computer Science program in the College of Engineering.
From Shanghai, China, Tian’s area of concentration has been on cybersecurity, cloud computing, cryptography and machine learning. His research has been featured in international science journals and Tian was honored as the Department of Electrical, Computer, Software and Systems Engineering Outstanding Ph.D. Student in 2018.
Additional doctoral graduates include:
- Spatika Iyengar, receiving a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering, Daytona Beach Campus
- Xianping Du, receiving a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, Daytona Beach Campus
- Jang Ho Park, receiving a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, Daytona Beach Campus
- Allen Peck, receiving a Ph.D. in Aviation, Worldwide Campus
- Travis Whittemore, receiving a Ph.D. in Aviation, Worldwide Campus
- Daytona Beach Campus ROTC Commissioning Ceremonies
In addition to the undergraduate and graduate commencement ceremonies, commissioning ceremonies for ROTC students include:
- Dec. 13, 10 a.m. – Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps, Emil Buehler Aviation Maintenance Science Building Observation Deck, third floor.
- Dec. 17, 10 a.m. – Air Force Reserve Officers' Training Corps, Jim W. Henderson Administration & Welcome Center.
- Dec. 17, 1 p.m. – Naval Reserve Officers' Training Corps, Jim W. Henderson Administration & Welcome Center
Retired NASA Astronaut and Navy Captain to Give Undergraduate Commencement Address
A former F-14 Tomcat pilot and veteran of three space flights, retired NASA astronaut and U.S. Navy Capt. Pierre J. Thuot will deliver the undergraduate keynote address at the Daytona Beach Campus Commencement. Thuot has orbited the earth 437 times while logging 654 hours in space on three separate missions — aboard Space Shuttles Atlantis in 1990, Endeavor in 1992 and Columbia in 1994. This included 17 hours of space walks, which earned him the U.S. national and absolute world records for extravehicular duration in space, records he held from 1992 to 2001.
Thout is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and TOPGUN, the Navy’s Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor Program. He holds a master’s degree from the University of Southern California and an honorary doctorate from Coastal Carolina University.
Embry-Riddle Associate Professor of Aviation Maintenance Science Mitch Geraci will deliver the graduate commencement address. Geraci joined Embry-Riddle in 2006 after more than 17 years with United Airlines. He holds a Master of Science in Aeronautics from Embry-Riddle.
