At GW Engineering, we believe engineering can be seen at the intersection of everything that drives progress and innovation. That belief was front and center during the school’s 2025 graduation celebrations. At the Doctoral Hooding Ceremony on Thursday, May 15 and the Graduation Celebration on Friday, May 16, each speaker encouraged the Class of 2025 to embrace this transformative impact as they embark on a new adventure. A unifying theme across both events was the importance of building resilience to lead in creating the systems and technologies needed in today’s rapidly evolving world.
“I charge you now to bring your intellect and curiosity to bear on the larger world of knowledge and bring your creativity and problem-solving to bear on society’s grand challenges,” said Dean Lach at the Hooding Ceremony.
At Friday’s Graduation Celebration, this year’s student speaker, Talia Novak, reflected on how the school’s supportive community helped graduates prepare for what lies ahead. Their time at GW Engineering strengthened their technical skills and taught them to navigate challenges collaboratively. Novak, who earned her bachelor’s degree in computer science, will carry that resilience with her as she begins her career as a Software Engineer at MITRE.
“Today, we step into a world that needs engineers who can think, solve, and build solutions that don’t yet exist. The work ahead of us is complex, but we are prepared because here at GW, we’ve done so much more than finishing our thesis and waiting for those five elevators in SEH,” said Novak. “We have learned that engineering is not just about individual skills, it’s about working together to create something greater than ourselves.”
Dean Lach then introduced this year’s graduation speaker, Christopher Wiernicki, M.S. ‘83, an internationally recognized business leader and naval architect who serves as chairman and CEO of the American Bureau of Shipping. Wiernicki has helped shape the future of maritime trade and technology both nationally and internationally, serving on infrastructure advisory councils in the U.S. and Singapore. In 2021, he became only the 7th GW Engineering alum elected to the National Academy of Engineering, and last year, he was named one of Lloyd’s List’s most influential people in shipping.
In his speech, Wiernicki shared five key leadership principles, drawing on his own journey and the lived experience of his father to inspire graduates to lead with purpose. His father, John, grew up in Poland and fought in World War II. He was captured during the war but escaped and went on to serve in the British Army before immigrating to the U.S. with his wife. “John’s story gives us an example of how those five leadership principles can apply equally to your environment as his,” said Wiernicki.
He then outlined those five principles: “Remember the importance of dignity and respect as the foundation of leadership; be comfortable embracing change and making uncertainty your friend; pursue the journey of continuous learning as it is essential for success; recognize the power of innovation and have the courage to create and reinvent yourself; and finally, understand and never forget the value of resilience.”
Following Wiernicki’s reflections, Dean Lach closed the ceremony by turning the spotlight back to the graduates, highlighting the resilience that will drive them as they shape the innovations of tomorrow. “You are GW engineers and computer scientists, so you’ll pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and continue to be bold, and you will accomplish great things,” he said.
