The Graduate Division is pleased to announce that our keynote speaker for graduation 2025 will be Professor Michael Mann.
Dr. Michael E. Mann is Presidential Distinguished Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania, with a secondary appointment in the Annenberg School for Communication. He is director of the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media (PCSSM). He is also the Vice Provost for Climate Science, Policy, and Action at the University of Pennsylvania.
He has received many honors and awards, including NOAA's outstanding publication award in 2002 and selection by Scientific American as one of the fifty leading visionaries in science and technology in 2002. He contributed, with other IPCC authors, to the award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
He received the Award for Public Engagement with Science from the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2018 and the Climate Communication Prize from the American Geophysical Union in 2018. In 2019 he received the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement and in 2020 he received the World Sustainability Award of the MDPI Sustainability Foundation. He was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2020. He received the Leo Szilard Award of the American Physical Society in 2021 and was named Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist Association in 2023. He was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society in 2024. He is author of several books including Dire Predictions, The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars, The Madhouse Effect, The New Climate War and Our Fragile Moment.
We are also pleased to present the graduate student speakers for our graduation ceremony:
Felipe Barbieri was born in Rio de Janeiro and raised in Italy and France. He earned his BA and MA in Economics from Sciences Po Paris and completed a pre-doctoral fellowship at Stanford. He is graduating with a PhD in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania, where he focused on transportation and housing markets. His research explores optimal public transit pricing and the role of institutional investors in single-family housing. He also examines homelessness and rental assistance policy. This fall, Felipe will join the Economics Group at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College as an Assistant Professor.
Dr. Jessica Wojick is graduating with a PhD in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania, where she studied the cellular and behavioral neuroscience of pain. Her research focused on emotional brain changes during the shift from acute to chronic pain and identifying cell targets to reduce suffering. She earned an NIH F31 fellowship, a teaching certificate, and won the 2024 Penn Grad Talks natural sciences category. She holds a BS in Biology and Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh. Jessica is now a postdoctoral fellow at UNC-Chapel Hill studying serotonin’s role in Alcohol Use Disorder. She’s passionate about science, teaching, and her newborn son.
Youngbin Yoon is originally from Ridgewood, NJ, and studied mathematics and philosophy before pursuing a PhD in the latter. His research centers on ethics and aesthetics, especially love, sex, friendship, beauty, and art. In 2024, he received the Dean's Award for Distinguished Teaching and was named a Marc Sanders Media Fellow. Outside of academia, he enjoys writing fiction, Sunday runs, casual chess, and long conversations over tea—with friends or friendly strangers. He finds joy in the little things, deep questions, and catchy bridges. Most importantly, he is a proud, passionate Swiftie.