Who better to tell a group of new college graduates to “reach for the stars” than an astrophysicist?
Sean McWilliams, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at West Virginia University, will address August and December 2016 graduates during a commencement ceremony held at the WVU Coliseum Dec. 16.
“I’m so honored to be given this opportunity to address our graduates,” McWilliams said.
McWilliams is part of a global team of scientists who made one of the biggest scientific breakthroughs in the past century. The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO, research team directly observed gravitational waves, ripples in spacetime caused by the collision of two black holes about 1.4 billion years ago.
The discovery confirms a major prediction of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity and ushers in a new era of cosmic discovery in which the universe and its mysteries can not only be seen, but heard. Observation of gravitational waves will help scientists understand mysteries about the origins of our universe and the effects of gravity on matter.
McWilliams received his M.S. and Ph.D. in physics from the University of Maryland-College Park. Before arriving at WVU, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton and Columbia universities, and at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.
The commencement ceremony is scheduled to begin promptly at 1:30 p.m.
President E. Gordon Gee will open the ceremony with welcoming remarks for the graduating class.
Students planning to walk in the ceremony must register by Dec. 9.
Tickets are not required and there are no restrictions on the number of guests a graduate may bring to the ceremony, which will last approximately two hours.
To arrange accommodations for graduates or guests with disabilities, contact WVU’s Office of Accessibility Services.
Free parking is available at the Coliseum. Additional parking information can be found on the WVU Campus Map.
If you have questions, contact WVU’s Office of University Events at graduation@mail.wvu.edu or 304.293.7132.
Updates are also available at http://graduation.wvu.edu, on the WVU Graduation Facebook page and by following #wvugrad on Twitter.