At Embry‑Riddle’s Fall 2024 undergraduate commencement ceremony, alumnus and astronaut Jared Isaacman challenged nearly 600 new graduates to “reach for the stars and create a better Earth along the way.”

Nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to be the next head of NASA, Isaacman told the graduating class that they stand at the precipice of their own “moonshots.” This generation, he said, will aim for a return to the Moon, a future on Mars, a new space economy and a sustainable aviation ecosystem.

“It’s you who will make these possibilities real, working on and off the planet to create technologies that will carry our civilization across skies, into space and to the planets beyond,” he told a packed auditorium of graduating Eagles and their friends and families at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Isaacman, who graduated from Embry‑Riddle in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in , has commanded two historic private space missions. His latest exploration was Polaris Dawn, a mission that included the first commercial spacewalk.

“We went farther into space since the last time humans walked on the moon,” Isaacman said, crediting the engineers, scientists and technicians who made the mission possible.

“Two of my crewmates became the women who have journeyed farthest from this planet ever,” he added, receiving applause from the crowd. 

A passionate philanthropist, Isaacman has also used the team’s high-profile space missions to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and other charitable causes. Isaacman told the students to use their Embry‑Riddle educations “to solve enormous problems for the benefit of all humankind."

“I can tell you there are so many problems to solve, so many causes to support, so many great adventures to participate in,” he said.

At the conclusion of Isaacman’s keynote address, Embry‑Riddle President P. Barry Butler, Ph.D., presented the astronaut with an honorary doctoral degree.

“You have earned this degree for exceptional contributions in pushing the boundaries of aviation and space exploration that will benefit all humankind,” President Butler said upon conferring the Doctorate of Humane Letters.

“What’s more, all of us here at Embry‑Riddle thank you for inspiring the next generation of explorers, some of whom are here today, to take their own giant leap into the future.”

Students Eager to Follow Isaacman’s Lead

A total of 583 undergraduate students from Embry‑Riddle’s received diplomas at the ceremony, whose featured student speaker was graduate Christian Villanueva.

Villanueva grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, after his family immigrated from the Philippines. “Each of you has overcome your own hardships, followed your dreams and have loved ones who supported you,” he told his fellow graduates.

During his time at Embry‑Riddle, Villanueva served as president of the Society of Space Professionals on Campus and was a member of the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers (SASE). He interned at Collins Aerospace on its F-22 fighter jet program and plans to pursue graduate studies in .

“That’s what it means to be an Eagle — to do the impossible and build a better world together through our shared love for aerospace,” Villanueva said. “And above all, may you believe in your future and always pursue your dreams because for us the sky and stars above is not the limit, it is our home.” 

After receiving his diploma, Villanueva commented that Isaacman “reminds you of what is possible. Since he is an alum, it shows that can be us.”

graduate Sanjana Murthy said she also was inspired and motivated by Isaacman.

“The world is open to and ready for us to use our tools and to make a difference,” she said.

graduate Vikas Patel said that the lessons about teamwork in Isaacman’s speech mirrored what he had learned working on the , a collaboration with Isaacman that was part of the Polaris Dawn mission. The camera was mounted in the capsule to capture video of crew operations. Isaacman highlighted the technology in his speech.

Patel said that “it was a great learning opportunity to not only see what steps the industry goes through but how to make something safe for astronauts.”

At an ensuing graduate ceremony, 122 students earned their master’s degrees, while 16 received their doctorates. Graduate Student Council President Hannah Woodruff, who earned her master’s in and whose research focuses on the intersection of machine learning and astrophysics, spoke at the hooding ceremony.

Nine undergraduates and nine graduate students from the Worldwide Campus attended the Daytona Beach commencement. Since August, the Worldwide Campus has graduated nearly 700 Eagles in seven in-person ceremonies in San Diego, Seattle, Dallas, Norfolk, Frankfurt, Tokyo and Singapore.

The Daytona Beach fall class also included 19 ROTC students at Embry‑Riddle who were commissioned as officers: eight Navy midshipmen, seven Air Force cadets and four Army cadets.

Embry‑Riddle’s Prescott Campus graduation ceremony will be held on Saturday, Dec.14.

.