Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management (Tsinghua SEM) hosted its 2022 commencement at the SEM New Buildings palace on June 26. Graduates and faculty members attended the event, which was conducted by BAI Chong-En, dean of the school. Organizers broadcasted the ceremony online, allowing remote graduates and relatives to connect and share in their achievements.

Tsinghua SEM hosted its 2022 commencement for graduates.

Dr. Shing-Tung Yau delivered the keynote speech. Yau is a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Russian Academy of Sciences and Academia Sinica of Taiwan. He is also a tenured professor at Harvard University's departments of mathematics and physics, a chair professor at Tsinghua University, director of Tsinghua's Yau Mathematical Sciences Center, dean of Tsinghua's Qiuzhen College, and president of the Yanqi Lake Beijing Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Applications.

BAI Chong-En, dean of Tsinghua SEM, conducted the commencement ceremony.

Before the ceremony, BAI played a video recalling many unforgettable memories of the graduates at Tsinghua. In the video, teachers wished their students good luck as they begin their new lives.

BAI Chong-En welcomed the graduates and their relatives who attended the event, both in person and virtually, and summarized the achievements of the new graduates. The 2021-2022 academic year saw 1,507 students graduate from Tsinghua SEM, of whom 239 obtained a bachelor's degree, 295 a second bachelor's degree, 4 a bachelor's degree with a minor, 906 a master's degree (including MBA and EMBA programs), and 63 a doctorate degree.

BAI announced the winners of the 2022 Chen Daisun Scholarships. The Chen Daisun Scholarship award has been part of Tsinghua SEM's commencement since 2021. Scholarships are awarded to academically accomplished, morally upstanding students who have developed all-around abilities and who epitomize the goals of Tsinghua's undergraduate education. It is the highest honor a Tsinghua SEM graduate can receive. The winners of this year's scholarships were YU Zhuo from Class 84, WANG Chenyu from Class 85 and JIN Huizhi from Class 86. YU Zhuo was a dedicated charity volunteer. He created and led a charity campaign to provide services to schools in remote areas in the provinces of Gansu and Sichuan. WANG Chenyu was a keen, brave explorer of the unknown. She had broad interests, from quantitative finance to machine learning. The openness and inclusiveness of Tsinghua SEM inspired her to carry on exploring and making bold decisions. JIN Huizhi embraced a simple, down-to-earth attitude and aspired to serve the country and the people. He worked very hard, strived for academic excellence and overcame all challenges. His participation in extracurricular activities and all-around development put Tsinghua SEM's core values into practice.

Graduate speakers at the ceremony (first row: WANG Chenyu, GU Xiang, and DENG Jiafang; second row: LIU Peixin, MA Ming, Sharaf Hameed, and LI Xiangyang)

Seven representatives of the graduates spoke at the ceremony. They were WANG Chenyu, a graduate with a first degree, GU Xiang, a graduate with a second degree, DENG Jiafang, a graduate with a master's degree, LIU Peixin, a doctorate graduate, MA Ming, a graduate from the MBA program, Sharaf Hameed, a graduate from the Tsinghua–INSEAD Dual Degree EMBA Programme, and LI Xiangyang, a graduate from the EMBA program. They spoke about campus life and what they had learned, and thanked their classmates for their kindness and help. They said they hoped fellow graduates would continue to promote the spirit of Tsinghua, keep Tsinghua SEM's mission in mind, never forget their original aspirations, work hard, make a positive contribution to the country and society, and live better lives.

BAI Chong-En briefly introduced keynote speaker Dr. Shing-Tung Yau. Born in Shantou, Guangdong province in 1949, Yau graduated from the Department of Mathematics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1969 and received a doctorate degree from University of California, Berkeley two years later. He made an outstanding contribution to the development of differential geometry, resolved the Calabi conjecture, and proved the positive mass conjecture of general relativity. He resolved a series of major problems by combining differential geometry with differential equations, and he made distinguished achievements in geometry, topology and theoretical physics. In 1982, Yau was awarded the Fields Medal, one of the highest honors in mathematics. He also received the Oswald Veblen Prize in Geometry, the MacArthur Fellowship, the Crafoord Prize, the US National Medal of Science, the Wolf Prize in Mathematics, and the Marcel Grossmann Award, among some others. He and his teacher Shiing-Shen Chern were considered to be among the best and most influential mathematicians in modern times. The two made significant contributions to mathematical education and research in China.

Dr. Shing-Tung Yau delivered the keynote speech.

Yau spoke about family, friends, life choices and his way of thinking. He told stories of his life, allowing his audience to see how he grew to become an outstanding mathematician. Yau said his family had a profound influence on his life. Even in difficult times, his parents supported his education and allowed him to aspire to become a scholar. He was always grateful for what his parents did for him. Yau said that after setting a goal, one needed to find a direction. One should have a broad vision and be brave to think big. When studying a problem, one should communicate with others and know how to stand on the shoulders of giants, to see farther away and to make greater achievements.

He also talked about how he spent six years resolving the Calabi conjecture. He encountered many problems and followed several wrong directions in that process. But he didn't give up. He tried to find inspiration from various sources, understand what went wrong and invent solutions. With such perseverance, he finally achieved his goal.

Yau said he hoped the graduates would never forget what their teachers had done for them nor forget their parents' expectations. Treating people nicely and honestly is the key to benefiting from great friendships, he said. When making life choices, one should look beyond short-term gains - such as money, power and fame - and instead choose a path that will allow them to fulfill their aspirations and live a more meaningful life. Follow that path with great determination, he said.

Participants at Tsinghua SEM's 2022 commencement ceremony

In his closing remarks, BAI Chong-En said 2022 would be especially difficult for graduates with the ongoing COVID pandemic and geopolitics compounding their uncertainties. Under such circumstances, the graduates must be resilient. Yau's resolving of the Calabi conjecture showed how far resilience can take a person. BAI said he hoped the graduates could learn from Yau's experience, set specific goals, find suitable directions and deal with difficulties and challenges with a resilient attitude. "Learn from setbacks, hold onto aspirations, have firm belief in one's purpose, and assume the responsibilities and missions of society," he added.

On June 25 and 26, BAI Chong-En posed for photos with some of the graduate representatives.

Editor: REN Zhongxi