Michael Wilde

Thank you, Dr. Michal Biewer and Dean David Hyndman. Before I begin, I’d like to acknowledge all the faculty and staff in the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and the wider University. Your hard work and dedication year after year are the foundation of our success, and your commitment to our growth has shaped both our knowledge and our character, and for that, we are deeply grateful.

I also want to take a moment to thank all the family and friends who have supported us throughout this journey. To our siblings, partners, loved ones, friends and parents: your encouragement, patience and unwavering belief in us have been our greatest source of strength. Today is as much your triumph as it is ours. Thank you for everything.

It’s an honor to be here today. I see before me many of the brightest and kindest people I will ever know, and as I look out here today, I am reminded of the words of the actress Bae Doona. “Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb, we are bound to others. And by each choice, and every kindness, we birth our future.”

Here at UTD, we know all too well the connection between choices and struggle and triumph. For many of us, our journey here began in a time of uncertainty a few short years ago. 

Despite this, we are here today because we made a choice — we chose to confront adversity, to continue forward despite our challenges. And, to our surprise, it was in our struggle that we discovered something beautiful: that our challenges, our hardships, our moments of brilliance and kindness —these are ours, shared and celebrated and felt in so many ways, far beyond ourselves.

“Our lives and our choices,” said Tom Hanks, “are like quantum trajectories, understood moment to moment. But in every moment, at every intersection, they suggest a new potential and direction.”

Four years ago, a neurological injury left me struggling to walk. My immune system had attacked my spinal cord, leaving me with numbness, weakness and extreme pain in my arms, my hands and my legs. For nearly a year, I struggled to do anything without support, and I spent months in bed trying to come to terms with my fate and my future. 

Those were difficult times. But in those dark moments, words of hope hung in my mind: “They who would learn to fly one day, must first learn to walk and run and jump and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying,” said Friedrich Nietzsche. 

That hope, that there was hope, is what drove me from doctor to doctor, praying that if I put in the work, I could live a better life. That hope that I could heal and grow, is what drove me month after month to work to grow stronger. And that hope, that I could one day learn to fly, that I could reclaim purpose and find meaning with my life, that hope is what brought me to UTD, and it is this hope, this belief, in ourselves and our future; this is why we are all seated here today.

Here I learned to walk again. And to run to my classes for which I was so frequently late. And here we learned to jump at opportunities, and climb ever higher in our disciplines, and at last to dance — across the ballads of statistical methods and biology, the intersections of the arts and business, of science and civic responsibility. I and we and all of us together have done so many incredible and beautiful and meaningful things.

Now, with everything we have learned and achieved and experienced here together, we take flight.

We step out into a world of unparalleled possibility and uncertainty. The next 100 years may see humanity reach out to the stars, cure disease, harness the power of a sun and answer many of life’s great mysteries. But we must be ready to confront the challenges of our time. We must be prepared to move forward with strength, courage and kindness.

And as we begin this next chapter of our lives, I want to urge each of you to carry forward four principles that will guide you and ground you in all your endeavors.

1. Seize Opportunity — As we step into tomorrow, let us honor that each of us holds the potential to shape the world around us. Remember, it is always up to you to take the first step, and you owe it to yourself to follow it with a second. Use what you’ve gained here.
2. Pursue Brilliance with Humility — Never lose sight that our successes are meaningful because they serve something greater than ourselves. Let your achievements serve as steppingstones for others, and remember that the most profound brilliance is often revealed in the quiet moments of honest exchange and shared contemplation. Starve the ego, feed the soul.
3. Strive To Illuminate — Be the light that guides others. Take your talents, your drive and your heart and use them to illuminate the path for those who follow. Remember, you have the power to inspire hope and ignite possibility in others. Leave a legacy greater than just your achievements; and,
4. Lead With Virtue — Your principles define you; lean on them during dark times and you will see the light you bring to the world reflected back by those you inspire. True leadership is measured not by power or by accolade, but by the integrity and compassion you bring to every action and every decision.

Graduates, here we have laid our foundation for a life of purpose. We carry our principles forward with us, and we must recognize that what we hold is far more valuable than our individual aspirations — we are called to action. We must honor our boundless potential, we must foster the deep connections and friendships we have forged here, and we must never cease to see the beauty and hope we find reflected back in the eyes of each other.

We are cosmic in our ambition, brilliant, in so many ways, and bound — bound to our beliefs in a better world; to our lives as they intersect and recombine; and to each other, to the potential and virtue each of us holds. We are capable of so much, and we are driven to do more. And let us never forget that it was here — it was here — that we were pulled and here we pulled together.

Here at UTD our trajectories, defined as they are by our peers and our struggles and our many triumphs, present in us the opportunity of a lifetime. Here and now and forever forward, we choose to live and do with the greatness and goodness of ourselves and our belief in each other. 

Because we are Comets, and our futures are as bright and as high and as great as the sky we illuminate. That future is here now, Comets, and it is ours.

Thank you all for being here. Thank you to our families and the administration, and, graduates, congratulations!

Michael Wilde came to The University of Texas at Dallas from the University of Houston and is graduating summa cum laude with degrees in data science and biology with major honors and distinction. He has been involved in several organizations on and off campus including Student Ambassadors, the Transfer Mentors Program and the Exercise Physiology Working Group. He has conducted and published research with the Pain Neurobiology Research Group here at UTD and the Center for Excellence in Hip at Scottish Rite for Children. After graduation, he plans to complete a master’s in data science at Johns Hopkins University and attend UT Southwestern Medical School to pursue a medical degree in their entering 2026 class.