Danyal Siddiqui

Dear esteemed professors and teachers, fellow colleagues and peers, upcoming students and future graduates, returning alumni, families and friends. Today, we gather to celebrate the achievements of the graduating Class of 2022 at UTD. This festive, joyful atmosphere is most welcome, especially during these trying, uncertain times. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began a little more than two years ago, we have all experienced a sense of unease and hardship in one form or another. Long-held beliefs that our world, as a whole, had been progressing toward greater prosperity, mutual understanding and tolerance have now been shaken by recent global events. At times, we may feel helpless and fear the worst for what the future holds.

In spite of the adversities that we hear and see happening around us, I am proud to say that today, we, fellow graduates, have taken a major step in overcoming these and future difficulties by advancing our education. One may ask, “How can improving one’s education make any substantial impact on the world?” Well, my fellow Comets, the answer lies in how we use our newfound knowledge and skills to influence those around us. We graduates are the future for this world, and we must recognize that our speech and actions will shape what our world will look like in the next 50 years and beyond. Fellow Comets, I call upon each of you today to reflect on your journeys to this point and to begin envisioning your legacy.

When I enrolled in UTD nearly 11 years ago with the first class of biomedical engineering undergraduate students, I never imagined that I would be standing before you today. Watching UTD invest in its students through awards like the Academic Excellence Scholarship and construction of new buildings such as the Bioengineering and Sciences Building convinced me to stay here for grad school. I am ever grateful for the wonderful atmosphere and collaborative research environment that UTD continues to provide. During my senior year, I was unsure of what I wanted to do after graduation. However, after taking a biomaterials course taught by my advisor Dr. Danieli Rodrigues and then joining her lab, I found my passion in conducting biomedical research. I will always be thankful to Dr. Rodrigues, who motivated me to pursue research, as well as all the other faculty and staff in the Department of Bioengineering and Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at large for enabling our success today. So please give them all a round of applause.

Each of us has been impacted by individuals who played key roles in helping us achieve our degrees today. Whether it was a professor who wrote you a last-minute letter of recommendation that helped you to get an internship, a peer who helped you understand a complex topic that enabled you to pass a course, or even a friend who just ran an errand or watched your pet so that you could study for an exam, we all have stories about how small deeds of good will catalyzed future events that profoundly shaped the trajectories of our lives.

Now, my fellow Comets, it is our turn to pay forward those acts of kindness. After graduation, we will embark on new, different journeys and travel across the globe. Some of us will continue our education and pursue roles in academia while others will find jobs in industry and join the American workforce. Regardless of the path we choose, we should aspire to make a positive difference in at least one other person’s life. The founders, visionaries and supporters of UTD like Dr. Hobson Wildenthal and the McDermott family facilitated our success. In particular, I am grateful for the Eugene McDermott Fellowship Program, which supported my doctoral endeavors. Just as those before us left their impact, we too should strive to help others as we invent novel technologies, make new scientific discoveries and find innovative solutions to improve the quality of life and well-being of our and future generations and tackle global issues. Moving forward, we must build our own legacies that we can be proud of. Our lives are ahead of us and filled with immense opportunities, so go forth, Class of 2022, and seize the day. Make it your own. And leave your mark on this world.

Thank you.

Danyal Siddiqui came to The University of Texas at Dallas in 2011 from the Islamic School of Irving and is graduating today with a PhD in biomedical engineering. He was awarded with an Academic Excellence Scholarship and graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s in biomedical engineering in 2015. He then completed his master’s in biomedical engineering in 2016. He served as treasurer of the Biomedical Engineering Society chapter at UT Dallas from 2015 to 2019 and funded his fellow student organization with a Jonsson Family Bioengineering Fellowship that he achieved in 2016. In 2017, he received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship in addition to a Eugene McDermott Graduate Fellowship. That same year, he won first place in the 3 Minute Thesis Competition at UT Dallas. Since May 2014, he has been involved with research in the lab of Dr. Danieli Rodrigues, studying dental biomaterials. To date, he has accomplished six first-author and 14 co-author journal publications. In addition to research, he has served as a teaching assistant for several bioengineering courses. After graduation, he plans to continue with postdoctoral training in oral immunology at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio.