Jay Keasling, Delt Alumnus, Delivers Commencement Address
Dr. Jay Keasling (Beta Tau, 1986), Delt Alumnus, delivered the undergraduate commencement address to the graduating students of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on May 14, 2022 at Memorial Stadium.
Photo by Craig Chandler / University Communication.
Brother Keasling is the Philomathia Professor of Alternative Energy at the University of California, Berkley where he has served on the faculty for over 25 years. Keasling’s past research work has made a significant impact on developing countries suffering from malaria. His work served in the engineering and development of a synthetic version of an anti-malarial drug that was too expensive to produce naturally. The work has reduced both the cost and time to produce. It has gone on to benefit over 15 million people!
Background
As an undergraduate from Harvard, Nebraska, Brother Keasling was a Regent’s Scholar and served Beta Tau Chapter as vice-president. Following graduation, Keasling attended the University of Michigan where he earned a Ph.D. in chemical engineering. He completed post-doctoral work at Stanford University before taking a faculty position at Berkley.
Commencement Message
In his commencement address, Brother Keasling encouraged graduates to take risks while they are young and have less to lose. He emphasized that most successful people he knows have failed far more often than they have succeeded.
When you leave here today, start taking risks. Don’t be afraid to fail. If you do, you will learn and you will have successes later. And given the audience I am speaking to, many of those big risks will turn into high payoffs for you and society.
Dr. Jay Keasling (Beta Tau, 1986)
Brother Keasling also received an honorary Doctor of Science degree during the ceremony. Congratulations, Brother Keasling! You inspire Delts in our value of “Stregthening Community is Essential to Our Vitality”.