Dear Northeastern University families, alumni and friends,

This year the Northeastern University College of Science celebrated an extraordinary 1,683 Bachelor of Science, 618 MS and 62 PhD degree recipients! What a huge contribution of the Good Power of Science. At our joyous College of Science Commencement Celebrations, I explored the theme Scaling your Future with graduates. Here is some of what I said:

“Today, I want to encourage you. I want to encourage you that your future is sound, your opportunities many. When you came into this elite University, I told you that a degree in science is a stepping-stone to anywhere, and a wise investment in your future. That is true in any year, in any economic landscape. Now and for always, you are among the most employable people on the planet. Well done!

Today, I want to encourage you today to think a bit differently, about finding a path forward through Scaling your Future. For our conversation, scale means how wide an impact you want to have, how many people you would like to affect in your future career, whatever that may be. Why is scale important? Because in my view, your work and career should not only be interesting and useful, but should also be comfortable, for your health and satisfaction; and figuring out a scale of work that fits who you are is a most useful thing to consider.

Here is a story that spans two scales and will likely have parts familiar to most of you, that are very personal to me. It’s an empowering, important story about Epilepsy and the Good Power of Science. Epilepsy is the most common neurological disorder, actually a set of disorders, that affects 1% of earth’s population or 80 million people. I know about this very well, because my dad had severe epilepsy. Now, epilepsy involves seizures that happen when nerve cells in your brain, called neurons, that normally send out carefully controlled signals, suddenly send an uncontrolled burst of signals to the body, that cause uncontrolled movements.

In ancient times epilepsy was attributed to punishment by the gods or possession by evil spirits, and until recently, affected people were greatly discriminated against. Two things changed this: one is the brilliant scientific research that opened understanding of how our nervous systems work, and the second is identification of effective medicines that combat seizures.

My Dad’s seizures punctuated our family and my childhood. Dad was very kind, and smart, but his seizures were terrifying. Before I was born, my parents had journeyed to Boston, to the Massachusetts General Hospital here to get my dad treatment. He was prescribed a mixture of pills that he took for decades. But the pills only partly fixed his seizures and made him a sleepy, dulled person to whom words came with difficulty.

When my dad was in his seventies, he switched to a new doctor who changed his medicines. And just like that, amazingly, Dad’s seizures were controlled. And suddenly, he could think and talk easily. It was like a curtain had opened and the person who was really my dad was revealed. It was absolutely wonderful, and a wonderful demonstration of the power of research.

The understanding that seizures are caused by bursts of overactive nerve cells took millions of hours of scientific research. Every $ supporting the research has been worth it. In parallel, medical doctors and scientists began searching for anti-epileptic medicines. The challenge is to get medicines that dampen neuronal activity and suppress seizures, without the side effects like my dad’s. Over many decades new anti-epileptic medicines have been developed, none perfect, but some really effective. It’s a huge triumph of scientific research.

The scale of the impact involved in this story is complex. On one hand, the scale was small but deeply important to my Dad and our family; on the other hand, tens of millions of affected people have been helped, a huge scale. Importantly, the story is unfinished, because for one third of people affected by epilepsy, 27 million, existing medicines do not help at all. Today, we must have an unwavering commitment to perform crucial research that leads to crucial solutions for this and other disorders. The research $ are small, and the impacts are immense.

And now, what about you? What scale in your career might be comfortable for you? With the notion of scale in mind, you can explore your interests and be open to new pathways that will reveal themselves as you walk along your lives. Any scale that is comfortable is fine, and a great start to making the contribution you want to, to give you a meaningful path forward. I’m confident that you will find your unique, interesting, useful pathway, at a scale that is comfortable. I’m confident that you will take your excellent Northeastern University training and let it move you forward. I’m confident that you will be outstanding, empowered Science Huskies forever. Congratulations once again!”

As I complete my five-year term as Dean of the College of Science, and move to my next career steps, I want to thank you – our wonderful alumni, families, and friends for your important, generous contributions to science education and research. I am filled with gratitude for your connection with the Northeastern University College of Science. Thank you for helping every student find their scale. Thank you for being part of the Good Power of Science.

Warm regards,

Hazel Sive PhD (she/hers)

Dean, College of Science