Congratulations Class of 2026
Welcome
Astronomy convocation will be held May 17, 2026, at 5 p.m. in the Illini Rooms at the Illini Union.
The doors will open at 4 p.m. There will be a reception following the ceremony.
Order of Exercises
Procession
Faculty and Degree Candidates from the Department of Astronomy
Welcome/Land Grant Acknowledgment
Tony Wong, Department Chair, Astronomy
Greetings from the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Alison M Bell, Interim Associate Dean for Research
Speakers
Brian Fields, Keynote Faculty Speaker
Varun Satish, Keynote Student Speaker
Presentation of Bachelor of Science Candidates
Tony Wong, Department Chair, Astronomy
Bryan Dunne, Astronomy
Alison M Bell, Interim Associate Dean for Research
Closing remarks
Tony Wong, Department Chair, Astronomy
Recession of Faculty and Graduates
Guests are asked to remain seated until the procession has exited the venue.
Bachelor of Science Candidates
View this year's graduates by clicking on the arrow.
Majoring in Astronomy
- Aadhavan
- Chinmay Ambasht
- Taige Chen
- Rachel Eleri Hoffman
- Anna "Nassy" Jackson
- Gregor McKenzie
- Chang "Nancy" Peng
- Alex Tomlinson
Majoring in Astrophysics
- Shatakshi Aher
- Sude Baltaci
- Ipsita Chaudhary
- Ellie Chen
- Cody Olson
- Damonte Woodall
- Suvinay Goyal*
- Thomas Han
- Michael Lukaszyk
- Aakash Matukumalli
- Kamil Musial
- Xinrui "Ricky" Qiu
- Yazhinni Rathnakumar
- Evan Retherford
- Adwitiya Sarkar
- Varun Satish*
- Sandra Vargas Tamayo
- Michael Whaley
*Also majored in Astronomy + Data Science
Majoring in CS + Astronomy
- Abhiram Annaluru
- Reid Faitsl
- Maxwell Fazen
- Rushi Kakkirala
- Anika Khandavalli
- Zyun Lam
- Anthony Smykalov
- Dhruv Srivastava
- Eklavya Tyagi
- Abhiram Vodela
- Michael Yang
Astronomy + Data Science
- Erika Fetyko
- Veronica Hoffman
- Rosie Jeon
- Kasra Vakiki
- Victor Liu
- Tarini Patel
- Nicholas Roder
- Aayan Verma