Convocation with Bill Nye @billnye as speaker Beautiful message and advice to graduating Seniors of 2019. ( Sorry about my footage ) Just listen to his message William S. Nye ’77 – known to millions as Bill Nye the Science Guy – at Schoellkopf Field during Cornell’s 2019 Graduation Weekend. (Charlotte Lefkovitz ’19, chair of the Senior Convocation Committee)
“Bill Nye will inspire the Cornell Class of 2019 to be curious, informed, hopeful and empowered agents of positive change,” Lefkovitz said. “His platform of intellectual inquiry and pride in his Cornell education will make the weekend iconic and relevant for us as graduates. Having a fixture of our childhood serve as our steward into postgraduate life is exciting and feels very full circle.” As a science educator, engineer, comedian, television personality and author, Nye aims to foster a scientifically literate society and to help people appreciate the science that makes our world work.
Nye earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at Cornell, and he has visited the university regularly in the 42 years since. From 2001-05, he served as a Frank H.T. Rhodes Visiting Professor.
In 2011, Nye designed and funded the 12-foot-diameter clock atop Rhodes Hall. A 14-inch disc on the clock face illuminates for several minutes each day at solar noon – when the sun reaches its highest point in the sky.
Early in his career, Nye was a Boeing engineer by day and a stand-up comedian by night. In 1986 he became a writer and performer on Seattle’s homegrown ensemble comedy show “Almost Live,” where his character Bill Nye the Science Guy was born. The show was broadcast in the half-hour “Saturday Night Live.” The character proved so popular that he earned his own show, “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” which became nationally syndicated in the 1990s. Nye now serves as CEO of the Planetary Society, the world’s largest space-interest group. It was co-founded by late Cornell astronomy professor Carl Sagan. #cornelluniversity #gobigred#billnye #billnyethescienceguy#h2hcornell #h2hpeople #h2hquotes
