Writer David Remnick Will Be Rutgers' 2022 Graduation Speaker

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — On Friday afternoon, Rutgers University announced that David Remnick will be their 2022 commencement speaker.

Remnick is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author who led The New Yorker magazine to national prominence. He has been a New Yorker editor since 1998. He will be the prime speaker of the 256th Rutgers commencement ceremony, which will be held on May 15 and will be the school's first in-person graduation ceremony since 2019.

Remnick will be paid a $35,000 honorarium for giving the graduation speech, according to Rutgers.

“As a New Jersey native, I feel tremendously honored to deliver the university’s commencement address this May. The class of 2022 will leave Rutgers at a time of great upheaval—in the world, in our own country—and yet it’s the passion and resilience that these young people show that gives me great hope in our collective future,” Remnick said.

Remnick was born in Hackensack and raised in Hillside. He graduated from Pascack Valley High School and from there Princeton University.

Remnick will also be awarded an honorary doctor of letters degree when he addresses the Class of 2022. The board also voted to award honorary degrees to the following individuals:

• Robert Barchi, former Rutgers president: honorary doctor of humane letters degree
• Aprille Joy Ericsson, trailblazing NASA scientist: honorary doctor of science degree
• Alondra Nelson, scholar and leader of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy: honorary doctor of science degree

Ericsson's career is distinguished by firsts. She was the first person of color to receive the Washington Award from the Western Society of Engineers, the first African American woman to receive a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Howard University and the first African American woman civil servant to earn an engineering Ph.D. at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

During her almost 30-year tenure with NASA, Ericsson has made noteworthy contributions as an aerospace engineer, technologist, project and program manager and executive. Her satellite missions have included projects such as the X-Ray Timing Explorer, Tropical Rain Forest Measurement Mission and Wilkerson Microwave Anisotropy Probe. Today, she serves as new business lead for NASA’s Instrument Systems and Technology Division.

Ericsson has taught at Howard University, the University of Maryland and Bowie State University. She has been named one of the top 50 minority women working in science and engineering fields by the National Technical Association and was ranked 8 of 20 on the 2016 list of the Most Powerful Women Engineers by Business Insider. Ericsson is the 2022 American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Ralph Coates Roe Medal awardee, the highest award bestowed by ASME.

Ericsson is also a proponent of underrepresented groups in STEM fields, actively serving as a mentor to countless young women and minorities and supporting them with a curated pipeline of scholarship, grant, internship and employment opportunities.

Ericsson earned her bachelor’s degree in aeronautical/astronautical engineering from MIT. During her time there, she was involved in several aerospace research projects and led the research for Manned Mars Mission crew systems for interplanetary vehicles for her senior project. She earned her master of engineering and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at Howard University in Washington, D.C., where her research focused on developing practical design procedures for future orbiting space structures, like the Space Station.