Location
About
President's Commencement Colloquy 2026
Friday, May 15, 2026 at 3:30 PM
EMPAC Concert Hall
Join us for our annual Colloquy, a lively conversation with our Commencement honorary degree recipients — two remarkable leaders at the forefront of science and health care.
Doors open at 3 PM. Colloquy begins at 3:30 PM and will be followed by a reception with refreshments in Evelyn’s Café.
Free and open to the public.
Watch live.
Featuring
- The Honorable Dr. Darío Gil
Prior to his current position, Dr. Gil was IBM Senior Vice President and Director of Research, where he was responsible for one of the world’s largest and most influential corporate research labs. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering "for his contributions to artificial intelligence and quantum computing" and is a globally recognized leader of the quantum industry. Under his leadership, IBM was the first company in the world to build programmable quantum computers and make them universally available through the cloud.
Dr. Gil is an inventor and an institutional innovator, the force behind the creation of the International Science Reserve, the AI Alliance, the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, and the COVID-19 High Performance Computing Consortium.
He has served on the President’s Council of Science and Technology Advisors (PCAST) and on the National Science Board (NSB), where he was the first member from industry to be elected chairman in 30 years. He has served on numerous boards including the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the New York Academy of Sciences, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), the New York Hall of Science, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Dr. Gil is the recipient of two honorary doctorates and received his Ph. D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT.
- Christine Ann Miller ’97
Miller is known for her people-first leadership philosophy, grounded in the belief that strong performance follows strong teams. She focuses on building organizations where accountability, clarity, and collaboration are embedded into how work gets done. Her leadership style emphasizes aligning teams around shared goals while empowering individuals to operate with ownership and purpose, enabling organizations to navigate complexity and deliver meaningful, measurable results.
Prior to Melinta, she held senior global leadership roles at Sandoz, Actavis, and Merck, where she led large-scale portfolio transformations, executed product launches, and drove growth initiatives across both branded and generic pharmaceutical businesses. Her experience spans commercial strategy, operations, and enterprise leadership, giving her a comprehensive perspective on how to build, scale, and evolve healthcare organizations in dynamic markets.
In addition to her executive leadership experience, Miller has served on both private and public company boards, as well as nonprofit boards, including Iveric Bio, BioNJ, and the Antimicrobials Working Group, along with advisory roles with the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association and the Lighthouse Guild. Through these roles, she provides strategic, operational, and governance oversight while contributing to broader industry advancement and the development of future leaders in life sciences.
- Martin A. Schmidt ’81
An accomplished researcher and entrepreneur, Dr. Schmidt holds more than 30 U. S. patents and has founded or co-founded seven startups, several rooted in his pioneering work in microfluidics. Prior to RPI, Dr. Schmidt served as provost and senior academic and budget officer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He earned his B. S. from RPI in 1981 and his S. M. (1983) and Ph. D. (1988) in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT.