At this year’s commencement ceremony for the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, Dean Arun Majumdar implored students to “Be bold. Ask questions others avoid. Challenge the status quo. … The world needs your hope.”

It was the fourth commencement address the dean has given since the school’s founding in 2022. Speaking to students, faculty, family, and friends on June 13, Majumdar acknowledged the uncertainty the graduates face with artificial intelligence reshaping how the world works, learns, and creates. With uncertainty and transformation, however, come opportunities for scholars, he said.

“We live in a time of 10x change, but the greatest danger is standing still,” Majumdar said, paraphrasing the former Intel CEO Andy Grove. “Evolution has taught us that one has to adapt or be swept away in the tsunami of change.”

With the knowledge, the insights, the friendships, and the moral compass gained at Stanford, Majumdar assured the graduates, “you have the potential to be the greatest generation of the 21st century.”

“Carry your spirit of curiosity, courage, and service into everything you do,” Majumdar concluded.  “The world is waiting for your light to shine. And you are ready.”