Honor to be part of todays celebration. To the graduating class of 2017, a big congratulations. I know when you first step foot on this campus during your freshman year, you could not believe how fast this day would come. Believe me, life only gets faster from here on out after todays celebration. The 2017 graduating class of the university of alabama in huntsville is made up of some 853 outstanding men and women who have accomplished so much in such a short period of time. These students have achieved countless honors and recognition , and thech, academics arts. Some of the most recent honors we have seen include students who have received prestigious recognition like the following being named you a age uahs First National oceanic and scholar,ic hauling winning first place at the National Organization for the professional advancement of chemists and chemical engineers twominute drill research pitch, papering a best student award from the American Institute of aeronautics and astronautics, winning outstanding student presentation awards from the american meteorological society, and Research Scientist and graduate student contributed to the successful detection of the existence of gravitational waves, a 100yearold i want to thank the director of the center of space plasma and Aeronautics Research was elected to the National Academy of sciences largely based on his work while here at the United University of alabama in huntsville. Becoming a member of this academy is one of the highest honors and american scientist can receive. As you can see, the uah community is being recognized for Academic Excellence in a number of ways. Great to be here in the rocket city and be addressing you inside the center on this joyous occasion. There isnt another Community Like huntsville in the United States with so much passion for rockets and space exploration. Every time i visit the Aerojet Rocketdyne huntsville site i cannot help but be inspired by role inunitys protecting our nation and sending explorers into space. Personally, i am thrilled with the work that our nation is doing to help realize the vision von braun and his book, the mars project. He outlines the Technical Specifications required to carry crude missions to mars. Today as a nation we are building the space superhighway to mars that includes a huge rocket, habitats, interplanetary spacecraft and much more. Just think about this for a moment, we are going to send humans to mars. The first human footprints in mars should be in the 20 30s. I believe that the students in this class today will be part of the reach to the red planet, designing new species materials, with new and made in new ways with new forms of communication including virtual presence of people back here on earth. Von braun was a visionary who truly changed the world. He is known to most people as the father of Rocket Scientists. He came to huntsville in 1952 in 1950 to head the armys Ballistic Missile program. Createdd the newly National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1968. Architect ofief the launch vehicle that sent our astronauts to the moon. Not only that, dr. Von braun was instrumental in the foundation of this very fine institution. I know he would be immensely proud if he was here today to see todays graduates earning degrees from an institution he helped to create. You are all part of that legacy today. Uah has given you an unbelievable education. You are ready to do great things and be leaders in this new american century. I am also a part of this legacy as i have the fortune to run era , therojet rocketdyne premier, coolest rocket provider , for the nation. Since the dawn of the space age, our company has built a rocket engines that have propelled hundreds of satellite into orbit aboard the delta and atlas rockets. We powered that mighty saturn five. We sent spacecraft to explore every planet in the solar system and powered 135 flights of nasa space shuttles. Yes, this is absolutely my shameless plug to encourage all of you to work at Aerojet Rocketdyne. I hope it is working. Aerojet rocketdyne is significant way growing their presence here in huntsville with the facility. Im very proud to say that many of our employees are uah graduates, or have sons and daughters who attend the university. Like you, we love rockets and space exploration. Uah, we love Aerojet Rocketdyne. I would like to say that Aerojet Rocketdyne enables the world to explore space and protect the nation. I find this to be monumental, impactful work that jazzes me up every day and make a want to makes me want to come to work. Uah has provided you the tools to reach for the stars. As i look out to day, and see all of the family and friends with us, i know you want to reach for the stars too. Your family and friends are immensely proud of you and they know, like me, that our future is in very good hands. A big thank you to the grandparents, the parents, the brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, and others for being with us today. These graduates would not be sitting here today without your words of encouragement, assistance and many personal sacrifices. Im sure your loved ones are very excited and proud of what you have accomplished today. I know my family has always been there for me. I could not have accomplished half of what i have done in my career if it had not been for them. It feels like just yesterday i was in your seats, surrounded by my friends and family, graduating from college. When i graduated, i thought i wanted to be a lawyer. Fortunately for me, i was in the army rotc program at school and that changed my life in ways i never could have foreseen when i was sitting in your seat. It was in rotc where i fell in love with aeronautics. Pursue a to curve career path, instead of becoming a lawyer. I am so glad i did. I mean no disrespect to any lawyers in the room with us today or any graduates that might be going on to law school. I was just enamored with flight. I was able to leverage my rotc experience to become an aviation officer in the u. S. Army. Which basically means i went on to become a helicopter pilot. In fact i attended Flight School right here in alabama at fort rucker, in the southeast part of the state. I have very many fond memories of fort rucker. It is where i experienced true southern hospitality. I immediately fell in love with the state and with the people. Alabama has always held a special place in my heart. I went on to serve almost eight years on active duty as an army the niceoften having opportunity to come back to alabama for advanced aircraft training. I would like to share with you a couple of things i learned along the way that i hope you can apply to your own life as you head out to the real world. The first, and i think most important is to be open to new experiences. I had no idea becoming an army pilot would profoundly change my life and impact me. As someone who has moved 21 times in her career, i have constantly had new experiences thrown at me. A lot of those experiences to be experiences moved me way out of my comfort zone. If you are willing to be open to new things, you will have really cool stories to tell when you are a commencement speaker. Life will definitely throw you curves along the way, the be prepared to meet them head on and excessive challenges your given. Many times these challenges will carry you in a direction you are not expecting were not expecting. As i mentioned, i was a helicopter pilot in the army, shortly after graduating from Flight School, i was in a very serious helicopter crash. The aircraft was actually totaled. The aircraft loss is lost its tail rotor and spun out of control before it crashed to the ground. I survived the crash because im standing here today. That accident was a Pivotal Moment in my life. When somebody experiences a catastrophic event, they have two choices to make give up, or continue on. And be for flying confident in my us skills that i obtained through Army Training outweigh any fear that i had of crawling back into the cockpit. Our greatest passions in life often force us to face challenges that seem insurmountable. You can conquer these challenges and they will shape and strengthen your character. Never cower from challenges born out of your passion. I would also encourage you to trust yourself and your instincts and have the inner strength to always do the right thing. This is something i have learned countless times during my career. When you have trust in yourself and you all yourself to very high expectations, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish. This fine institution has given you the tools to succeed. It is up to to reach for the stars. Trust in yourself to accomplish your goals with high integrity. Trust yourself when somebody tells you cant do something or that when you dont belong, i cannot tell you how many times i have heard that. Trust yourself to venture into uncharted territory, trust you are equipped to positively impact the world around you. Trust yourself to dream big for your future. I cannot think of a better example of this than captain johnson kathryn johnson, dorothy vaughn, and mary jackson, the heroes of nasa for trade the movie hidden figures. Against tremendous odds they trusted themselves, acted with high integrity, and were essential to nasa success. America is a better place because they reached for the stars. The fact that you are earning a college street today demonstrates your ability to accomplish great things. You have undoubtedly learned how to work hard, be persistent, and persevere. Trust yourself and you will achieve your dreams. Lastly i encourage you to seek out great mentors. I was fortunate to have great mentors in my life and many of them were my bosses. They always encouraged me and helped me realize my skills that i didnt even know existed within me. Among other things, my mentors taught me to take on the challenges that no one else wants to tackle, often those are the ones that teach you the most. My mentors knew when to push me into new roles such as running a factory with 100 people or running the coolest rocket factory with 5000 Rocket Scientist. They also knew how much i could handle and when i needed some extra guidance or help. Remember, asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness. Surround yourself with people who will work with you to accomplish your task, not for you. No one can achieve greatness alone. If you havent already, you will learn about the importance of professional networks after college. Mentors can be are advocates and help you navigate and forge those important professional relationships that you need to excel in your career. I am not here to tell you the setbacks will happen if you follow my advice they absolutely , will happen. No matter how hard you work, there are always circumstances that are out of your control, the challenge for you is to learn from those experiences. You spent the last several years working hard and preparing for your future, for today. It is now up to you to Carry Forward the proud legacy of a generation of Rocket Scientist who helped forge this great university. I know every single one of you is up to the task and will continue to explore, discover and venture beyond your comfort , zone and propel yourself to excellence as you reach for the stars. Remember, the stars to reach are the ones you need to define. It is up to you to turn your dreams into reality. Define your stars and get them. Justlike von braun dead, like kathryn johnson, dorothy vaughn, and mary jackson did. Just like your very own dr. Zhang is doing today. Reaching for the stars right here at uah. I mentioned dr. Zhang earlier. I mentioned how he was elected to the National Academy of sciences. Truehang, in my book, is a rock star. Not only is he a rock star, he is on top of his game in his field and his research in his science is something that we at Aerojet Rocketdyne want to support. Today, in recognition of dr. Zhangs academic achievement in inspiring students to a higher level to reach for the stars, and in the spirit of growing our and thehip with uah huntsville community, i am pleased to announce that Aerojet Rocketdyne is endowing a chair tospace sciences at uah support and recognize the great work of dr. Zhang. [applause] now i realize that i am the only thing standing between you and receiving your diploma and that is why you came here today, i will close with this, wherever your future endeavors take you, be confident that you are ready. Surround yourself with good, positive people. Embrace the challenges that life will undoubtedly throw your way and above all, trust yourself. This is your time to shine. I know your future is very bright and that you will work to create an even Brighter Future for the next generation. Again, congratulations to the class of 2017. Good luck, godspeed, and please dont ever stop reaching for the stars. Thank you. [applause] on newsmakers, rhode island congressman and cochair of the Cyber Security caucus talks about how the u. S. Should defend against Cyber Attacks and what happened with the recent rant mwearn somewhere ranso attack that affected 150 countries. Newsmakers, on cspan. A, author and and journalist tr reid takes a look at tax systems. I went to the world bank and the imf and i said, what is the good tax code. They said go to new zealand. New zealand followed the fundamental principle of good taxation, which the economist reduced to bblr. Our look at that means broaden the base so you can lower the rates. New zealand used to have a tax code like ours, hundreds of exemptions and deductions, very high rates. They got rid of all of them. They said, your salary, that his income. If your employer pays health insurance, that his income. Is income. They taxi on your parking they tax on parking. They are not giving deductions. If you tax everything and give no writeoffs, you can set the rates low. Sunday night at 8 00 eastern on q and a. Our look at 2017 commencement speeches continues now with starbucks executive chair howard schultz. He spoke to graduates at Arizona State university about his experiences growing up in poverty, and the importance of giving back to the community. This is 15 minutes. [applause] howard thank you for that generous introduction. I really appreciate our friendship and everything we are doing together. Thank you to the arizona board of regents, faculty and special guest. Congratulations to the graduating class of 2017. [applause] and those who are here to support you on this very special day