More than 700 Missouri University of Science and Technology graduates will be awarded degrees during three commencement ceremonies to be held at Missouri S&T in December. Dr. Robert M. Wagner, director of the Buildings and Transportation Science Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, will speak at the Dec. 16 ceremony for Ph.D. graduates. Mike Kehoe, lieutenant governor of Missouri, will speak at both Dec. 17 ceremonies.

All three ceremonies will be held at the Gale Bullman Building, 10th Street and Bishop Avenue in Rolla. The first ceremony, for Ph.D. graduates, will begin at 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 16.  The other two ceremonies, for bachelor’s and master’s degree recipients, will begin at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 17. Saturday’s ceremonies are divided by discipline.

Each event will be livestreamed via Missouri S&T’s Facebook page and on Zoom for those guests needing closed captioning. For more details about commencement ceremonies, please visit registrar.mst.edu/commencement.

Speaker bios

Dr. Robert M. Wagner leads the Buildings and Transportation Science Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee. ORNL is the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) largest multiprogram science and energy lab. Wagner earned bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from Missouri S&T in 1993, 1995 and 1999, respectively. He first joined the lab in 1999 as a postdoctoral research fellow. 

As director of the Buildings and Transportation Science Division, Wagner and his team strive to make science and technological breakthroughs in buildings and transportation to ensure a safe, secure and sustainable energy future.

Wagner previously led ORNL’s National Transportation Research Center, which focuses on early-stage research and development in transportation technologies. A member of the leadership team, he is a founding member of DOE’s initiative on the Co-Optimization of Fuels and Engines. This initiative combines the expertise of nine national laboratories, over 20 universities, and the energy department’s offices of vehicle technologies and bioenergy technologies. 

Wagner is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). He has served on the editorial boards of four international journals and on executive committees for ASME and SAE. Wagner has organized over 30 technical conferences and symposiums, has authored more than 100 technical publications, and has delivered over 60 invited presentations in 10 countries.

Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe has served as Missouri’s 48th lieutenant governor since 2018. Prior to this, he represented the Sixth Senatorial District, where he served as both assistant majority leader and majority leader.

Kehoe has been honored by the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association, the Missouri Association of Electric Cooperatives and many other organizations. As a business leader, he received the Time Magazine Quality Dealer Award and Ford’s President Award, and was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame.

Kehoe chairs the Missouri Food, Beverage and Forest Manufacturing Products Task Force. He serves on the Missouri Development Finance Board and the Missouri Capitol Commission and promotes Missouri tourism and the Missouri Arts Council. Under his leadership, the Buy Missouri program has grown to over 400 members representing 85 counties. He strives to increase awareness of state and federal programs for veterans, seniors and their families.

Kehoe and his wife, Claudia, have called mid-Missouri home for more than 30 years and are the parents of four children. He remains a businessperson at heart, never forgetting the lessons learned at Osage Industries and Mike Kehoe Ford-Lincoln. In addition to his public service, he enjoys being a first-generation farmer and working at his beef cattle production business located on the family farm in Phelps County.

About Missouri S&T

Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) is a STEM-focused research university of over 7,000 students. Part of the four-campus University of Missouri System and located in Rolla, Missouri, Missouri S&T offers 101 degrees in 40 areas of study and is among the nation’s top 10 universities for return on investment, according to Business Insider. S&T also is home to the Kummer Institute, made possible by a $300 million gift from Fred and June Kummer. For more information about Missouri S&T, visit www.mst.edu.