MELBOURNE, FLA. — Mike Moses, the Florida Tech alum who spent 17 years at NASA before shifting to an impactful career at the visionary space launch company Virgin Galactic, will be keynote speaker at Florida Tech’s spring commencement ceremonies Saturday, May 10.
The university will hold three ceremonies that day:
- 9 a.m.: College of Engineering and Science (COES) undergraduates
- 1 p.m.: Nathan M. Bisk College of Business, COES graduate students
- 5 p.m. College of Aeronautics, College of Psychology and Liberal Arts
There will be 1,842 students receiving degrees across the ceremonies, more than 1,300 of whom are planning to walk the Clemente Center stage to collect their diplomas. The graduates hail from all 50 states, two U.S. territories (Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands) and 69 countries.
The 9 a.m. ceremony will also feature the awarding of an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters to the technology visionary Vikram Verma, a 1987 Florida tech graduate and former member of the university’s Board of Trustees with a three-plus-decade career of impact and innovation.
The World Economic Forum in Davos named him a “Technology Pioneer” in 2003 for his early work at Savi, which would revolutionize worldwide container tracking and security. Verma later focused on revolutionizing enterprise communications everywhere with the Silicon Valley-based cloud communications company 8×8 and its ground-breaking unified communications and contact center technology. Since 2022, he has served as executive chairman, Board of Managers for Genesis Digital LLC.
Verma served twice on Florida Tech’s Board of Trustees, rotating off in 2024 after nearly 15 years as a member.
Another distinguished Florida Tech graduate will offer the keynote address at each ceremony.
Mike Moses earned a master’s degree in space sciences from Florida Tech in 1991 and not long after embarked on a career in the public and private sectors that allowed him to witness iconic moments for our space-faring society, including the end of NASA’s storied space shuttle program and rise of private commercial spaceflight.
A believer in the power, majesty and importance of space flight for all, Moses is president of Spaceline at Virgin Galactic, overseeing the company’s commercial spaceflight program. He came to Virgin Galactic in 2011 after a distinguished, 17-year tenure at NASA, where he held jobs at the heart of the shuttle program.
Serving as launch integration manager at Kennedy Space Center from 2008 to 2011, Moses oversaw the final 12 space shuttle missions. At Virgin Galactic since 2011, Moses leads the Spaceline team in all aspects of safety, mission operations and FAA regulatory compliance.
All ceremonies will be live streamed at https://www.fit.edu/commencement-stream/.
