Remember the Moment, says Student Commencement Speaker

June 5, 2025 - Gordon Ko, the engineering student commencement speaker, believes everyone has a moment when they were inspired to become an engineer. For him, there were two – as a helpless patient. The first happened when he was four. He was terrified when he saw red rash spots appearing all over his body. The dermatologist reassured him when he said it was just eczema and administered treatment that healed him. It was then that Ko decided to become a doctor. “I wanted to be that person who restores other people’s self-belief and their potential,” he said.

As he grew older, he threw himself into watching medical dramas but discovered he couldn’t stomach the scenes where doctors pierce people’s skin, causing blood to squirt out. Later, a medical emergency would spark a new possibility. When he was on a trip to Vietnam, he was struck with a painful eye infection so severe it threatened his eyesight. On the spot, doctors created a steroidal and antibacterial eye drop that he used every half hour. Three weeks later, he was cured.

Made whole again by modern medication, Ko pivoted his aspirations to chemical engineering so he could help develop drugs. At UC Irvine’s Samuel School of Engineering, he has worked as an undergraduate researcher in drug delivery and vaccine development in Szu-wen Wang’s lab and in cutting-edge tissue engineering in Quinton Smith’s lab. He plans to earn a doctorate in chemical engineering and aims to develop new vaccines and treatments as a research scientist, and ultimately become a professor, as he loves mentoring students.

Ko comes across as affable and outgoing and will be speaking to over 1,000 fellow graduates at commencement. But he said he was an introvert in high school and freshman year at UCI, when he just went to classes and back to his dorm every day. “I think UCI’s engineering student organizations and the support from the school really helped me come out of my shell and develop my public speaking, confidence, and leadership experiences,” Ko said.

He later became active in the Engineering Student Council, volunteered as a chemistry tutor and became president of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers student chapter (AIChE) at UCI. When he joined AIChE, only five people showed up at the meeting. A year later, the number would regularly be tenfold. By then, he had established new programs and divisions, including mentorship, community outreach, industry relations, and faculty and academic directors.

“I know what it’s like to be like that hopeless freshman,” he said. Ko helped build a community where people could discover the school’s resources, meet friends and mentors, and build their confidence. In 2025, AIChE was voted Best Engineering Organization of the Year at UCI.

Like many engineering students, Ko would say studying engineering is difficult. But he believes the degree means so much more because of the challenges they’ve had to endure. “You do hard things,” Ko said. “After doing the hard things, it becomes normal and that’s who you are.”

His parents are flying in for commencement from Hong Kong, where he spent his childhood. The family moved to England when Ko was in junior high and then to St. Louis, Missouri when he was in high school. Ko said he is deeply grateful for his parents’ hard work and the sacrifices they’ve made for his education. They instilled in him that “hard work is key,” no matter where you start in life. 

Ko looks forward to speaking at commencement on June 14. One thing he’d like fellow graduates to remember is the moment that inspired them to get into engineering. “For me, it was fighting diseases and getting healed by the doctors who treated me,” Ko said. “Ultimately, it’s the people you care about and love who make you want to go into engineering and create a better world.”