Dr. Yahfi Talukdar’s Alumni Commencement Speech at Stony Brook University Biomed Graduation 2026

0:01 Esteemed graduates and guests, it is my pleasure to introduce our alumni speaker, Dr. Yafit Talukdar, a proud biomedical engineering alumni of Stony Brook University. Dr. Talukdar is currently an executive territory manager with Johnson & Johnson Med Tech, where he supports electrophysiology programs across the Northeast. Trained as a biomedical engineer here at Stony Brook, he began his career in research before discovering a passion for translating science and innovation into meaningful clinical applications and products.

0:36 Throughout his career, Dr. Talukdar has led and mentored high-performing teams that partner with physicians and hospital systems to advance innovative cardiovascular technologies and improve patient care. He is recognized for his strategic leadership, commitment to mentoring, and ability to drive growth within complex health care environments while contributing to national commercial initiatives. Dr. Talukdar's professional journey is a powerful example of the many paths available available to biomedical engineers, demonstrating how technical expertise, leadership, and purpose-driven work can come together to make a lasting difference in patients' lives.

1:20 Please join me in welcoming fellow BME alumni, Dr. Yafit Talukdar. >> [applause] >> Hi everyone. There it is. Good morning, everyone. Esteemed Dean, distinguished faculty, and department administrators, thanks for your dedication to this program and to every student in this room. To the parents, families, and friends here today, you showed up through every late night, every stressful exam, and every moment of doubt.

1:57 This degree belongs to you, too. And to the graduating class, congratulations. You did it. Now, I would like to take some time to tell you a few things I wish someone told me when I was sitting where you are today. But first, let me tell you how I ended up at this podium. I was invited at this commencement back in February. And honestly, I felt honored, humbled, and genuinely completely embarrassingly excited.

2:28 So, I did what any emotionally mature adult would do. I told everyone. My immediate family, my extended family, my cousins, friends, pretty much anyone who would listen. The response was wonderful. Congratulations, high fives, hugs. It was great. And then I called my cousin, who also graduated from Slaughter and I told him. He goes, "Why did they invite you? I thought they only invite famous people."

3:01 So, I asked, "What does famous look like?" And he says, "Someone with a Wikipedia page." I want you to know I absolutely do not have a Wikipedia page. I am not famous. I'm Wikipedialess. And yet, I am here. Here's why I think I was invited. I'm one of you. 15 years ago, I sat in the chair just like the one you're sitting in for my undergraduate degree. Six years after, I was sitting in the exact same chair, same department, for my graduate degree.

3:41 Feeling the same anxiety you're feeling now underneath all the excitement. Since then, I've built a career with Johnson & Johnson Medtronic in cardiac electrophysiology, working at the intersection of engineering and medicine to help treat patients with heart rhythm disorders. It is the most meaningful work I can imagine doing. And none of it started with a Wikipedia page. My goal today is to share a few things I genuinely wish someone had told me when I was sitting where you are sitting.

4:12 Ready to take on the world, slightly terrified, and pretending I wasn't. Your career is a jungle gym, not a ladder. I want to talk about how you think about your career because I got it wrong and I want to save you some time. I used to think careers were ladders. Pick your destination, find the entry-level version, and climb. That model is dead. The pace of technology doesn't allow it.

4:43 Companies reorganize, job categories disappear, new ones appear overnight. You have to be fluid, willing to move sideways, diagonally, and sometimes backwards in order to move forward. So, how do you navigate a path that isn't a ladder? Ask yourself one question. What would you do if you weren't afraid? Because the people who thrive are the ones who don't. They move. And to figure out where to move, know your why.

5:16 Why did you choose biomedical engineering? It wasn't the easiest path. You could have picked something else. Why didn't you? Here's what I believe. Biomedical engineers are fundamentally dissatisfied people. The highest compliment I can give. We walk into a room, look at how something is done, and immediately calculate how it could be done differently. We're the fixers, the innovators, the disruptors. And our why is unusually clear.

5:47 Improve human health through technology. Most people spend years finding their purpose. You already have yours. Find roles that feed your why. As you grow, ask what impact you want to have. Then reverse engineer the skills to get there. And ask everyone whose career you admire, "What did you have to learn to get where you are?" You'll be amazed what they tell you. Now that you have the skills and the experiences, where are you going to go?

6:20 You're entering the most exciting era of research and technology we've seen in decades. Knowledge is more accessible than ever. Supercomputing power is at your fingertips. One of my professors told me something I've never forgotten. Solving an equation is not what makes a great engineer. It is figuring out what equations need to be solved that makes them. That's you. Your training in engineering, mathematics, programming, molecular biology, cellular biology, design, and research.

6:54 That's not a list of subjects. That's a toolkit that's a lets you look across disciplines, identify unmet needs, and piece together solutions that others can't even see. You are exactly who the workforce needs. Let me show you what that looks like. Every role I've taken over the past 10 years, I've asked myself three questions. Am I living my values? Will this help more patients? Am I growing? If yes to all three, I am where I belong for now on this stretch of the jungle gym.

7:30 I was once in a procedure on a teenage patient with WPW. That's Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. In a normal heart, one electrical pathway controls the heartbeat. This kid had an extra one. A rogue wire, and it put him at risk for sudden cardiac death. We used a 3D mapping system to build a real-time picture of the electrical activity inside his heart. The physician found the exact location of that extra pathway and delivered a single, precise energy lesion to eliminate it.

8:01 One lesion, rogue pathway gone. The teenager walked out and went back to being a teenager without a ticking clock in his chest. That's what biomedical engineering looks like in practice. And that's the line I draw between what I do and why it matters. Find your line. Whatever field you enter, find the human being on the other side of your work. That's what will sustain you through the hard days. And there will be hard days.

8:33 But you won't get there through You won't get through them alone. You get through them because of the people around you. Your friends and your families, the colleagues who push you, the mentors who believe in you, the teams you built, and the ones that build you into a leader. Which is exactly what I what I want to end with leadership. There are many kinds of leaders, community leaders, research leaders, servant leaders who coach and mentor, but my favorite definition comes from Marcus Buckingham.

9:03 A leader is someone who envisions a brighter future and rallies people towards it. A leader is an eternal optimist who sees tomorrow brighter than today. The opposite of a leader is not a follower. It is a pessimist. And we are not pessimists. We are obsessed with making a brighter future. Sound familiar? That is the description of an engineer.

9:34 You are no longer students. You are biomedical engineers, And you are going to build that bright future. You have graduated from one of the top bioengineering programs in the nation. You have survived coursework that humbled people who are genuinely very smart. You have proven something today that cannot be taken from you. That you can show up, absorb enormous complexity, push through when it's hard, and finish. You see a future that is brighter than today. There's no door you can't break down and no room that you don't belong in.

10:08 I don't have a Wikipedia page and I am not famous, but I sat in your chairs and I what I know what this moment cost you. And I know what you're capable of. I'll cheer you on. I'll watch your careers with genuine admiration and I fully expect that someday I'll be able to say, "I was there when it started." Congratulations, class of 2026. Now, go build that bright future. Thank you. >> [applause]