Penn Engineering Events

2025 Undergraduate Ceremony

Date: Saturday, May 17, 2025

Time: 2:00-4:00 p.m. (doors open at 12:30 p.m.)

Location: The Palestra, 235 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA

Keynote Speaker

Kristin HoustonKristin Houston (ENG’01)

Kristin Houston is the President of the Space Propulsion & Power Systems sector within the Aerojet Rocketdyne segment of L3Harris Technologies. The sector has propelled a spacecraft to every planet in the solar system and beyond. In this role, Houston is responsible for business strategy, financial performance and successful execution and growth of the sector’s core capabilities that span launch propulsion, in-space propulsion and power systems. She has created a culture which fosters innovation to develop technical solutions to meet the missions and challenges in space.

Prior to her current role, Houston served as the President of the Electro Optical sector within the Integrated Mission Systems segment. In this role, she led a diverse portfolio across multiple divisions, sites and countries. Houston led a 4,500-person team to work effectively with customers to design and manufacture high value, industry-leading Electro Optical/Infrared products, Space Avionics and Defense Electronic solutions across air, land, sea and space. Prior to joining L3Harris in 2021, Houston spent 16 years at Boeing and held positions of increasing responsibility in engineering and program management.

Houston holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and an Executive MBA from Villanova University.

Student Speaker

Lauren VelegolLauren Velegol (ENG’25, W’25)

Lauren Velegol is from State College, Pennsylvania, and is graduating with a B.S.E. in Computer Science from Penn Engineering and a B.S. in Economics with a concentration in Finance from the Wharton School.

During her time at Penn, Lauren was a dedicated head teaching assistant (TA) for CIS 1200, one of the University’s largest introductory computer science courses. In this role, she worked closely with faculty and students to enhance both the student learning experience and the TA program. She was also an active member of the Engineering Deans’ Advisory Board (EDAB), where she spearheaded several initiatives, including organizing the inaugural Penn Engineering AI Conference. Outside of her academic commitments, Lauren was a member of Hexagon Senior Society and previously served as Sisterhood Chair for the Alpha Phi sorority. She is also an avid runner and greatly enjoyed Philly running, completing six Philadelphia Half Marathons, as well as the full Philadelphia Marathon.

After graduation, she will be joining Blackstone in New York City as part of the firm’s Real Estate Acquisitions team.

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Further Information:

Please direct general ceremony questions to the Dean’s Office at seasdean@seas.upenn.edu.