This year, advance degree recipients in the MIT School of Science will participate in a Commencement ceremony on Wednesday, May 27, 2026 at 3pm in Kresge Auditorium.

  • Guests—up to 4 per graduate—will be welcomed at these celebrations and hoods will be presented to doctoral candidates.
  • To request accessible seating at Commencement, please fill out this form.
  • Answers to other Frequently Asked Questions are below.

For more information, additional accommodations, or questions about the School of Science advanced degree ceremony, please reach out to Nina Wu, Event Manager for the School of Science. For all other questions regarding Commencement ceremonies, please visit commencement.mit.edu.

Watch last year’s ceremony online (including ASL interpretation).

Advanced degree ceremony

Honoring graduates of master’s and doctoral programs in the MIT School of Science

Date: Wednesday, May 27, 2026
Location: Kresge Auditorium, Lord Swraj Paul PC ’52 and Angad Paul ’92 Theater
Time: 3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

  • Graduates, 2:00pm, line up at Johnson Ice Rink
  • Guests, doors open, 2:00pm four (4) tickets per graduate.
  • A ticket is required for all those ages three (3) and older. Children ages two (2) and under do not need tickets.

Keynote speaker

Alison Gopnik is professor of psychology and affiliate professor of philosophy at the University of California at Berkeley, and a member of the Berkeley AI Research Group. She received her BA from McGill University and her PhD from Oxford University. She is a leader in cognitive science, particularly the study of learning and development. She was a founder of the field of “theory of mind”, an originator of the “theory theory” of cognitive development, and the first to apply Bayesian models to children’s learning. She has received the APS Lifetime Achievement, Cattell, and William James Awards, the SRCD Lifetime Achievement Award, the APA Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award, the Bradford Washburn and Carl Sagan Awards for Science Communication, and the Rumelhart Prize for Theoretical Foundations of Cognitive Science. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Cognitive Science Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Guggenheim Fellow. She was 2022-23 President of the Association for Psychological Science. She has six grandchildren.

She is the author of over 160 journal articles and several books including the bestselling and critically acclaimed popular books The Scientist in the Crib, 1999, The Philosophical Baby, 2009, and The Gardener and the Carpenter, 2016. She has written widely about cognitive science and psychology for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Economist, and The Atlantic, among others. Her TED talk has been viewed more than 5.6 million times. She has frequently appeared on TV, radio, and podcasts including “The Charlie Rose Show”, “The Colbert Report”, and “The Ezra Klein Show”.

Frequently asked questions

ADA Seating

Please fill out this form.

Regalia

Please refer to the Commencement site for additional information about obtaining regalia for the ceremony.

Guest tickets

Each graduating student will be allotted 4 guest tickets. Guest tickets are provided to candidates who are on the degree list and participating in Commencement. You will receive an email in mid-May with instructions for downloading digital guest tickets (PDFs). The tickets themselves will be available at the end of May—they are not released on completion of regalia orders.

Where do I pick up my diploma?

For more information about diplomas, please visit: registrar.mit.edu/transcripts-records/diplomas.

All diplomas will be mailed to graduates.

More details about diplomas – paper and digital – are available on the Registrar’s Office website.

How do I order graduation photos?

Photo ordering information for the Class of 2026 will be mailed directly following the ceremonies from GradImages. Graduates will receive an email and a hard copy packet will be sent to the mailing address on file.

Where is my program and/or departmental reception?

Following the main school reception, graduates are invited by their home departments for program-specific receptions and celebrations. Please contact the individual program director or department for more information about the time and location for these events.