LSU Alumnus and CDC Scientist James Lange Addresses Fall Graduates

 The LSU College of Science hosted is fall 2015 diploma ceremony, Friday, December 18 in Maddox Fieldhouse. More than 140 degrees were conferred including 29 PhDs, 12 master’s degrees and 108 bachelor’s degrees. Dr. James Lange, distinguished LSU alumnus and research scientist with the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, gave the keynote address.

“Today, you are joining a proud cadre of graduates to wear the purple and gold,” said Dr. Lange.

He also encouraged the graduates to be generous with their time and resources to help move the college and the university forward.

“I really want to impress upon you that the groundwork has been laid and now it is up to you to go out and prove yourself,” said Dr. Lange.

Dr. Lange has been a health and research scientist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta for more than 25 years. He made history as part of the CDC team that discovered the Ebola virus in 1976 and is a co-author of the article documenting the virus’ discovery and naming, which was published in The Lancet, March 12,1977. Still working on the front lines of infectious disease issues, he was among the initial responders to the Ebola outbreak in March 2014. He deployed to Liberia, West Africa, from November to December 2014, where he was assigned to an epidemiology and surveillance team in Bong County, located in the north-central part of Liberia. He returned to West Africa from June through August 2015, this time to Sierra Leone, where he supervised the Immunogenicity Sub-Study of the Ebola Vaccine Study. His work will yield vital data to assess the effectiveness and safety of the Vesicular Stomatitis Virus – Ebola construct vaccine.

Dr. Lange recently completed a third deployment to Sierra Leone in November and will deploy again in January.

The fall graduates come from 12 countries, 15 states and 27 parishes in Louisiana. The oldest undergraduate was 43, and the youngest was 21. The oldest graduate student was 53 and the youngest is 23. 

  • 52 percent of the undergraduates were women
  • 48 percent of the undergraduate were men
  • 40 percent of the graduates were women
  • 60 percent of the graduate were men

Of the 108 bachelors degree recipients, 23 earned Latin honors, three earned the University Medal, LSU’s highest honor, and two earned upper division honors and college honors, the highest recognitions given by this college and the Honors College.

The college also conferred two degrees posthumously. In April, two beloved and vibrant members of our LSU family were taken from us in a tragic accident. At the time of their deaths, Anton Joe and Ishita Maity were pursuing graduate degrees in physics. Joes' father and sister traveled from India to attend the ceremony. Anton Joe’s father was awarded the PhD in his honor and Maity’s faculty advisor Juhan Frank accepted the M.S. degree in Maity's honor. 

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