The Rackham Graduate Exercises ceremony includes keynote remarks by guest speakers.

2026 Rackham Graduate Exercises Speaker

Ingeborg Hochmair will be the keynote speaker for the 2026 Rackham Graduate Exercises. Hochmair is an electrical engineer and medical-device manufacturer executive who co-created the first micro-electronic multi-channel cochlear implant, which enabled the deaf to hear. In developing this tool, she expanded options for countless individuals with hearing loss. 

Hochmair knew from a young age that she wanted to be an engineer. By 1975, she was on track to become Austria’s first woman to earn a PhD in electrical engineering, when Erwin Hochmair (her future husband) and another surgery colleague invited her on a project to develop the cochlear implant, which created an “urgent” lifelong quest to increase accessibility for people with profound hearing loss. After completing her doctoral program and a Fulbright Fellowship at Stanford University, the Hochmairs returned to Austria and founded MED-EL, a medical devices company that aims to continue improving hearing devices. MED-EL operates in 175 countries today, giving children as young as less than one year old the opportunity to hear. 

Hochmair holds 40 patents and has received several awards for her work, including the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award (2013) and the Russ Prize for Bioengineering (2015), both of which recognize the impact she has made on society to improve the human condition.

Graduate Speakers

Do you want to share your Michigan experience with your fellow graduates? Apply to have a speaking role at Rackham Graduate Exercises! 

This application is now closed. The Rackham Graduate speakers will be announced closer to the ceremony date. Check back for more details!