When champagne glasses clinked at the reception for the Whiting School of Engineering's doctoral hooding ceremony earlier this week, they celebrated not only years of hard work and academic achievement, but also a love story years in the making.
For 13 years—ever since they attended high school together—Jiawei Ge, a graduate of the doctoral program in mechanical engineering, had dated Run Peng, who lives in China, Ge's home country. After years of waiting for Ge to complete his studies, Peng traveled the more than 8,000 miles between Shanghai and Baltimore to watch him receive his hood from advisor Axel Krieger, an associate professor of mechanical engineering, on Monday afternoon.
At the reception, Ge turned to Peng, dropping to one knee and popping the question: Will you marry me?
"I haven't proposed until now because my days and nights were often spent in the lab, focused on research, dealing with academic pressures and financial struggles," said Ge, who was introduced by Ed Schlesinger, dean of the Whiting School, after some secret pre-event planning. "Run, thank you for waiting so patiently, for visiting whenever you could, and for always being by my side in spirit. Your love is the bridge connecting continents."
She said yes.
Image credit: Sam Levitan
