WEBVTT

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Fresh out of college,

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I went to work for a consulting firm.

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During orientation,
the leaders dished out advice.

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Amongst them was one pithy counsel
I will never forget.

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He told us, "Be easy to manage."

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Considering how naïve
I really was at the time,

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I took his advice to heart.

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I told myself,

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"Yes, I will be the ultimate team player,

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I will do everything I'm told.

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I will be easy to manage."

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It wasn't until I arrived
in graduate school

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and witnessed firsthand the criminal
actions of scientists and engineers

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in the water crisis in Flint, Michigan

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that I realized how dangerous
and yet surprisingly common

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this line of thinking really is.

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Make no mistake:

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the Flint water crisis is one of the most
egregious environmental injustices

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of our time.

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For over 18 months,

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100,000 residents, including
thousands of young children,

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were exposed to contaminated
drinking water with high levels of lead.

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Lead is a potent neurotoxin

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which causes cognitive
and developmental disabilities,

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and is especially harmful
to growing fetuses and young children.

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We've known about its dangers
since the Roman Empire.

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Amongst a whole host of health issues,

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12 people died by contracting
Legionnaires' disease.

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Flint's water infrastructure --

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the complex network
of underground pipes --

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has been severely damaged.

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And while the water quality
is slowly improving

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and the pipes are being replaced now,

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more than two years later,

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the water is still not safe to drink.

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So, people are still in shock.

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They ask themselves,

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"How could this have happened?"

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The short answer is: the crisis began
when an emergency manager,

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appointed by Michigan's governor,

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decided to switch their water source
to a local river to save money.

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But it continued for so long

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because scientists and engineers
at government agencies

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in the state of Michigan
and in the federal government

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did not follow federal regulations
for treating the water right.

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What was more,

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they actively cheated on the law
and orchestrated cover-ups.

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They ridiculed residents asking for help,

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while publicly insisting that the brown,
smelly water coming out of the tap

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was safe to drink.

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The system at the local, state
and federal levels completely failed

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to protect our most vulnerable,

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and an entire population
was left to fend for itself.

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Now, amidst this injustice,
Flint residents were rallying together.

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Amongst them were some
amazing women of Flint --

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mothers concerned about their kids --

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who came together forming
many grassroots coalitions,

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and these groups started protesting
and demanding change.

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The group also reached out
to outside scientists for help,

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and a few responded.

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Amongst them was a guy
named Miguel Del Toral,

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a water expert at the US EPA --
the Environmental Protection Agency --

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who actually wrote this scientific memo,

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and sent it to the state of Michigan
and the federal government

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to bring their attention to this problem.

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He was characterized a "rogue employee,"

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and silenced.

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In collaboration with Flint residents,

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our research team here at Tech,

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of students and scientists
led by professor Marc Edwards,

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conducted citywide testing

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to prove that Flint's water
was indeed contaminated,

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even toxic in some homes.

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We substantiated what Flint
had been screaming for months,

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and put it on the Internet
for the world to see.

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Now, when I was getting involved,

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when I said yes to this,

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I had no idea what I was getting into.

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But every second of this journey
has been totally worth it.

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This was science
and service to the public.

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This is what I came
to graduate school for,

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and this is how I would rather
spend my life.

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And so this coalition --

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this unlikely coalition of citizens,
pastors, journalists and scientists --

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came together to uncover the truth
using science, advocacy and activism.

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A local pediatrician figured out

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that the instances of childhood
lead poisoning had indeed doubled

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in Flint during the crisis.

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And the state of Michigan was forced
to acknowledge the problem

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and take steps to correct it.

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This group and many others
got Flint's kids protected.

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A few months later,

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President Obama came in
and declared a federal emergency,

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and now Flint is getting
more than 600 million dollars

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in healthcare, nutrition, education

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and overhauling
their water infrastructure.

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However, the arrogance and the callous
disregard for public health

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shown by scientists and engineers
at these government agencies

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is beyond belief.

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These unhealthy cultures
that are festering in these groups,

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where the focus is on meeting
regulations and checking boxes

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as opposed to protecting public health,

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is just appalling.

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Just consider this email
that an EPA employee wrote,

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where she goes,

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"I'm not so sure Flint is a community
we want to go out on a limb for."

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The dehumanization of an entire population
could not be more obvious.

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Now, contrast that to the first
canon of engineering,

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which, in my opinion, should be
the first law of humanity:

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"To hold paramount the health,
safety and welfare of the public,"

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above all else.

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This is the Hippocratic Oath
we've rarely acknowledged,

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let alone embraced.

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And so when scientists and engineers,
very much like medical doctors,

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screw up,

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people can get hurt --

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even die.

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If our professionals and even
students fail to get that,

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society pays a huge price.

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Buried deep in history lies
a character I deeply admire --

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an engineer named Peter Palchinsky.

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He lived in the time of the Soviet Union.

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And Palchinsky repeatedly got in trouble
for his radical honesty

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and willingness to point out major flaws
in the Soviets' mindless pursuit

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of rapid industrialization.

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Everyone was expected to follow orders
coming from the top.

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Anyone asking questions
or offering feedback was unwelcome.

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The Soviets had created the largest army
of engineers the world had ever seen,

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and yet most of them were mere cogs
in a gigantic machine heading for doom.

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Palchinsky, on the other hand,
implored engineers

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to look at the economic, political
and social consequences of their actions;

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in other words, be more public-focused.

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His fearless voice of reason
was seen as a threat

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to the political establishment,

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and Joseph Stalin
had him executed in 1929.

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Palchinsky's view on technocrats
is very different

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from one that is still very popular,
still very common --

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that of a dispassionate researcher
working in his ivory tower lab,

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or a nerdy engineer
working in his cubicle.

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Brilliant, no doubt,

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yet somehow cut off from the world,

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shows little emotion --

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kind of like Spock
from "Star Trek," you know?

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This guy.

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(Laughter)

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Let's try and do the Spock salute.

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I don't think I'll succeed ...

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See, I can't be Spock.

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Thank goodness I can't be Spock.

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(Laughter)

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I was reminded of this distinction
because a recent article came out

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in a very reputed scientific journal,

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which kind of characterized our Flint work
as driven by "youthful idealism,"

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and "Hollywood's dramatic sensibilities."

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It asks scientists to protect
their research funding and institutions

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at all costs, no matter
how just the cause,

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and if you think you have to get
involved in something,

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even if it's an emergency,

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try finding an activist group or an NGO,

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and obtain the full support
of the academic community --

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whatever that means --

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before you get involved.

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Not one mention of our moral
and professional obligation

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of preventing harm to the public,

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or the fact that we have
all this expertise,

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resources and for some, even tenure,

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to, you know, accomplish this task.

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I'm not saying every scientist
should be an activist.

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There are real and sometimes very painful
consequences of speaking up.

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But to denounce this idea,
this possibility so completely

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so that you can protect research funding,

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simply screams of self-serving cowardice,

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and these are not the ideals
we would want to pass to our students.

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And so you may think,
"OK, all this sounds great,

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but you'll never completely change
organizational cultures,

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or imbibe mindsets in students
and professionals

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to look at their work as a public good --

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science in service to the public."

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Maybe so.

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But could a big reason for that be

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that we are not training
our students right?

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Because if you look closely,

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our education system today
is focused more on creating

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what ex-Yale professor Bill Deresiewiczs
calls "excellent sheep" --

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young people who are smart and ambitious,

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and yet somehow risk-averse,
timid, directionless

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and sometimes, full of themselves.

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Now, kids ... you know,

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we fell in love with science
when we were kids,

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and yet we somehow spend most of our time
during high school and college

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just jumping through hoops,

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and doing things so that we
can polish our résumé

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instead of sitting down

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and reflecting on what we want to do
and who we want to be.

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And so,

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the markers of empathy
in our college graduates

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have been dropping dramatically
in the past two decades,

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while those of narcissism are on the rise.

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There is also a growing culture
of disengagement

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between engineering students
and the public.

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We are trained to build bridges
and solve complex problems,

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but not how to think or live
or be a citizen of this world.

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My undergraduate years
were explicit job preparation,

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and I cannot tell you how suffocating
and painful it was at times.

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And so,

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some people think the solution
to great engineers, to great scientists,

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is more technical training.

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Maybe so.

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But where are the discussions
on ethical decision-making,

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or building character,

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or discerning right from wrong?

NOTE Paragraph

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Consider this project
that I deeply love and admire.

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It's called, "Heroic Imagination Project."

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A brainchild of Dr. Phil Zimbardo,

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famous for The Stanford Prison Experiment,

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this program seeks to train
school-going children around the world

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to look at themselves
as heroes-in-waiting,

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or heroes-in-training.

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So, these young minds work over time
to develop skills and virtues

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so that when the opportunity comes,

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no matter what that opportunity be,

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to stand up and do the right thing.

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In other words,

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anyone can be a hero.

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Think about that idea for a second.

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Why don't we teach science
and engineering like that --

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where heroism and public service
are seen as key values,

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because indeed, it's often heroism

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that is not only the antidote
to public indifference,

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but also to systemic evil
like we saw in Flint.

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And so, dream with me

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what a 21st-century scientist
slash engineer could look like:

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individuals who are driven
to master the sciences

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so that they can serve society,

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and are also aware

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of the tremendous power
their knowledge and decisions have;

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folks who are developing
their moral courage at all times,

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and who realize that conflict
and controversy

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are not necessarily bad things

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if our ultimate loyalty
is to the public and the planet.

NOTE Paragraph

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These are the people who will
stand up like we did in Flint --

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not to be saviors or heroes in the media,

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but altruistic and fundamentally good
actors that you and I can trust.

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Imagine fostering such
a public-focused mindset

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in classes, on service trips
and during activities

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during college or even high school,

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so that these young minds
will hold onto those ideals

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when they actually enter the real world,

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whether that be consulting,
academia, policy making,

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or even becoming
the president of a country.

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Some of mankind's greatest
challenges lie ahead of us;

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contaminated drinking water
is just one example.

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We could definitely use more --

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nay, we desperately need more --
compassionate upstanders

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and public-focused
scientists and engineers

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who will strive to the do right thing,

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and not be easy to manage.

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Thank you.

NOTE Paragraph

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(Applause)