Siddhartha Roy: Science in service to the public good
סידהרתה רוי: מדע בשירות טובת הציבור
Siddhartha Roy is an environmental engineer and science communicator who works at the nexus of water quality, public health and environmental justice. He and his team helped uncover the Flint, Michigan Water Crisis. Full bio
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the leaders dished out advice.
I will never forget.
I really was at the time,
in graduate school
actions of scientists and engineers
המבוצעות על ידי מדענים ומהנדסים
and yet surprisingly common
egregious environmental injustices
הוא אחת העוולות הסביבתיות
including thousands of young children,
drinking water with high levels of lead.
בעלי ריכוז עופרת גבוה.
and developmental disabilities
to growing fetuses and young children.
since the Roman Empire.
Legionnaires' disease.
of underground pipes --
is slowly improving
when an emergency manager,
to a local river to save money.
כדי לחסוך בכסף.
at government agencies
and in the federal government
for treating the water right.
and orchestrated cover-ups.
smelly water coming out of the tap
and federal levels completely failed
was left to fend for itself.
Flint residents were rallying together.
amazing women of Flint --
many grassroots coalitions,
and demanding change.
to outside scientists for help,
named Miguel Del Toral,
the Environmental Protection Agency --
and the federal government
led by professor Marc Edwards,
was indeed contaminated,
had been screaming for months,
for the world to see.
has been totally worth it.
in service to the public.
to graduate school for,
spend my life.
pastors, journalists and scientists --
using science, advocacy and activism.
והנחישות לפעול להגנה על תושבי המקום.
lead poisoning had indeed doubled
בקרב ילדים בפלינט
to acknowledge the problem
got Flint's kids protected.
and declared a federal emergency,
more than 600 million dollars
של יותר מ-600 מיליון דולר
their water infrastructure.
disregard for public health
והזלזול הבוטה בבריאות הציבור
at these government agencies
באותן סוכנויות ממשלתיות,
that are festering in these groups,
regulations and checking boxes
that an EPA employee wrote,
we want to go out on a limb for."
עבור הקהילה בפלינט."
could not be more obvious.
canon of engineering,
עם העקרון הראשון של מקצוע ההנדסה
the first law of humanity:
safety and welfare of the public,"
בטיחות ורווחת הציבור."
we've rarely acknowledged,
very much like medical doctors,
students fail to get that,
a character I deeply admire --
for his radical honesty
in the Soviets' mindless pursuit
על הפגמים הגדולים במרדף הסובייטי
coming from the top.
or offering feedback was unwelcome.
of engineers the world had ever seen,
in a gigantic machine heading for doom.
implored engineers
and social consequences of their actions;
was seen as a threat
וחסרי הפחד שלו נתפסו כאיום
had him executed in 1929.
is very different
still very common --
working in his ivory tower lab,
working in his cubicle.
from "Star Trek," you know?
because a recent article came out
as driven by "youthful idealism,"
כ"מונעת על ידי אידיאליזם צעיר"
their research funding and institutions
בהם הם עובדים ועל המימון שלהם
how just the cause.
involved in something,
of the academic community --
and professional obligation
את מחויבותנו המקצועית והמוסרית
all this expertise,
should be an activist.
consequences of speaking up.
this possibility so completely
we would want to pass to our students.
שנרצה להנחיל לסטודנטים שלנו.
"OK, all this sounds great,
"בסדר, זה נשמע טוב,
organizational cultures,
את התרבות הארגונית,
and professionals
our students right?
is focused more on creating
calls "excellent sheep" --
ביל דרשוויץ, כינה 'כבשה מצטיינת' -
timid, directionless
חסרי כיוון
when we were kids,
during high school and college
בתיכון ובאוניברסיטה
so that we can polish our résumé
and who we want to be.
in our college graduates
in the past two decades,
of disengagement
and the public.
and solve complex problems
ולפתור בעיות מורכבות
or be a citizen of this world.
או איך להיות אזרח העולם.
were explicit job preparation,
היו הכנה לעבודה,
and painful it was at times.
זה יכול להיות.
to great engineers, to great scientists,
ליצור מהנדסים טובים או מדענים טובים
on ethical decision-making,
that I deeply love and admire.
שאני אוהב ומעריץ.
school-going children around the world
בגיל בית ספר ברחבי העולם
as heroes-in-waiting,
to develop skills and virtues
כישורים ומידות טובות
and engineering like that --
are seen as key values,
נחשבים ערכים מרכזיים
to public indifference,
like we saw in Flint.
slash engineer could look like:
to master the sciences
their knowledge and decisions have;
their moral courage at all times,
שלהם כל הזמן,
and controversy
is to the public and the planet.
stand up like we did in Flint --
כפי שעשינו בפלינט -
כגיבורים או מושיעים,
actors that you and I can trust.
שכולנו נוכל לסמוך עליהם.
such a public-focused mindset
and during activities
will hold onto those ideals
את האידיאלים האלה
academia, policy making --
the president of a country.
challenges lie ahead of us;
שידע המין האנושי עומד בפנינו;
is just one example.
compassionate upstanders
שמוכנים לעשות מעשה
scientists and engineers
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Siddhartha Roy - Environmental engineerSiddhartha Roy is an environmental engineer and science communicator who works at the nexus of water quality, public health and environmental justice. He and his team helped uncover the Flint, Michigan Water Crisis.
Why you should listen
Perennially distracted, Siddhartha Roy has spent the last five years studying failures in drinking water infrastructure (leaky pipes), lamenting the way the water industry communicates with the American public and writing about the rise of perverse incentives in research academia. He also serves as the Student Leader of the research team that used citizen science, laboratory experiments, field sampling, investigative journalism and social media to expose the Flint Water Crisis. These efforts led to a declaration of a national public health emergency by President Barack Obama in January 2016, garnered more than $600 million in relief for Flint residents and informed a long overdue debate on "safe" water in America.
Roy is incredulous that quoting a free conference T-shirt in 2014 made him the "Future of Water." He has taken a step back and is now merely a "Rising Star of the Water Industry." He suspects Virginia Tech awarded him their 2017 Graduate Student of the Year award not for his "selfless service contributions and commitment to citizen scholarship," as they claim, but to deter him from spending long hours at cafes staring into space and get back in the laboratory instead. Roy also specializes in speaking with reporters for hours and ensuring only his cusswords get quoted, like this WIRED magazine piece. Grist.org’s Chip Giller notes that Roy "speaks with conviction, passion, and focus" but had Giller paid close attention, he would not have missed Roy’s talents as an accomplished "lead magician."
Roy grew up in India and is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech. Find out more about his work and writings here.
Siddhartha Roy | Speaker | TED.com