2019 Launch
On June 19, 2019, Sydney Brown from Buffalo, N.Y.; E. Yvonne Lewis from Flint, Mich.; Chief Albert P. Naquin from Isle de Jean Charles, La.; Robert Miranda from Milwaukee, Wis.; and Lena Young-Green from Tampa, Fla. spoke at the 126th annual conference & exposition of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) about their on-the-ground experiences with engineering interventions and their insights into types of community engagement they deem desirable and just. To our knowledge — please correct us if we are wrong! — this was the first time in ASEE’s history that members of communities affected by engineering interventions addressed engineers and engineering educators directly, calling for a better, stronger, and more equitable relationship between the engineering profession and the diverse publics it aims to serve. For event highlights, see below.
Distinguished lecture
Community Engagement Ethics – First Steps in a Conversation with Affected Communities
Background materials (in the presenters’ order):
Milwaukee: “FLAC, Get the Lead Out Fight City Over Lead Poisoning,” 2019; Award of Herbert Hoover Humanitarian Medal Deepens Divide Between the Engineering Establishment & Environmental Justice Communities, 2019
Flint: Resident Complaint Request Letter to the Scientific and Engineering Communities, 2018; Flint Accountability: Letter to STEM from Academics, 2018; Lewis, E. Y. and R. C. Sadler, Community–Academic Partnerships Helped Flint Through its Water Crisis, Nature, 2021
Isle de Jean Charles: “Between Worlds,” 2019; “Critics Say State ‘Hijacked’ Isle de Jean Charles Tribe’s Resettlement Plan,” 2019; “Native Community in Louisiana Relocates as Land Washes Away,” PBS News Hour, 2016
Buffalo: Clean Air Coalition of Western New York’s Response to the University at Buffalo’s Tonawanda Health Study, 2017 & Academic Research Policy, 2010
Tampa: “Tampa’s Central Avenue: Central to Tampa History, Central to Tampa’s Transportation Future,” 2017
Panel Handout: Community Engagement Ethics, 2019
speakers
Sydney Brown, buffalo, ny
Sydney is a humble servant of the Most High God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. A community activist and Board Member of the Clean Air Coalition of Western New York (CACWNY); the Black Chamber of Commerce of WNY (BCCWNY); and the Restore Our Community Coalition (ROCC). She is helping to address economic, social, environmental, and health injustices by raising community awareness and building community empowerment.
“In the same way that when your loved one is suffering a health ailment […], people [in the medical field] have an autocratic mindset that ‘we know what’s best and you should just listen to the doctors and listen to the surgeons…’ […], I’ll say the same thing parallels with engineers. While you guys have an expertise that we value and is needed, you also need to listen to the community, to listen to the family, because we live in those areas, and we can make your job easier — and to be more effective — when we have a dialogue as opposed to it being one-sided, to say ‘I’m the professional, and I know what’s best.’ And it’s not one-size-fits-all.”
E. Yvonne Lewis, flint, mi
E. Yvonne Lewis is a leader in developing and implementing community/academic partnerships, both as founder and CEO of the National Center for African American Health Consciousness and as co-director of the Healthy Flint Research Coordinating Center uniting Michigan State University and the University of Michigan with Flint residents in addressing the Flint Water Crisis.
“Our community is not seeking to ignore or dismiss the importance of science, scientists, engineers, but to utilize the lived experience, to work together with them — in this case, with you — the goal being to learn from each other to improve the quality of life for all, leading a shared value of experience and expertise. […] Residents began to do this work on our own. We are not dismissing the fact that we needed some help, and the help came, but sometimes something happens in the midst of when the help comes. And if there’s not communication, things get distorted, they get misunderstood, they get confused and ultimately abused. And what we want to know is, where is that safe place in your community that we can come to have these conversations, so we can work through our challenges so that they do not continue to happen.”
Robert Miranda, Milwaukee, Wi
Robert is spokesperson for the Milwaukee-based non-profit organization Freshwater For Life Action Coalition (FLAC), which has been spearheading efforts to achieve policy changes in the Milwaukee Health Department, ensure the full replacement of lead service lines, and improve the local water utility's approach to lead in drinking water.
“The community respected that engineer, but that engineer did not respect the community. But, that engineer, I guess, comes from a different generation, where that mindset was ‘I’m the one coming here with the skills, I’m the one coming here knowing what your problem is, and you’re gonna listen to the way this is going to be resolved,’ which did not sit well with me and the community. […] Our concern, our focus here, is for us to share with you that if you respect us, the work between us will be beneficial to you and will be beneficial to the community. And we can all work together to find the way to create that stability we all desire in our lives and to improve the quality of life that we’re all seeking — with your work, with our input, we could all make this happen together.”
albert p. naquin, Isle de Jean Charles, La
Chief Albert P. Naquin is the Traditional Chief of the Isle de Jean Charles Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Indians, located in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. A strong advocate for his people and homeland, he has represented his Tribe on numerous occasions at the State, Federal and National level including a visit to the United Nations in 2010. He is a Vietnam veteran and Ambassador for the Native Americans of the Louisiana Gulf Coast.
“We are washing away rapidly. I guess we had like 33,000 acres of land when I was a child and now we probably have less than 300 acres. So we used to live off the land, now we just live on it. […] Cause people was actually leaving the community, so we figured we needed to put our community back together […]. Actually I’m an Indian Chief, so I have to put our people back together. […] I believe your work is more than just a plan and specification; your work is more than just creating a design for the clients; your work impacts people, communities, and landscape; you have a responsibility to be aware of the negative impact of the work that you engage in.”
“Community people do community work, and there are some parts of community work that surface above others. In doing our community work, we know that equitable transportation is important to our community and it affects us on all levels — economically, socially, and all other levels — so that’s one of the driving forces for us. […] We want solutions, so we’ve been fighting for many years. Now we’ve come up with several solutions that we think we want to propose and we need engineers to help us.”
Lena Young-Green, tampa, FL
Lena is the founder of Tampa Heights Junior Civic Association and a longtime community activist working for equitable and safe transportation. She worked as senior legislative assistant in the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida Senate. Her group led opposition to the Florida Department of Transportation’s plans for widening of Interstates and was able to force changes to the Tampa Bay Express (TBX) plans.
Moderator
Darshan Karwat, Phd
Darshan is assistant professor with a joint appointment in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society and The Polytechnic School at Arizona State University, where he runs re-Engineered, an interdisciplinary group that embeds peace, social justice, and environmental protection in engineering.
organizers
Nathan Canney, PhD, PE
Nathan conducts research on engineering education, specifically the development of social responsibility in engineering students. Other areas of interest include ethics, service learning, and sustainability education. He taught in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Seattle University for four years and now works in private consulting.
Yanna Lambrinidou, PhD
Yanna is affiliate faculty in the Department of Science, Technology, and Society at Virginia Tech and cofounder of the Campaign for Lead Free Water. Her teaching module “Learning to Listen,” which employs an ethnographic approach to ethics instruction that foregrounds the technical and moral relevance of community knowledges, experiences, and values, was recognized by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) as exemplary in infusing ethics into engineering education.