[Applause]
have you ever noticed how awkward public
lectures are some are slow time actually
and others have these awkward armrests
right in the middle which makes it
impossible to lie down if you are ever
tired we call these features hostile
architecture and it's hard to imagine
that someone could ever design something
like this except someone did everything
is designed with a purpose and with the
case of public features just like public
benches they can affect how attractive
or inviting our cities really are some
more than that though isn't hostility
towards certain populations if you don't
want people experience if you don't want
people experiencing homelessness in
front of their shiny new upper-class
neighborhood you make every surface
uncomfortable to stay on for prolonged
periods of time you see these
conspicuously innocuous designs can
affect how are giving harmful for our
cities especially since they ostracize
certain populations you see a slightly
different perspective would ask why
homelessness is a problem in the first
place and why we was all our privilege
perceived people experiencing it with
such disgust now I can talk all about
the social ramifications of designing
inviting fetches but the point here is
that if I a civil engineer a civil
engineering student want to improve
society through infrastructure I must
understand Society or at least attempt
to understand society itself and its
needs while civil engineering isn't
exactly designing public benches they
are a part of the built environment and
as such we must consider their broader
impact on society in a way we must
encompass
first ideas when designing my journey
towards engineering really started when
I heard this crazy story about a med
student who kept passing out on the side
of blood eventually having to drop out
of that school don't worry that won't be
interview all but I did one that's me
afraid I couldn't becoming weird I'm
gonna become a doctor I figured I'd
become an engineer instead I was drawn
to civil engineering not really because
I was into construction or bridges
rather because I read some work that
civil engineering is engineering for
society at the time I didn't realize
what that meant but I knew that I liked
people and that I wanted to effect
positive change in the world so much so
I came in to Hopkins not fully committed
to the major I told myself if there was
a different way to achieve my goal you
know changing the world I'd switch
majors what I didn't realize at the time
though is that if I really wanted to
achieve this goal
I couldn't restrict myself to simply
what my major was tonight I'm going to
introduce you to a different way to
think about our identities and our life
trajectories through a little bit of
graph theory not these kinds of graphs
this guy in math the graph is a
structure that shows relationships
between objects which I call beats using
links
I want you to think about who you are
think about your identity think about
your interests and passions I want you
to think about your perspectives and
beliefs because every moment and
decision that will led to where you are
right here right now each of these
moments is a meet then our stories are
like a collection of beats and our
identities are the links that tie them
together put simply we are the sound of
our experiences some beats are weighted
more heavily than others every event or
interaction affected you in who we are
and where we're going and as a result we
put ourselves in whatever position it
takes to get there within that means
taking certain classes or apply for
certain research positions or
internships for me the summer of my
freshman year I participated in the
Community Impact internships program
also known as CI CIP is a base emergency
program which they're students here
Hopkins with nonprofit and government
organizations to work with them for the
summer time to advance their that
organization's mission in whatever way
they can that summer my placement was
not even remotely engineering in fact I
was often out under the hot sticky
Summer Sun building gardens or driving
around Baltimore talking to people about
food insecurity issues through this
experience I learned to engage with the
Baltimore community and ask how ask
about problems and learning what
people's real needs work I learned how
historical and systemic forces put
people in positions far beyond their
control but also what grassroot
organizations are doing to give people
this power back
it was really just the first step that
fall I decided to return to CIP as a
peer mentor and I wondered I felt like
my peers here Hopkins were getting ahead
in their professional careers as I just
did CIP I wondered what I would gain
from going through this program again
they answered his interview lips off for
another year ago in Steve Jobs 2005
commencement speech at Stanford he says
you can't connect the dots in this case
bees in your life Wow looking forward
only when you look back we can cast the
future as much as we want but the truth
is we don't know which events in our
lives are gonna be the mo the most
memorable or hold the most weight this
was one of those moments the year after
I was a peer mentor I struggled to find
a simple engineering internship I did
everything I was supposed to I attended
all the career fairs I sent all the
LinkedIn connections I send all the
follow-up emails that you're supposed to
but nothing came through however through
a series of fortunate events I landed an
internship in DC really serious
unfortunate I started two weeks later
and there I had the chance to attend a
public meeting for one of the projects
that's at that I was placed on there
I witnessed the clash between community
members who vehemently expressed
disappointment at the lack of inclusion
of bike lanes for the street redesign
project that I was on in engineers
didn't quite understand the belief that
the community members didn't quite
understand the feasibility of their
requests because my CFS ENT doctor gave
me a unique perspective on this
interaction my first thought was to ask
who isn't in the room while it was great
that the community members came out and
advocated for their needs I often
wondered whose voice went on missing who
whose voice went on heard because this
read this public meeting which occurred
on a random Tuesday at 6 p.m.
doesn't quite tell who's in the
neighborhood who's affected by the
projects that were working on if I'm
gonna be an engineer who I'm gonna be an
engineer for the people I can't stand by
I believe I so you have such view
engagements with the public it's
imperative that we engage with the
public about our projects as much as we
do as much as we put them themselves or
is quite in the gap between community
and government now I couldn't made many
of these realizations without my CIT
background and since we don't know what
the future holds
it's important we diversify where our
ideas come from and in doing so will
increase our chance of having more
weighted beats so in a sense it's intent
it's important we intentionally
diversify our beats if we're pretty
rigid about the pieces in our life or
the areas in which we get these beats
from that our network is much smaller
however if we diversify our experience
is like really diversify though whether
that's taking an Xbox lots of zombies or
joining the fire rowing club or whatever
that means to you
then will give us will be allowing
ourselves to spend more time in these
areas while I like ourselves to create
new beats new memorable beats in our
lives
raise your hand if you're ever asked
what do you want to be when you go out I
believe that our parents subconsciously
limited our perspective on what the
doclet looks like through this very
innocent question we're training for the
young age today to be I want to be a
pilot
I want to be a lawyer I want to be a
doctor while this serves as a
rudimentary form of goal setting it is
severely limiting in our ability to
create but don't panic it's okay to have
these goals I'm just encouraging you to
expand and redefine and broad in these
polls if we don't give ourselves the
space to imagine we can't create if we
constrict our vision of what the if we
just if we simply aim to be we constrict
our vision of what the future looks like
to just a list of professions listed on
the last door the name to think that we
can only be robs us of enjoying the
journey towards achieving our goals
pilot puts us on a directed path to
achieving our goals it prevents us from
experience from straying too far from
experiences that might be that might
need more meaningful or memorable to us
I believe that if you want to achieve
our full potential or better yet gain
enough momentum to achieve our goals
instead of asking ourselves what do I
want to be we should ask ourselves what
do I want to do when someone describes
civil engineering ask for society it
made it so much easier to push through
difficult times while being open to new
and exciting experiences many of you
here are pre-med and want to be doctors
you might not be this is for you why do
you want to be a doctor
I implore you to dig and find out your
true purpose and whatever that reason is
whatever that Y is should be your goal
in itself realistically though what does
this look like you might be thinking to
yourself oh I still need that I say do
what you have to do complete order
please don't box yourself in your major
in the box that is your major or the
track that is your pre profession
instead let's create visions for
ourselves and think about waste and
leave the door open them for ways that
we can actualize them and in doing so
we'll give ourselves the chance to
create you meaningful powerful beats in
our lives so when that next opportunity
comes knocking on your door instead of
turning it away because it doesn't seem
to quite aligned with the path that
you're on why not embrace it
[Applause]