Opinion: Engineering optimism fuels problem solving
Lately, it’s been easy to focus on what seems to be a steady drumbeat of bad news and tragedy — enough to make me reluctant to open the paper or turn on the television. And while I am extremely troubled and saddened by it all, as an engineer, my instinct is to focus not on problems, but on how to address them That’s the beauty of engineering — as problem solvers, we’re on the front lines of being able to take real steps toward improving things.
And every day at NYU Tandon I see reasons for optimism. I’m buoyed by our community’s transformational work to address the issues plaguing society, including that NYU Tandon Institute Professor Maurizio Porfiri has received one of the first authorized federal grants to study U.S. gun violence and is harnessing the power of data to find ways to reduce harm while protecting the rights of responsible gun owners.
Associate Professor Rumi Chunara and her colleagues are engaged in making sure that healthcare is equitable and accessible to all by ensuring practitioners take the data that matters into account at the point-of-care. In addition, a multidisciplinary team of more than 20 researchers has joined forces specifically to tackle climate change and environmental contamination. One of their projects involves reducing emissions from petrochemical manufacturing, ensuring that a solution not only cleans up the process and protects the planet but is profitable for the industry.