CEE 5804

For my interview, I initially had trouble selecting and finding a participant to speak with. I was able to find several resources related to various stakeholder perspectives from congressional hearings. These perspectives included the airlines, the FAA, and representatives associated with airline unions. The documents helped provide additional context to the case and provided background knowledge on the case. Through a connection, I was able to identify an individual who works at Boeing and agreed to speak with me about their perspective on the case. The individual I interviewed did not wish to be named or recorded but I was able to meet with them over Zoom for an hour-long interview. I was able to download the “Live Transcript” and take notes during the interview. They currently work for Boeing in an Information Technology centered role. Their perspective as a current employee is useful in considering the impact of the 737 Max controversy and how it has impacted the company over the p...

Last week we listened to the different book talks and I learned a lot about different historical events related to ethics. I thought it was interesting to hear about the other topics and how the books connected to the course themes.  Overall, in each of the cases, there were examples of scientific misconduct and its impact on the public. Hearing about the Ghost Map and how the key actors were able to work together to find the source of a cholera outbreak in London was relevant to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The other book Plastic Fantastic talked about research fraud and I found it particularly relevant to the current culture of academia and research. It was nice to hear about the topics of the other books and make connections to course themes and relevant topics.

This past week I was shocked to learn of the case of Dr. Shawn McElmurry and Dr. Kasey Faust. Dr. Faust was one of our guest speakers and hearing her story firsthand was even more shocking than the initial readings for the week.  As a graduate student, there are many ways in which the system does not protect us. Dr. Faust detailed how her external committee member, Dr. McElmurry, not only misrepresented his experience in Flint but also used her work while keeping her at an arm's length from the other Flint researchers. It is horrifying to think that anyone on your committee would take your data and use courtesy authorship on one paper to misrepresent their experience to exploit a public health crisis. Hearing about these experiences made me think a little more carefully about how I trust and engage with others. While I do believe that there are good academics and advocates, situations like this make me remember that there are also bad players.