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#BLM & Systemic Racism Protest - Statement of Support

13 July 2020

Individually, and collectively as the International Network of Engineering Studies, we stand in support of Black Lives Matter and other race based equity organizations as allies. Along with much of the rest of the world, we were horrified by the killings of George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Aubrey, and countless other people of color, past and present, who were killed or injured by the police, the armed forces, and others harboring bias and hatred. As historians and interdisciplinary scholars, we recognize systemic racism’s origins in colonialism, slavery, and the unequal access to wealth and technology that will not be corrected until there is economic justice and equality for all Black, Indigenous, Hispanic, and other people of color. We recognize that this is one of the main injustices in the world at present; this statement, or one updated and revised by our organization, will remain on our website until the inequity is resolved. We invite those associated with such movements to reach out to us for our support, while our members work to identify specific actions they will take to affirm that Black Lives Matter.

Within our own domain of responsibility, we pledge to do what is necessary and right to address systemic racism and other patterns of inequity within our organization, and to do what we are able through our scholarship. This will include an annual diversity and social justice review and action plan. In addition, we are engaged at present in a concrete action to bring the existing scholarship on engineering, race, and technology into broader circulation, and will continue other such activities.

Officers of the International Network for Engineering Studies (INES)

Atsushi Akera, Chair
Jessica Smith, Vice Chair
Alice Clifton-Morekis, Secretary/Treasurer
Cyrus Mody, Editor-in-Chief, Engineering Studies
Brent K. Jesiek, Web Editor
Gary Downey, Past Chair

With Additional Endorsements from the Following Members:

Ryan Hearty
PhD student at Johns Hopkins University, history of science and technology
(Also assisted with the preparation of the statement)

Ellan F. Spero, Ph.D.
Lecturer, MIT; Co-Founder and Chief Curriculum Officer, Station1
(Also assisted with the preparation of the statement)

Brandiff Caron
Assistant Professor, Centre for Engineering in Society, Concordia University

Antoni Roca-Rosell
Lecturer, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - Barcelona Tech

Amy Sue Bix
Professor, History Department, Iowa State University

Cherrice Traver
Professor, Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering, Union College, Schenectady, NY

Alice Pawley
Associate Professor, School of Engineering Education, Purdue University

Thomas Zeller
Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Maryland, College Park

Elizabeth Reddy
Assistant Teaching Professor, Colorado School of Mines

Jang Gyu Lee
Professor Emeritus, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Seoul National University

Andrés Felipe Valderrama Pineda
Associate Professor, Department of Planning, Aalborg University, Denmark

Peter Meiksins
Professor Emeritus, Department of Sociology, Cleveland State University

Dominique Vinck
Professor, Institute For Social Sciences, University of Lausanne

Michael Davis
Professor Emeritus, Humanities Department, Illinois Institute of Technology

Kotaro Kuroda
Professor Emeritus, Nagoya University, Japan

Kacey Beddoes
Project Director, College of Engineering, San Jose State University

Comments

My university and college, Weber State University (WSU) and the WSU College of Engineering, Applied Science & Technology, support Black Lives Matter and commit to bringing our students and partners into a greater understanding of its importance.