While doing research on the process of rebuilding New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, I’ve run across a frequent critic close and knowledgeable watcher of the New Orleans rebuild: Robert Bea. I don’t know much about him except that he seems like a very nice man. I found this on his Berkeley homepage:
The world needs engineers who….
- whose truth cannot be bought,
- whose word is their bond,
- who put character and honesty above wealth,
- who do not hesitate to take chances,
- who will not lose their identity in a crowd,
- who will be as honest in small things as in great things,
- who will make no compromise with wrong,
- whose ambitions are not confined to their own selfish desires,
- who will not say they do it “because everybody else does it,”
- who are true to their friends through good report and evil report, in adversity as well as in prosperity,
- who do not believe that shrewdness and cunning are the best qualities for winning success,
- who are not ashamed to stand for the truth when it is unpopular, and · who have integrity and wisdom in addition to knowledge.
Please help me to be this kind of engineer.
Bob Bea
This can certainly be applied to statisticians as well. Please help me be that kind of statistician.
UPDATE: Just did some back and forth email with Professor Bea. He IS a nice man.
