New graduates join Order of the Engineer

Pictured: Johns Hopkins engineer Lauren Gardner addresses new members of the Order of the Engineer at the annual induction ceremony held on the Homewood campus on May 25.

The Order of the Engineer ceremony, held Tuesday on the Johns Hopkins University Homewood campus, officially welcomed nearly 150 members of the graduating Class of 2021 to the engineering profession. At the ceremony, the students recited the Obligation of the Engineer oath, in which they promise to use their skills "without reservation, for the public good."

Ed Schlesinger, dean of the Whiting School of Engineering, spoke about ways the new professionals can wield their technical prowess and problem-solving skills to fight social scourges such as racism and promote social justice. "It is engineers who are developing algorithms to address racial bias in computer vision—a technology linked to racial profiling—and who are using data analytics to spotlight inequities in access to health care and inequities in educational outcomes," Schlesinger said.

Engineer Lauren Gardner, an associate professor in the Whiting School, also addressed the soon-to-be graduates. The co-creator of the pioneering web-based COVID-19 tracker dashboard that public health authorities, researchers, and the general public around the globe have used to track the outbreak of coronavirus, she has become one of the most visible engineers in the field and was named to TIME's 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2020.