WISE RP's Lilian Prize

From 1935-1936, Lillian Waratt lived in Mosher Jordan Residence Hall at the University of Michigan and was studying to become a dental hygienist. During a time when it was very unusual to see a woman pursuing a college degree in science/engineering, it was exceptional that Lillian, one of four children from an immigrant family that had suffered during the depression, dedicated herself to earning this certificate. After a year of hard work, Lillian passed all of her state certification exams and graduated in May of 1936, after which time she moved to New York City. Sadly, not a year after graduating from the University of Michigan, Lillian was stricken with a streptococcus infection in a time just before the availability of penicillin and, in February of 1937, she passed away.

In order to commemorate Lillian, who was a bright, friendly young woman with recognizable leadership qualities, Lillian’s sisters, Marilynn Rosenthal, a professor and scholar at UM, Adeline Sirota, a retired businesswoman, and Harriet Berg, a modern dance teacher and choreographer, started the Lillian Prize Scholarship. Because the Women in Science and Engineering Residence Program is located in Mosher Jordan Residence Hall, the sisters agreed that it was the perfect home for the scholarship. Now in its seventh year, the $300 award is granted to a current WISE RP resident as part of an essay writing contest. This year, WISE RP students had to submit an essay that addressed the following question:

Science, Engineering and Ethics have become inherently intertwined and hotly debated in the past several years. As many of our WISE Nights have suggested, technology today is advancing extremely quickly; however, many argue that we’re advancing too quickly to consider the ethical consequences of our decisions. With these ideas in mind, choose an area of science or engineering that interests you and write an essay that briefly describes the ethical dilemma and that addresses the following question, “Who has the right and/or the expertise to decide what is ethically correct?” Consider the following key players when writing your essay: Scientists, Policy Makers, the Public, the President, the individual.

This year’s winner was Leah Ettema, a second-year student and WISE RP Program Board member who is studying Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. Here is an excerpt from her essay called, “Small Cells, Big Impact”:

In an age where 1,000 songs can be stored on a device half the size of a graham cracker, people can live with artificial hearts, and hydrogen may be the next fuel source, the rapid pace at which technology is advancing may not leave room for society to consider the ethical questions that arise from it. In the biomedical field, new technology often involves matters of life or death, and is therefore more controversial than most other issues. It is for this reason that new technology resulting in stem cell research can not be used without considering the moral questions surrounding it. However, just as any other program in America, democracy must determine how ethical issues should guide the future of stem cell research.
~Leah Ettema, 2006

April 2006 eNews

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