From the Fall 2017 issue of EHS Magazine

Bethany Gordon '12, the very first student to be admitted to the University of Virginia's newly launched behavioral sciences for sustainable systems Ph.D. Program, is already making her mark.

In May, Bethany earned her undergraduate degree in engineering from UVA, and in July she found herself entering — and winning — an international podcast competition that asked engineering students to address the question: How Can Engineers Change the World?

Bethany’s podcast was inspired by two summer trips to Gyumri, Armenia, where she witnessed, nearly three decades later, the devastation left by a 6.8 magnitude earthquake from which the region has yet to recover. More than 25,000 northern Armenians were killed and another 130,000 injured in that 1988 earthquake, and in Gyumri alone, 4,000 people are still to this day living in uninsulated shipping containers that were given to them as part of the disaster relief efforts in the immediate aftermath of the quake.

“In an ideal world, every one of the 4,000 people in this situation would be given access to an earthquake resistant, affordable place to live, where they could begin rebuilding their lives. But this is a housing crisis, and in the meantime, it is a humanitarian problem that needs the attention of engineers,” Bethany says in her podcast, which she presented at the 2017 Global Grand Challenges Summit in Washington, D.C.

“How can we help these families stay warm in the winter when the temperatures drop as low as 6.8 degrees fahrenheit? How can we keep their homes from flooding with a foot of water every time it rains? How can we dehumidify the domiks in a cost effective manner and prevent a plethora of health problems that come from living in a mold-infested home?”

Bethany has seen those mold-infested shipping containers, or domiks, first-hand. But, as she says in her podcast, one need not travel to Armenia to immerse him or herself in the life of someone living in a domik. Give an engineer a ten dollar virtual reality viewer and a seat on a couch, and he or she can travel to a domik in minutes. “An immersive virtual reality experience has incredible potential to impact the members of our global community that live in the worst conditions, and that isn’t something that we can afford to take lightly.”

Bethany’s podcast represents the intersection of two of her passions: helping people and virtual reality. As for beating out 150 other entries and the attention her work has received, she says, “I’m happy about anything it’s doing to get the word out about what’s happening in Armenia and how virtual reality could help. I’m happy that it’s making an impact in some way.”

"AN IMMERSIVE VIRTUAL REALITY EXPERIENCE HAS INCREDIBLE POTENTIAL TO IMPACT THE MEMBERS OF OUR GLOBAL COMMUNITY THAT LIVE IN THE WORST CONDITIONS, AND THAT ISN’T SOMETHING THAT WE CAN AFFORD TO TAKE LIGHTLY."

It was Bethany’s desire to make an impact and her commitment to humanitarian issues that, in great part, led her to the field of engineering. At Episcopal Bethany excelled in the humanities, but as she thought about college she was excited by the prospect of using science and math to address humanitarian concerns.

“I’m grateful for my background in the humanities, because it gave me a different perspective than a lot of other engineers. I’m also really grateful to my Dad for encouraging me to apply to engineering school. I think it’s really important to not only push students in the direction that they’re most talented, but in the direction that they’re most interested.”

Bethany thrived as a UVA engineering undergrad, and when the opportunity to go straight into an innovative new doctoral program presented itself, Bethany couldn’t resist. Admission in the program meant joining the research team of an accomplished engineering academic, Leidy Klotz, and helping to launch a collaboration between the Engineering School and the Darden School of Business.

“It was an opportunity I really couldn’t say no to. It was right up my alley,” Bethany says. “You have to take the opportunities when they come.”

In the program, Bethany is continuing her virtual reality research; at present, her team is working on an empathy study. “Do engineers have to be on site to design sustainably for the people who live there?” she wonders. “When they look into a virtual reality viewer do their levels of empathy change compared to when they are given a brief on paper or to when they watch a video?”

In addition to continuing to study the ways in which virtual reality might help engineers to make sustainable design decisions to aid people around the globe, Bethany is enjoying looking at how other technologies can help engineers to do their best work.

"I THINK IT’S REALLY IMPORTANT TO NOT ONLY PUSH STUDENTS IN THE DIRECTION THAT THEY’RE MOST TALENTED, BUT IN THE DIRECTION THAT THEY’RE MOST INTERESTED."

One of those technologies is functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), which monitors brain activity to measure things like empathy and cognitive load. “fNIRS allows us to see inside of an engineer’s head as they’re making decisions. By studying engineers and better understanding how they make their decisions, we could end up helping a lot of other people because engineers make decisions that impact so many.”