“Babies born early (by a couple weeks) typically have jaundice. Nurses in the 1950s had discovered that if these babies were exposed to sunlight, their jaundice went away quicker.
The problem, however, is that babies are sensitive to direct sunlight. It was determined that if the wavelengths of light were reduced, the same benefits could be achieved without the harmful effects of the sun. The downside, however, is that this meant babies were taken away from their mothers – this caused emotional and psychological trauma – to the mothers and to the babies.
This treatment continued until 2000ish when some engineers looked at this process and thought, ‘there has to be a better way.’ They developed a blanket that was connected to fiber optic lighting that produced the same benefits, but allowed, for the first time, for the baby to be held and nursed by their mother – now, how do I know about this?
It wasn't until my daughter, Ingrid, was born in 2013, a couple weeks premature, with jaundice. My family benefited from this group of engineers who sought to help people they would never meet…whom they would never know.
The happiness you all will receive from your lives will ultimately not come from your work – it will come from your family, your friends, your creative outlets, your hobbies, and the ways in which you elect to interact with your community.
To the extent that one has to work for a portion of their lives – the best advice that I can give is to do something that has a positive impact on the society in which you live. Make someone else’s life better, and let that be the satisfaction that you receive from your work. Make sure what you're doing is part of the world you want to be in."
-- Kenneth Marshall
Closing Remarks, M.Eng. Bootcamp
UC Berkeley