Because that's all that matters

As a few of you have noted, I'm in a weird position because I work (3 days a week) in Chicago, and I live (the rest of the time) in New Orleans. I have to deal with our friends at the TSA every single week, and while I could speak about the idiocy there, that's not what matters.

Rebuilding New Orleans and the Gulf Coast is all that matters.

This quarter, I'm teaching two classes: Database Design and Spatial Databases. In Database Design, they usually do a large database "reverse engineering" project. In the past, they have reverse engineered the database for the iTunes Music Store, eBay, and Amazon.com.

This quarter, it's more real world.

They are designing a database for FEMA.

They have to track storm victims, relief and recovery agencies, and everything from bottled water to helicopters. This will be a master database to coordinate hurricane relief efforts.

Why?

Because that's all that matters.

I make the students email me their project questions. This way, I can respond consistently to every student by posting the answers on the class website, but also, I can give better thought out answers to the questions. Last week a student asked "you said that we needed to be able to take care of 'what needed to be done after the disaster but was not'. What did you mean by that?"

So, I did my best to make these people care. I couldn't take them on a tour of the 9th ward or Lakeview or Gentilly or Violet. But I did show them pictures online. Pictures of people literally dying of thirst. Pictures of people stranded on roofs. Pictures of seniors without medicine or care.

Pictures of floaters.

Plenty of pictures of dead people. Plenty.

A picture of Vera.

Then, I told the class that if our system, or one like ours was in place, then maybe, one life could have been saved. Maybe, we could have routed bottled water to people in shelters. We could have routed helicopters to get people off of roofs. Maybe, we could have saved one life.

Then, it would all be worth it.

I think they get it.

Not everyone does get it.

In the Spatial DB class, they have the option of doing any project they wish. One caveat: it has to do with Katrina, or the after effects.

If I do nothing else in my miserable career, if I can make somebody care about us, then its worth it.

Because that's all that matters.

Comments

[saintseester]

Using a real life problem as a basis for your class work is a great idea. Incorporating Katrina is even better. I hope you don't mind if I steal it when we need senior projects topics this year.

[ashley]

Steal away! Fred Petry, IEEE fellow, the inventor of fuzzy databases, and now a guy looking for work (thanks Cowen!) is using the stuff for the spatial db class when he teaches it next quarter, assuming Tulane isn't just a remote campus for Case Western by next quarter.

[Tim]

Rock on, professor! What a great idea. If Mike Brown had been in your class a few years ago, perhaps he wouldn't have turned off his blackberry and enjoyed a fine dinner while people in New Orleans were drowning.

[schroeder]

Spatial databases ey? I ought to enroll.

[saintseester]

I sure hope I can get to town to see good old Dr. Petry before he probably leaves for places unknown. I cannot believe its been over 20 years since I sat in his class and first heard the term "fuzzy logic" - being the very bright Tulane Engineering student I was, the first thing that popped into my head was "wonder if it is better than a fuzzy naval?"

[ashley]

Petry ain't goin' nowhere...at least, he ain't movin' from uptown. We're talkin' bout a 9th ward boy made good, and he ain't gonna disappear.