IMPACT

 

Dear SYDE ’98,

 

Thirty years ago, more than seventy of the most promising young minds in the country found themselves, for the first time, in the same room, in the same program, at the same moment in history. We came expecting to be told what engineers do; instead, in that very first one‑hour class, we were introduced—professor by professor—to a different word entirely: 

 

If...

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If you treat a patient, a building, a city as a system. If you move this constraint, or change that variable, or redesign this interface, what happens to the people on the other side of your decisions. Each voice at the front of the room added another conditional, another way the future might unfold if someone with our abilities chose to lean into it.

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Over the decades, I’ve often thought about the word that could have come next—not if we would make a difference, but 

 

When...

 

When our work would silently prevent failures no one else saw coming, when the models and systems we built would reshape products, policies, and lives, when the edge of what was possible would move because someone from our class was standing on it.

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At our 25th reunion I said aloud what had been obvious to me for years: you are the single most capable, gifted, genius level group of engineers I have ever met. You are, in every meaningful sense, the one percent of the one percent.

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Which brings me to a project I am calling IMPACT.

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IMPACT is an invitation to explore the regional or global impacts you have had on the world through your career as a Systems Design Engineer from the class of ’98—a compilation of stories that recognize each of you and illuminate our collective contributions. The idea is simple:

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·       Each of us shares one story (or a small cluster) that captures where our work has made a real difference—on a system, a community, an industry, or a field.

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·       I will gather and assemble these into a book—Impact—that celebrates who we became and what we have quietly changed.

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·       The finished work will be shared with future Systems Design cohorts, both as something they can read when they are considering their path and as a piece highlighted on their first day of class—our unique voice speaking directly to future generations.

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If you’re willing to take part, here’s what I’d love from you:

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1.     A short narrative (roughly 500–1,500 words) about one impact you’re proud of. It doesn’t have to be the biggest or most prestigious—just something that feels true to the kind of engineer you became.

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2.     A few lines of context: where you’ve spent most of your career, what you work on now, and how you see Systems Design shaping the way you think and act.

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3.     Optional: a photo (of you or of something that represents your work) and permission to include your name, or to anonymize the story if you prefer.

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4.     Optional: a Zoom call and informal discussion about your journey

The goal is to provide an honest account of what happens when a cohort like ours impacts the world for three decades—and about leaving behind something that might tilt the next generation toward courage, creativity, and responsibility.

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If this resonates, please reply and let me know you’re in, and I’ll share a simple set of prompts and timelines to make it easy. If you’re on the fence but curious, we can talk—I’d be happy to chat one‑on‑one and help shape your story with you.

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Thank you—for the work you’ve already done, and for considering this chance to let that work speak to the people who are about to sit where we once sat.

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With respect and gratitude,

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James Moore

519 591 8531

Personal email: primephi567@gmail.com

 

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