Rob CarpickDr. Carpick is the John Henry Towne Professor and Chair of the Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics Department.  Originally from Canada, Rob lives in the Bella Vista neighborhood of Philadelphia. Rob has been married to his partner, Charlie, since 2003. As an avid curling fan and practitioner, Rob is excited for the Winter Olympics! Check out a recent interview with Science Friday here.

Let’s start with the Olympics in Sochi. What’s your take on the situation?
I actually recently turned down an invitation to speak at a conference in St. Petersburg because of the way LGBT people are being treated in Russia. In addition to feeling concerned about my own safety and security, I did not want to lend my time, my name, and my travel dollars to Russia at this time. What they’re doing with the treatment of the LGBT community there is quite troubling. I was deeply flattered and appreciative when I received the invitation, but there I also immediately disappointed as I knew I could not attend. Fortunately, my Russian colleague understood, and interestingly, he emphasized that people in Russia don’t necessarily feel the same way as politicians and leaders do. Moreover, it is sad for me since my father’s side of my family is Russian. I can’t wait until the day that I feel I can go back –when the leadership of the country is more enlightened. I do wish all the athletes including LGBTQ athletes, the very best, and my thoughts are with all the LGBTQ people in Russia who are struggling to just live their lives with safety and dignity.

Can you tell us about the LGBTQ community at Penn and Penn Engineering?
I’ve always appreciated the fact that Penn is a place that knows how to “do well by doing right”. In other words, Penn was one of the first institutions to bring in benefits same sex for staff and faculty members. Additionally, the University has one of the oldest and richest histories of supportive climates for the community. It makes me proud to be here -- I’ve been welcomed with open arms in every way I could imagine. What’s wonderful is that I feel my intellectual contribution is appreciated without any hesitation. I can be myself and fit in amongst colleagues, students, with university leaders, with everyone. It’s a great work environment for an LGBT scholar.

Despite Penn’s great progress, I think that there is work to do to ensure the climate is as welcoming as possible for students for whom it can be more challenging. For many people in the community, college is a difficult time rife with developing networks, self-confidence, skills, and struggling with coming out. That’s hard for anyone, but it can be extra challenging in the STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math] fields where there are fewer out LGBTQ people. For that reason, it was important for me to be visible. I knew it would be a positive thing, maybe for only a handful of people, but for people who should feel welcome.

In Engineering, we’re problem solvers. We want to solve problems and make the world a better place. To do that, we work in teams. So, we need the best people regardless of their background, their gender, their race, their sexuality, their income, their country of origin, etc. You cannot do the best engineering if you limit the pool of people from which you draw. However, in most Engineering disciplines we are male-dominated: We are not representative of the population at large in many ways. That means that engineering as a profession is not as strong as it would be if we had a fully representative pool of people that we drew into our midst. I’m passionate about that, and fortunately there’s a broad understanding in Penn Engineering that there is enormous value in diversity. It’s the right thing to do, and it’s a good thing to do.

Let’s face it: Historically, mechanical engineering has a reputation of being a more macho, male-dominated engineering institution. We are lucky to have a very open-minded, forward-looking faculty here at Penn. A very caring, sensitive, and effective set of instructors, and a class spirit, a real camaraderie among the students, where people are valued for their intellectual contributions and their creativity.  So, I was amazed and excited when QUEST [Queer Undergraduates in Engineering, Science, and Technology] was founded. Seeing undergraduate engineering students organize themselves and create a space, a network, and a group to further their goals, to give themselves opportunities to express themselves, to address concerns, to be organized, to raise questions and issues with leadership – all of that was exhilarating. There has been a national and international movement of undergraduate students in engineering and the sciences coming out, getting organized, and working to ensure that everyone feels welcome and supported – that no one is left behind on account of bias or lack of sensitivity, on account of discrimination, or any unfortunately chilly climate that can occur in a situation where diversity is lacking. That’s been great. I’m so impressed with the undergraduates here.

What’s your role in the LGBTQ community?
In the Engineering school, I served as a faculty advisor to QUEST alongside Mitch Marcus. There have now been some new faculty like Eric Schelter [Ed. note: Profiled Spring 2013] who have joined the ranks and the group is reorganizing itself as an oSTEM chapter now. I really feel like I didn’t do very much at all – the students really had their act together! As advisor, I was happy to provide feedback and guidance, but really, the students were in the lead. It was easy to advise a group of professional, motivated, bright people.

More informally, I’m open about who I am:  I bring my partner to Department events, his picture is in the office, he sometimes drops by class and by campus, we are invited to our colleagues’ houses for get-togethers. All of my colleagues know him -- he’s probably more popular than I am among the faculty. At the very least, he’s far more congenial and fun to be around! It’s been nice for him to be heartily welcomed as part of the MEAM extended family. I think that our department size is such that everybody, both faculty and students, knows each other (despite our growth). There are a lot of personal and social connections. I don’t think I can claim credit for changing the environment – it was good to begin with – but I think it is important to be a role model. To have faculty who can be themselves and make change by working hard, and by treating others well.

You’ve also had experience with the Faculty Diversity Action Plan. Can you tell us about it?
It’s outstanding and very important that Penn has decided to undertake the diversity initiative. I fully, strongly support it. Actually making progress on diversifying an institution – especially where there’s an advanced degree requirement – is really hard. Nobody should take for granted that progress takes work. Initially, the University adopted a broad definition of diversity. It officially includes LGBT faculty as important contributors to the initiative. That said, we did have to do some work to convince the various Schools within Penn to include language and plans that were appropriate and forward-thinking and that addressed concerns of the LGBTQ community. And I’m pleased that Engineering, in its initial Action Plan, did include discussion of sexual orientation. I have been an advocate for strengthening and enhancing that language. I’m happy to say it’s been some students within the school who have taken a lead role in that process.  The school is engaging constructively with them. As a result, we’ll go from what’s a good position in our plan to an even better one.

Faculty diversity when it comes to LGBT people is complicated, because there are those who are LGBT but not out – does one count that? If so, how does one count that? Second, it’s difficult to know where a school stands, because the data are lacking on how diverse this community is to begin with. So from my view, it’s important to be on the record about what we value – to make the statement that LGBT faculty matter, are appreciated, are welcomed, and are supported. It makes a big difference to be on the record in that regard. I believe that that will in and of itself help us diversify. As importantly, it will help ensure that the climate in the University is a positive, welcoming one. At Penn we are much better off than so many other places, but we can do more and keep working to ensure that every student feels welcome in SEAS. We need to ensure that nobody avoids SEAS or drops out because they are worried they might not fit. I think that’s a message we want to keep reinforcing. We will do that because we do have diversity on the faculty, and it’s becoming increasingly diverse.

How can LGBTQ alumni help?
These alumni should let the university know how they’re doing and that they’re interested in how Penn is doing. They should share their thoughts, their ideas, and they should stay engaged. We would love to hear from LGBT Engineering alums. We hear if or how they feel we came up short, so we can try to address it for the next generations of students. We want to hear their voice, because they’ve gone through our programs and now they’re out in the real world. Their feedback matters a lot. More informally, faculty love hearing from former students. I’m happy to collect and distribute feedback as a department chair. I’ll put out the word that I would love to hear from Mechanical Engineering alums, in particular. Whoever is out there reading this from MEAM, or SEAS, please write me back – I’d love to hear your story.

We also hope that, as with any alumni, GALA members will consider giving back to Penn. That is how we sustain ourselves and grow. Engineering at Penn wants to grow. We need to grow. We have so much excellence here, but we need to grow in order to compete more, and I’d like to see LGBT Alums play a big role in that.

Lastly, I think it’d be great for LGBT Alums to get to know current LGBT students in Engineering and offer informal mentoring. That could be facilitated through oSTEM, QuakerNet, or GALA! I would encourage alums to get involved to provide mentorship to our undergrads.

Return to Newsletter