声音 | Valeria Bertacco: 如果你想改变未来，首先请把自己放入未来

精彩的演讲往往内容各异，但本质相同：诉说对人生的看法，告诉你该为世界做些什么。我们在欣赏这些精彩演讲的同时，也能体悟到人生的哲理和真谛。

交大密西根学院志在建设一所世界一流的教学与研究型机构，培养新一代国际化、创新性、领袖型人才。我们推出【声音】专题，希望通过与你分享那些点亮人生的智慧演讲，伴你走过一段更有意义的人生之旅。

2020年8月7日，上海交通大学密西根学院2020届毕业典礼暨学位授予仪式在龙宾楼一楼隆重举行。密西根大学副教务长Valeria Bertacco应邀在线上为毕业生作主旨演讲。以下是她的中英文双语演讲稿正文。

Good morning! I am pleased to be joining the graduates of our Joint Institute between the University of Michigan and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, who are here, along with their families, for today’s commencement. Thank you, Dean Peisen Huang, for inviting me to be part of this ceremony. I love to have the opportunity to be part of your celebration, so much so that I got up in Europe at 2 a.m. this morning, so I could join your 3 a.m. commencement!

早上好！我很高兴能和上海交通大学密西根学院2020届的毕业生及家人一起，参加今天的毕业典礼。感谢黄佩森院长对我的邀请。我很兴奋能有机会参加你们的庆祝活动。为了参加中国时间10点开始的毕业典礼，现在正在欧洲的我凌晨2点就起床了！

First of all, I want to congratulate you, the graduates. You have done it! You have completed a rigorous engineering program – a very significant accomplishment. You’ve spent many, many hours studying, doing lab work, testing ideas, and learning from both your successes and from experiments that didn’t go as you expected. You had to pick up and leave your campus and your friends mid-semester and finish your coursework from home. I hope that today you feel a great sense of accomplishment at what you have achieved. I am proud to salute you all.

首先，我想对毕业生们说一句：恭喜，你们做到了！你们完成了最为严格的工程教育–这是一项非常重要的成就。你们花了很多时间学习、做实验、测试想法， 并从成功的、或是未达到预期的工作中不断地学习和提升自己。因为疫情的关系，你们不得不在学期的中途离开校园和朋友，在家完成课业。今天，我希望你们对自己获得的成就感到欣喜与骄傲！向你们致敬！

I also want to recognize the encouragement and love your families have provided. They have been your strong supporters and I join you in thanking them for the many ways they have contributed to your success.

我也想感谢你们的家人给你们的鼓励和爱。他们是你们的坚强后盾，我要和你们一起，感谢他们为你们的成功所做出的种种贡献。

Let me also recognize the Joint Institute itself. This partnership between Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the University of Michigan is now almost 15 years old. It has led to important innovations in engineering education and research. From the beginning, SJTU and U-M recognized their shared interest in educating global leaders. Working together, we have developed new programs that bring together excellent education in engineering, realized important learning opportunities, and promoted research collaborations that strengthen cross-cultural understanding. This long-term partnership has helped advance knowledge that benefits the world in areas of computing, energy and construction.

我也要感谢密西根学院。上海交通大学和密西根大学创办的密西根学院如今已经快15岁了，并在工程研究和教育方面进行了许多重要创新和尝试。合作伊始，两校便将培养具有领袖气质的全球工程精英作为共同的发展目标，并通过多年的合作，将最为优秀的工程教育结合在一起，为学生提供了重要的学习机会。与此同时，各领域的研究合作也在不断进行，跨文化合作和交流得以不断加强。这种长期的合作关系促进了知识的发展，并在计算机、能源和建造领域取得了一定的成绩和影响力。

It is this cross-cultural understanding, nurtured by our Joint Institute and you all, the members of the JI, that allows us  to work together, grow together and trust each other through pandemic times, and even through the challenging US-China relations that we have been enduring for the past few years.

正是这种在由所有密院人共同参与和培育的跨文化交流和合作意识的影响下, 我们两方在疫情期间和中美关系持续紧张的情况下，得以继续共同努力、共同成长并长期坚守对彼此的信任。

The JI has received international recognition as an innovative and very effective approach to global education. It is also a model of collaboration between universities, something that is of critical importance in the world. Graduates like you add to the JI’s strong reputation around the world.

作为全球高等教育的试点，密西根学院在创新性和教育的有效性上已受到了国际认可。同时，在交流合作日趋重要的当今社会，密西根学院在高校合作上所作的努力也建立了良好的模式。而作为毕业生的你们，是密西根学院良好声誉最为重要的一部分。

This year – 2020 – is and will be forever marked by a pandemic. Each of us has experienced difficulties in our lives because of it. For students, well-honed education experiences have been disrupted and many had to pack all their things and move. We all have experienced the trapped feeling of stay-home orders. Many families have been hit by sudden sickness, or economically impacted. More generally, societies around the world are stretched beyond capacity in providing medical care, dealing with an economic downturn that is likely to have long-lasting effects, and face the challenge of addressing inequities the pandemic revealed.

2020年永远将会被打上疫情的烙印。因为它，我们每个人都度过了一段艰难的生活。对于学生来说，正常的教育被中断，许多人不得不离开校园。更多的人则经历了被困在家里的感觉。许多家庭经历了疾病的打击，或因为疫情而在经济上受到影响。而世界各地在医疗服务方面的严重透支、经济的断崖式低迷以及各种不平等的不断涌现方面都已不堪重负。

Many people would argue that this is a difficult time to begin life as an independent adult, starting a career and mapping a plan for your life. It is true that the future is uncertain. But I want to suggest to you that in crisis there is opportunity – in the most positive sense. I believe strongly you are best positioned to find and act on these opportunities. Doing so will help you have a successful life and contribute to the world, much more so than your predecessors or your successors, who had a “regular” college and early-career experience. Circumstances have forced you to think outside the box in a big way, on matters larger and more varied that what previous generations of students considered. This experience will serve you well throughout your lives. 

很多人会说，在这样的环境下很难作为一个独立的个体开始生活、并规划自己的职业生涯和人生理想。未来当然是不确定的，这是事实。但我想告诉你们的是，从最积极的角度上说，危机中也存在着机会。我坚信你们能寻找并利用这些机会，开始你们的人生，并对世界做出应有的贡献。而且，你们的成就将会远远超过你们的前辈和后辈，那些有“常规”大学经历和早期职业经历的同学们。历史已经把你推到了一个特殊的位置，迫使你们站在新的高度去思考，去应对比前辈们当时所面临的更大、更多样化的问题。而这些经历将会有益于你的一生。

Why do I believe this?  I am happy to tell you.

我为什么如此坚信这一点？我很高兴与你们分享。

To begin, a most important qualification for success in a rapidly changing world is to be curious and to have that curiosity shaped by a rigorous education. This is a critical ability you have attained in your education. Here at the JI, your education has pushed you in new directions, helped you develop skills in asking questions and in challenging assumptions. These skills, developed in an engineering context, are applicable in many other areas. One of the great challenges in a changing society is moving beyond traditional thinking and approaching problems in new ways. You have honed this ability in your classes and labs and are ready, as you graduate, to apply it to larger concerns.

首先，要想在快速变化的世界中取得成功，最重要的条件就是要有好奇心，并且在严格的教育环境中培养这份好奇心。你们在教育经历中已经获得了这样一种关键的能力。在密西根学院，你们所受的教育推动你们走向新的方向，帮助你们培养提出问题和挑战假设的技能。这些在工科领域中发展起来的技能，也适用于许多其他领域。在一个不断变化的社会中，最大的挑战之一就是超越传统的思维方式，以新的方式解决问题。而你们已经在课堂上和实验室里磨练了这种能力，并且准备在毕业后将其应用于更广阔的领域。

Another key to success in today’s world is being a bit adventurous, willing to take some risks and see what you learn as a result. In deciding to attend the JI, you did just that. It is, of course, a highly regarded program, but one that differs from traditional engineering education. It has a broader orientation that includes learning about, from, and with people with different ideas, backgrounds, and experiences. This is a profound lesson that has helped you prepare for work in an interconnected global society.

其次，在当今世界中成功的另一个关键是要有一点冒险精神，愿意去承担一些风险来看看你们能学到些什么。对这一点来说，当你们决定来到密西跟学院的那一刻，你们就已经做到了。密西根学院是一个受到高度认可、但有别于传统工科教育的教育环境。它涉及到的方向更为广泛，包括了解不同的想法、背景和经验的人，向他们学习并与之共同学习。在密西根学院的学习经历将带给你们深刻的影响，为你们进入一个相互联系的、高度全球化的社会做好准备。

Now, I am an engineer as you all are. I want to tell you how clever you were to choose this field. You may not have known, when you started, that it would prepare you for an ever-changing world, but I assure you it has. Engineers are problem solvers. This is what we like to do – pull apart a problem and figure out a solution to it. And in the past eight months, we all have been given many new problems: a fertile new ground for all us, solution seekers!

我和你们一样都是工程师。我想告诉你的是，你们选择这个领域是多么明智。当你开始进入这一领域的时候，对于工程专业如何帮助你适应一个不断变化的世界这一点，你可能并没有概念。但我向你保证，它已经做到了！工程师是解决问题的人。把问题拆开，然后找出解决办法-这是我们喜欢做的事情。在过去的八个月里，我们所有人都遇到了许多新问题。对于我们这群解决问题的人来说，这正是一片肥沃的充满了机遇的新土地，等待我们去耕耘！

Indeed, you should know that the word “engineer” comes from the Latin word “ingenium” [in jean i um] and it means to “contrive or devise a solution”. Engineers do this in everything they pursue, whether they are building more efficient power plants, creating new materials for use in medicine or industry, or making computers more powerful. It is an integral part of our nature.

你们知道“工程师”一词来自拉丁语“ingenium” [in jean i um]，意思是“设计或策划解决方案”。无论是建造更高效的发电厂，研发医药或工业的新材料，还是使计算机功能更强大等，我们在所从事的每一项工作中都秉持着这样的信念和做事原则，成为我们性格中不可分割的一部分。

The world we have today has many problems, many wicked problems. You, the Class of 2020, the engineers of our future, have everything we need to smash them: your orientation to problem solving, along with your invaluable education, puts you in the best position to help address the difficulties the world is facing. 

当今的世界存在许多问题，很多问题非常恶劣。而作为2020年毕业生的你们，我们未来的工程师们，你们拥有一切资源和手段来粉碎他们，包括解决问题的能力以及宝贵的教育经历。这些都使你们有良好的底蕴，去更好的帮助世界解决所面临的困难。

Let me share two words of advice, as you endeavor to save the world. First, we all like to think about ideal solutions, the perfect answer. And, of course, we should strive for that. But keep in mind that any working solution, even if not perfect, is an important step forward, a real contribution to addressing whatever the problem may be. Engineers improve life on earth as a collective: each of us builds on the shoulders of our predecessors, and, before we know it, together we have made a giant leap.

在你们即将踏上拯救世界的征程的时候，我想再跟你们分享两个建议。首先，我们都喜欢设计出一个理想的解决方案和完美的答案。这点无可厚非，我们也理应为此而努力。但请记住，任何可行的解决方案，即使不是完美的，也是向前迈出的重要一步，是解决问题作出的真正贡献。作为一个整体，工程师们改善了人们的生活。我们每个人都是站在前人的肩膀上工作。可能大家都没意识到，我们其实已经一起完成了巨大的飞跃，才让现在的世界有了如此大的进步！

Second, sometimes this solution-seeking nature gets us into trouble. I speak from personal experience. More than once I frustrated a friend or, admittedly, my spouse, who was feeling discouraged about something, because instead of listening sympathetically and showing empathy, I started to organize the information at hand, discuss trade-offs, and moved into solution-seeking mode… when they simply wished to talk. So, remember – not *every* problem seeks a solution!

其次，这种寻求解决方案的天性有时会让我们陷入麻烦。这是我个人的经验之谈，因为我不止一次地让我的朋友或者我的家人感到沮丧。当他们因为一些事情而感到难过，并且期待一次简单的谈心时，我却开始整理手头的信息，讨论权衡，然后进入寻找解决方案的模式……而不是同情地倾听和表现出同情。所以，记住—不是每个问题都需要寻求解决方案！

There is, I think, something special about the Class of 2020. The pandemic has strengthened you.  You have become resilient, able to work in the face of many unknowns. You know how to re-imagine your world and your environment, to keep moving forward, whatever the obstacles you encounter. As a result, you are better equipped than many previous generations for what lies ahead. You are not stuck in following the path of your predecessors. You have shown that you can devise new solutions and be creative.

2020届的毕业生注定是与众不同的。疫情的爆发让你们变得更有韧性，在面对扑朔迷离的未知情况时，你们能够保持良好的工作和学习状态。在碰到困境的时候，你们知道如何该去构思一个新的世界和周遭的环境，如何去继续前行。所以，相比前辈们，你们也做好了更全面的准备去面对未来社会带来的未知。

This resiliency is important. It allows you to adjust and to turn in a new direction easily. In this time of rapid change, caused by the pandemic, ideas and solutions and technologies are being developed at break-neck speed. The immediate goal is to improve public health and individual health outcomes. But these new ideas and solutions will have a lasting impact in many areas, including how we will live, work and socialize in the future. They will make many people’s life better at a pace that was unthinkable just 8 months ago. And you get to be part of all this action.

韧性是非常重要的品质之一。在面对挑战需要改变方向和策略的时候，韧性的人往往会更加容易适应变化，面对变化所带来的挑战。如今的世界风云万变，变化之迅速难以预料。疫情期间，各种想法、方案如同雨后春笋般冒了出来，大家为了改善公共和个人卫生而竭尽所能。而这些新的改变和方案会在将来持续的对社会造成影响，包括大家如何生活、工作和与人沟通等。这种改变的速度和规模超乎人们的想象，在八个月之前没有人能够预料到这些。而你们就身处于这个巨大的变革之中，并且是这场巨大变革的一部分。

OK, you bring critical knowledge and skills to the world. How will you use them? Let me suggest to you that you are a pivotal generation. At this moment in time, societies around the world face unprecedented challenges in health care, transportation, employment, housing, infrastructure, communications, and many other areas. New ideas, new solutions, and fresh energy are essential if we are to come out of this time a stronger, better world. We are looking to you, the rising generation, to help us all move forward.

那么，如何贡献自己的智慧和技能呢？现今社会的发展在许多方面面临着前所未有的挑战，如医疗、交通、雇佣、房产、基建和沟通等。要建设一个更强健、更宜居的世界，新的想法、新的解决方案以及新的力量是必须的。作为关键性的一代，整个世界都在关注着你、你们这代人，希望你们来帮助整个社会的前进和发展。

The key to your succeeding in this, I believe, will be your continued willingness to experiment, to seize opportunities for interesting work, to learn from them, and to keep growing.  

而要在这方面取得成功，关键在于要有一种持之以恒的毅力去尝试、去做自己想做的事业，并在过程中保持不断的学习和进步。

For many of us, these unexpected turns in the road will lead us to new and exciting challenges, which we will embrace, overcome and excel beyond. Let me share with you the extraordinary story of Lynn Conway, an inspiring example of an engineer who embraced the unexpected at every turn of her life. A computer engineer by training, Lynn began her career at IBM in the 1960s, where she developed methods to operate microprocessors more efficiently through out-of-order execution – a technology that some of you have studied in your senior-level courses, but it was pathbreaking work in the ‘60s, which opened up new areas of research in the field. In the late ‘60s Lynn Conway was fired from IBM for undergoing gender transition.

对于我们中的许多人来说，发展中的不确定性带来了新鲜的挑战和机遇，激发我们去不断迎接、克服以及挑战自我。接下来，我想和大家分享一个特别的故事，故事的主角是一位名叫Lynn Conway的计算机工程师，她敢于迎接人生每个转折点的精神是大家可以学习的榜样。二十世纪六十年代的时候，Lynn加入IBM公司，并开发了“错序执行”的技术使微处理器的性能变得更为有效。这项技术你们在座的各位可能在高阶课程中学习过，但你们可能不知道的是，在当时这项技术是多么的具有开创意义，并在相关领域内确立了新的研究方向。在六十年代后期，Lynn却因为变性而被IBM公司开除。

She started all over again in the 1970s, with a covert new identity. Lynn advanced rapidly as an engineer at Xerox, in a research lab famously called Xerox PARC. It is there, under those challenging circumstances that she developed the most revolutionary technology ideas of the century. At Xerox, Lynn worked on developing algorithms to automate and scale silicon chip design. This work led to a paradigm shift in the field, starting the avalanche that has been the VLSI revolution, radically changing the electronics industry, and making possible the most incredible technology innovations we have experienced during the past 40 years. Consider that in 1980, the most complex silicon chips included no more than 60,000 transistors, while today we have commercial processors of over 10 billions transistors – all of this thanks to the evolution of those algorithms that Lynn devised in her research lab at Xerox. The VLSI revolution is at the core of all the technology we enjoy today, from smartphones, to virtual assistants, to cloud computing, and to smart vehicles.

在七十年代，Lynn使用新的身份重新开始了一切，在Xerox公司著名的Xerox PARC实验室内继续崭露头角。尽管身处一个极富挑战的年代， Lynn在实验室研发出了整个世纪中最具颠覆性的技术。她进行了自动化算法的开发，并使芯片的设计初具规模化。这项技术对该领域来说是一种“范式转变”，是VLSI颠覆性革命的开始。这种革新改变了整个电子产业的发展，也使世界近40年所有的科学技术创新成为了可能。八十年代最复杂的芯片上的晶体管不超过6万个，但现在最高端的芯片上已经有超过100亿个晶体管。现在所普遍使用的科技产品和服务，包括手机、虚拟助手、云计算以及其他智能设备等的核心都基于这场VLSI技术革命，而所有这些成就都起源于Lynn在Xerox研究室的工作。

Dr. Conway went on to teach at MIT and in doing so both democratized and accelerated chip design. Her work became the foundation of modern information technology and paved the way for the start-up companies that began appearing in Silicon Valley in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1985 she joined the faculty at the University of Michigan, sharing her knowledge and creative energy with students and faculty. I was so proud to discover that I was her colleague when I joined the University of Michigan as a faculty member! And I feel so fortunate to have met her, and that I had a few opportunities to exchange ideas with her and be inspired by her.

之后，Conway博士在MIT任教，并从事芯片体系结构和加速设计。她的工作成为现代化信息技术的基础，并且为八十年代和九十年代初创公司在硅谷的兴起铺平了道路。1985年，Conway博士加入密西根大学担任电子工程和计算机科学教授，将其知识和创新思维和密西根大学的师生进行分享。我发现在加入密西根大学的时候曾和Conway教授共事过，这点让我非常骄傲。能遇到她、和她交流、受她的鼓励让我倍感幸运。

Lynn is now retired, an emerita professor at the University of Michigan, but as her career demonstrates, engineers can do interesting, important, and forward-looking work in many settings, even the most challenging ones. As she has shown, we just need to keep our minds open to these possibilities. 

Lynn现在已经退休，是密西根大学的荣誉退休教授，但她的职业经历仍然可以告诉我们，即使在最具有挑战性的行业，工程师也可以在很多方面做有意思、重要的和前沿性的工作。我们只需在面对各种可能性的时候，保持开放的态度和思想，就和Lynn在面对她人生中出现的可能性一样。

In thinking about opportunities and what you want to do in life – how you want to contribute to the world – I wish for you to keep in mind these words from Dr. Conway. As she has said many times, “If you want to change the future, start living as if you were already there.” 

“如果你想改变未来，首先请把自己放入未来”，当你们在思考将来的机遇和想要做的事情的时候、思考自己将为世界作出什么样的贡献的时候，我希望大家能够将Conway博士说过的这句话记在心里，无论什么时候都让自己站在未来的角度去思考，才能驱使自己不断前进。

That is my charge to you, our graduates today. The world is awaiting your talents. You have the intelligence, the training, and the opportunity to shape the future.  Now, it is time for you to unleash your imagination and develop new solutions for a new world. We are counting on you to live in that future and help society move toward it. 

这就是今天我想对你们说的话。世界正在等待你们用智慧去点燃。你们的聪明才智以及所接受的教育将带给你们改变未来的机会。请尽情发挥你们的想象力，去改变世界吧！未来社会的发展和进步在你们身上！

To each of you, my deepest congratulations. I wish you every success in your careers and in your lives. 

最后，我想给每位同学献上我最诚挚的毕业祝福。希望你在今后的生活和工作上处处顺利。

Thank you.

谢谢！

Valeria Bertacco教授

Valeria Bertacco教授是密西根大学 Arthur F. Thurnau电子工程与计算机科学教授兼Rackham研究生院物理科学与工程副院长。

她专注于计算机设计领域的研究，侧重于专业的体系结构解决方案和设计可行性，特别是可靠性、验证和硬件安全保证等方面。2003年加入密西根大学之前，她曾在Synopsys（新思）科技集团工作。

Bertacco教授现任应用驱动体系结构研究中心主任。她一直是设计自动化会议执行委员会的成员，并担任技术项目主席。

Bertacco教授是ACM杰出科学家和IEEE会员，曾担任顶级期刊IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design的副主编。她于1998年和2003年分别获得斯坦福大学电气工程硕士和博士学位。

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