# S2E17 Earthquake Engineering, Honesty, and The Most Important Things for Engineers To Learn | Guna Selvaduray

- Show: [Being an Engineer](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer)
- Published: 2021-04-09
- Length: 53m
- Episode: 17
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2021-04-09-s2e17-earthquake-engineering-honesty-and-the-most-important-things-for-engineers
- Listen: https://teampipeline.us/the-most-important-things-for-engineers/

## Summary

Guna Selvaduray, Professor and Director of Biomedical Engineering at San Jose State University, discusses the critical importance of soft skills, ethics, and honesty in engineering education and practice. He details his work in earthquake engineering, specifically focusing on mitigating damage to building contents through anchoring, and his efforts to establish a biomedical engineering curriculum by integrating industry feedback. Selvaduray emphasizes that technical proficiency is secondary to interpersonal dynamics, continuous improvement, and the ability to work collaboratively in a non-toxic environment.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2021-04-09-s2e17-earthquake-engineering-honesty-and-the-most-important-things-for-engineers#t=0) Introduction: Guna Selvaduray and Pipeline Design & Engineering
- [2:08](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2021-04-09-s2e17-earthquake-engineering-honesty-and-the-most-important-things-for-engineers#t=128) Multicultural Background and Language Acquisition
- [5:51](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2021-04-09-s2e17-earthquake-engineering-honesty-and-the-most-important-things-for-engineers#t=351) Engineering Culture in Japan and Hierarchical Societies
- [11:20](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2021-04-09-s2e17-earthquake-engineering-honesty-and-the-most-important-things-for-engineers#t=680) Biocompatibility and Fatigue in Implantable Medical Devices
- [13:58](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2021-04-09-s2e17-earthquake-engineering-honesty-and-the-most-important-things-for-engineers#t=838) Earthquake Engineering and Mitigation of Building Contents
- [22:09](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2021-04-09-s2e17-earthquake-engineering-honesty-and-the-most-important-things-for-engineers#t=1329) Soft Skills and Industry-Academia Collaboration
- [26:43](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2021-04-09-s2e17-earthquake-engineering-honesty-and-the-most-important-things-for-engineers#t=1603) Developing Biomedical Engineering Curriculum
- [33:19](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2021-04-09-s2e17-earthquake-engineering-honesty-and-the-most-important-things-for-engineers#t=1999) Ethics, Honesty, and Personal Integrity in Engineering
- [44:07](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2021-04-09-s2e17-earthquake-engineering-honesty-and-the-most-important-things-for-engineers#t=2647) Trends in Biomedical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Skills

## Topics

- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)
- [Medical & health devices](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/medical-devices)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)
- [Materials & manufacturing processes](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/materials-and-processes)
- [Policy, trade & tariffs](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/policy-trade-and-tariffs)

## Most relevant to

established companies

## Mentioned

- San Jose State University (company)
- Tokyo Institute of Technology (company)
- Stanford (company)
- Pipeline Design & Engineering (company)
- California Seismic Safety Commission (company)
- FDA (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [How Soft Skills Drive High-Impact Engineering Teams w/ Aaron Moncur](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-manufacturing-executive/2025-08-26-how-soft-skills-drive-high-impact-engineering-teams-w-aaron-moncur) (The Manufacturing Executive)
- [Educating the Engineer of the Future with Dr. Kris Ropella](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2019-11-11-educating-the-engineer-of-the-future-with-dr-kris-ropella) (Manufacturing Happy Hour)
- [How to Build an Engineer](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/ee-times-current/2021-06-04-how-to-build-an-engineer) (EE Times Current)
- [Startupalooza: The Silicon 100 | Humanitarian Engineering | Horses to Starships](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/ee-times-current/2020-07-03-startupalooza-the-silicon-100-humanitarian-engineering-horses-to-starships) (EE Times Current)

## Citing this page

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