Engineering, and now I serve as the administrator of the United States Environmental Protection

Agency. My engineering background is extremely important to the job I do every day. It gives

me a different perspective from others. Engineering is about problem solving. A lot of the issues

we deal with here at EPA are technical in nature. And one of the things I said from

day one is that our entire work has to be based on the best science we can muster from

the American people. Probably the biggest adjustment has been the move and the pace

of work here in Washington. It's great because there's a huge expectation that we're going

to bring this agency back. That we're going to restore EPA to its place as the protector

of air, water and land. But that means a huge agenda. And so we're working awful hard here.

You know, a little bit later today I'll be speaking to students -- high school students

in an organization called Jack and Jill. They are African American kids and they're coming

to D.C. as part of a leadership program. It's so important for us at EPA to build and continue

to build our recognition of our mission with youth. The youth have always cared about environment

and pushed our issues, and this generation is all about being green, and we want to encourage

them. I speak about the devastation for America in Katrina often. My mom lost her home. She's

actually sold what's left of it back to the state of Louisiana and moved up to Ocean City.

Katrina was not only a tragedy; it was an environmental catastrophe as well. And I remind

people that when those wetlands were being torn up, the people who suffered most from

the damage in the low-lying areas of the city who happened to be people of color, had nothing

to do with the decisions made on those wetlands. So making gumbo and making Washington policy.

Gumbo, of course, even the word is all about a mixture, and bringing together these ingredients

and letting them simmer, and coming out with something really good. And obviously policy

and politics is very much the same thing. If we're going to be successful in environmental

policy, it's about bringing all the people who care about it, all the stakeholders we

call, together and coming out with the best solution. You know my time at Princeton in

the Engineering School certainly influenced where I am today. At that point, I worked

on environmental issues. And Princeton had a history of being involved in some of the

first environmental studies that were done up in Woburn, Mass. on groundwater. And I

worked with folks who did that research. It certainly influenced and enhanced my interest

in the environmental field. My name is Lisa Jackson and I'm a Princeton engineer.