Marc Edwards, a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech, is the recipient of the inaugural Disobedience Award from the MIT Media Lab, along with Mona Hanna-Attisha, Hurley Medical Center’s pediatric residency program director, for their "effective, responsible, ethical disobedience across disciplines" regarding their work on exposing widespread lead-in-water contamination in Flint, Michigan.



The $250,000 award was presented July 21 at MIT Media Lab’s event, Defiance, an event exploring the impact of dissent. During the daylong event, activists, scientists, engineers, designers, legal experts, and leaders of institutions participated in sessions on diverse issues, probing the boundaries of nonviolent resistance for the benefit of a productive and healthy society, according to its website.

The Disobedience Award's objectives are to build awareness and support of disobedience-robust work being done around the world and to promote role models for younger people. The work being honored impacts society in positive ways and is consistent with a set of key principles, including nonviolence, creativity, courage, and responsibility for one’s actions.

Approximately 7,800 nominations for the award were submitted from every continent except Antarctica. Submissions included well-known names: Tibetan activist and blogger Tsering Woeser, Hawaiian homeless advocate Twinkle Borge, Muslim rapper and activist Sofia Ashraf, and the U.S. National Park Service, for advocating environmental stewardship.