Conference Session

Engineering Ethics and Global Issues

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christan Whysong, Virginia Tech; Jenny Lo, Virginia Tech; Kumar Mallikarjunan, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

atVirginia Tech aim to implement ethics throughout a four-year program by utilizing a spiral-themed curriculum. Preliminary work consisted of compiling a library of ethics case studiesrelated to Biological Systems Engineering (BSE), particularly Bioprocess Engineering, alongwith different methods of implementing these ethics case studies. This work was presentedduring the 2006 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition.1 As the project moved to its secondphase, the two departments have begun incorporating the library of ethics case studies in adesignated sophomore course.Initial work focused on genetically modified products because they incorporate several keyethical issues. A key theme of the spiral curriculum, sustainability can be observed as

Conference Session

Teaching Ethics

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Cynthia Finelli, University of Michigan; Trevor Harding, California Polytechnic State University; Donald Carpenter, Lawrence Technological University; Matthew Mayhew, New York University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

and completed several empirical studies toaddress its concerns about the high levels of cheating in engineering undergraduates. The workranges from identifying factors that influence engineering students’ decisions about cheating toanalyzing the relationships between this decision and unethical behavior in the workplace. Majorfindings from these studies are presented in this paper.The PACES-1 StudyThe E3 Team designed the Perceptions and Attitudes about Cheating among EngineeringStudents (PACES-1) Study to investigate general issues related to undergraduate cheating. Theteam conducted an extensive review of literature on the subject and developed the PACES-1

Conference Session

Teaching Ethics II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Richard Freeman, Valparaiso University; Peter Johnson, Valparaiso University; Kenneth Leitch, Valparaiso University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

from an individual to a group assignment changed thedynamics in the second half of the GE 301 course. This paper will explore the changes instudent interest and behavior introduced by changing the ethics assignment andexpanding the number of class periods of ethics instruction. The authors will alsoexplore any impacts this change had on student performance in the course and on thecivil engineering departmental assessment of student understanding of ethics.IntroductionABET’s Engineering Criteria 2000 requires that all engineering program graduates beable to demonstrate “an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility.1 ” It isleft up to individual institutions to implement this required outcome in light of what isfrequently a very

Conference Session

Teaching Ethics

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Edward Sobiesk, United States Military Academy; William Suchan, United States Military Academy; Roland Trope, United States Military Academy

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

transferof the work. This places Internet users in a unique and complex situation -- almost anythingdownloaded or copied from the Internet without permission makes the user susceptible toviolating copyright law.Violation of copyright law is not a foreign concept in the 21st Century. Many recent legal casesin the headlines have brought online piracy into the consciousness of high school and collegestudents. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, online piracy is definedas “…the unauthorized uploading of a copyrighted sound recording and making it available tothe public, or downloading a sound recording from an Internet site….”1 While we certainly wantour students to be knowledgeable about issues such as online piracy, its well

Conference Session

Teaching Ethics II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Emine Atasoylu, Eastern Mediterranean University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

substantial equivalency to must demonstrate thattheir graduates have an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility 1. This can beachieved by offering an engineering ethics course or by incorporating ethics throughout thecurriculum 2,3. Cyprus, a beautiful Mediterranean country, has in recent years been referredto as “the island of universities” due to its impressively large number of universities despiteits small size and population. Table 1 shows the universities with engineering programs inboth the North and South side of Cyprus 4,5.AimThe aim of this study was to compare the ethical knowledge of practicing engineers who hadgraduated from the various engineering programs in Cyprus having received an ethics courseduring their training

Conference Session

Engineering and Sustainability

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Brock Barry, Purdue University; Aman Yadav, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

caseapproach and their influence on students’ critical thinking skills about ethical issues in Page 12.1394.4engineering. Future research needs to assess whether this approach to teaching ethics (i.e, case- 3based instruction) has the hypothesized benefits of increasing students’ awareness aboutengineering ethics as well as increase their moral reasoning. Thus, rigorous research methodsshould be utilized to design investigations that compare the outcomes resulting from variousethics instruction methods, including case-based instruction.References:1

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics and Global Issues

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Roobik Gharabagi, St. Louis University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

Conference Session

Teaching Ethics

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Waleed Abulfaraj, King Abdulaziz University; Mohamed Hassan, Alexandria University, Egypt

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

agreement that engineering students should receive ethics instruction as a partof their undergraduate education. This is true irrespective of the accreditation system underconsideration. However, there are diverse opinions on how engineering ethics instruction shouldbe carried out. Traditional approaches in teaching professional ethics include1: 1. Teaching engineering ethics on the basis of moral theories, concepts for professional ethical behavior, and codes of ethics 2. Case-based approach views engineering ethics as encompassing the more general definition of ethics, but applying it more specifically to situations involving engineers in their professional lives. 3. Solving ethics problems by using hypothetical

Conference Session

Engineering and Poverty

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Legand Burge, Tuskegee University; Heshmat Aglan, Tuskegee University; Pradosh Ray, Tuskegee University; Nader Vahdat, Tuskegee University; Connie Price, Tuskegee University; Prakash Sharma, Tuskegee University; Stephen Sodeke, Tuskegee University; Vascar Harris, Tuskegee University; Gregory Murphy, Tuskegee University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

Associate Professor and Head of Electrical Engineering in the College of Engineering, Architecture and Physical Sciences. Page 12.658.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2007 Engineering, Ethics and Society: Program Outcomes, Assessment and EvaluationAbstractThis paper describes a new course that has been offered to the engineering students at TuskegeeUniversity during the past two years. This course provides the students with an understanding of:1) the nature of engineering ethics, 2) the engineering activities in a societal context, and 3) thecontemporary issues in the engineering

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics and Global Issues

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dawn Bikowski, Ohio University; Melissa Broeckelman, Ohio University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

which qualityteaching and learning are prioritized while also establishing policies that deter academicdishonesty. Research has shown, “Serious test cheating on campuses with honor codes istypically 1/3 to 1/2 lower than the level on campuses that do not have honor codes. The level ofserious cheating on written assignments is 1/4 to 1/3 lower” 3.FacultyThough student involvement is of utmost importance in developing a culture of academicintegrity, faculty also play a critical role. Indeed, students’ lack of understanding about academicexpectations14 and their belief that there will be no consequences for cheating or plagiarizing8 aretwo key factors that increase academic dishonesty, both of which are factors over whichinstructors have a great

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics and Global Issues

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Andrew Hoernecke, Iowa State University; Thad Gillispie, Iowa State University; Benjamin Anderson, Iowa State University; Thomas Daniels, Iowa State University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

the purpose of this paper, IA is defined as “measures thatprotect and defend information and information systems by ensuring their availability, integrity,authentication, confidentiality, and non-repudiation. These measures include providing forrestoration of information systems by incorporating protection, detection, and reactioncapabilities.”1 Accordingly, IA programs must provide students with the skills and knowledgerequired to create, deploy and maintain systems that allow these criteria to be met. A clearrelation to computer engineering can be established since a system created without allowing forthese attributes would in many cases be useless.It is also important to have a clear definition of IW since different definitions exist

Conference Session

Teaching Ethics II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christian Hipp, University of South Carolina

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

and delivery.Exploring arguments about the content of engineering ethics education surpass the limits of thispaper, and others have engaged in such.1 Thus, though arguable, I will assume that engineeringethics education should include the following: stimulate the moral imagination, recognize ethicalissues, develop analytical skills, and promote ethical obligation and professional responsibility ineach student.The second prong of the dialogue considers pedagogical delivery whereby the content is relatedand the goals realized. A survey of recent literature displays four major strategies as educatorsendeavor to unpack the ABET criteria – micro-ethics, meta/macro-ethics, heuristics, andcasuistry. However, these approaches entail a number of

Conference Session

Teaching Ethics II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mysore Narayanan, Miami University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

sample. One could examine whether disposable plates are made fromplastic or cardboard/paper stock or whether beverage containers are made from glass orStyrofoam. (Cann, 2003).Ordinal Scale data permits one to examine if an ordinal scale datum is less than or greater thananother value. Thus, you are able to ‘rank’ ordinal data, but you cannot ‘quantify’ differencesbetween two ordinal values. Preference scores such as the rating of restaurants where 7 =excellent, 1 = unacceptable but the difference between an establishment with a 7 ranking and onewith a 5 ranking can not be quantified. This is an example of the use of ordinal scale. (Cann,2003).Interval Scale measurements are allowed to quantify the difference between two interval scalevalues but

Conference Session

Engineering and Sustainability

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Juan Lucena, Colorado School of Mines; Carl Mitcham, Colorado School of Mines; Jon Leydens, Colorado School of Mines; Junko Munakata-Marr, Colorado School of Mines; Jay Straker, Colorado School of Mines; Marcelo Simoes, Colorado School of Mines

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

andcurriculum development: the role of engineers in humanitarian activities. Additionally, reforminitiatives in science and engineering (S&E) graduate education have yet to realize their potentialfor integrating ethics into curricula. Addressing such challenges, this paper will describeactivities to date of an interdisciplinary faculty team at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM)working on the development of graduate-level curriculum in humanitarian engineering ethics(HEE). The HEE faculty team has 1) reviewed and critically assessed relations betweenhumanitarianism and engineering in order to develop an applicable concept of humanitarianethics (HE) in engineering education and practice; 2) researched barriers and opportunities in thedevelopment and

Conference Session

Engineering and Poverty

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

George Catalano, State University of New York-Binghamton

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

the plight and the future of polar bears. IntroductionA new approach to engineering ethics, one based on the notion of a morally deep world,has been developed and reported.1 The morally deep world was first developed within thecontext of environmental ethics. A key element in its development in environmentalethics is the identification of an integral community. The present work makes the case forextending the identified integral community to include not only the environment but alsoother segments of society which have not been included in engineering ethics cases in thepast. Prior to examining a case study in which the morally deep code will be utilized, abrief review of the philosophical underpinnings of

Conference Session

Ethical Responsibilities of Engineers in the World of Corporate Business / Engineering and Poverty

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

George Catalano, State University of New York-Binghamton

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

? According to the most recent estimates, six billion people now exist and Page 12.616.2seven billion are expected by the year 2006, nearly eleven billion by 2045.Over 79 percent of humankind lives in the immense and poor southern hemisphere; onebillion people live in the state of absolute poverty; over three billion do not have enough toeat, sixty million die of hunger every year; and fourteen million young people die each yearas a result of hunger-caused diseases.1 There is practically no consensus view on how todeal with the poverty issue. The United Nations has challenged the world’s wealthycountries to earmark 0.7 percent of each nation’s Gross

Conference Session

Teaching Ethics

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

June Marshall, St. Joseph's College; John Marshall, University of Southern Maine

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

professional code cannot be developed before the personal code. The question thenremains, how do Engineering curriculums develop appropriate learning experiences tofacilitate the development of personal codes that will positively impact the professionalcode?The Call for Ethics Education for American ProfessionalsHistorically, Dewey believed that moral education could not be divorced from the schoolcurriculum. Rather, it should be delivered through all of the “agencies, instrumentalities,and materials of school life”.1 Ryan suggested that “the morals, values and ethics wewant students to learn should be identified by adults and taught by matching the topic andlevel of intensity to the students’ developmental level”.10 Direct teaching of these pre

Conference Session

Engineering and Sustainability

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Marilyn Dyrud, Oregon Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

aweek from the federal government alone–3 totaling some 250 million units annually.1 Whilesome are technologically obsolete, most are not. They are, however, psychologically obsolete, asthe life of a PC has deceased from five years in 1997 to two currently.4 About 70% of old PCslanguish in basements and attics, collecting dust;5 some 60 million lie in municipal landfills.1Less than 10% are recycled,6 and, of those, most are destined for disassembly in third worldcountries. In fact, about 80% of “recycling” efforts in the US consist of exporting e-wasteabroad.7 Exporting old PCs has resulted in environmental degradation and public health risks inthe recipient countries.Health HazardsA computer sitting on a desk poses no health risk. However, a