Conference Session

Engineering Ethics - Courses and Curricula

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Donald McEachron, Drexel University; Sheila Vaidya, Drexel University; Stacey Ake, Drexel University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

among students. Simultaneously, the level of trust in public and private institutions, interms of the honesty and integrity of those in leadership, is dwindling. For engineers, whoseoccupation allows them potential for positive or negative societal impacts, it is critical that theirdecisions involve sound ethical judgment. Despite this obvious need, the amount of time given toethics in an engineering curriculum is minimal. With all the knowledge and skills needed inengineering, it seems as if there is neither time nor space to teach ethics.Consequently, the results are predictable. During a recent meeting of engineering students,the students were asked what kinds of ethical questions they encountered at work or intheir studies. The majority

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics, Academic Integrity

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Adam Melvin, North Carolina State University; Lisa Bullard, North Carolina State University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

accept responsibility.IntroductionThe university classroom creates a multitude of opportunities and challenges for both the studentpopulation and faculty teaching the class. With rising enrollments in engineering curricula andgreater numbers of students matriculating per year, higher emphasis is placed on course gradesas a metric for student distinction which results in amplified pressure on the students to not onlysucceed, but to excel. This leads some students to try and find an easy way out, namely cheating.For faculty, the challenges are to minimize the likelihood of cheating, to detect it when it occurs,and to deal sternly but fairly with the cheaters.Academic integrity violations (such as cheating, lying, and stealing) are a widespread

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics V

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tammy VanDeGrift, University of Portland; Donald Chinn, University of Washington, Tacoma

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

predict effectiveness. Bailey and Stefaniak3used surveys, interviews, and focus groups to determine what employers in the IT industry valued asimportant non-technical skills for employees. They identified both soft skills and business skillsmentioned by the 325 IT professionals surveyed. A panel at the ACM Conference in 1978 presented skillsets of what industry looks for in new hires – among these skills are math ability, software developmentknowledge, problem-solving, team skills, initiative, diversity, and versatility14.Several resources exist for teaching issues of professionalism and ethics. Among these are exercisescompiled by the working group on integrating professionalism into the curriculum11. An exercise aboutresearching types of

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics - Courses and Curricula

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Brock Barry, United States Military Academy; Matthew Ohland, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

AC 2009-224: ENGINEERING ETHICS CURRICULUM INCORPORATIONMETHODS AND RESULTS FROM A NATIONALLY ADMINISTEREDSTANDARDIZED EXAMINATION: BACKGROUND, LITERATURE, ANDRESEARCH METHODSBrock Barry, United States Military Academy Brock E. Barry is a post-doctoral research assistant in the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University. Dr. Barry received his Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Purdue University and holds a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering Technology from the Rochester Institute of Technology and a M.S. degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Dr. Barry has accepted a position as an Assistant Professor within the Department of Civil & Mechanical

Conference Session

Topics in Engineering Ethics IV

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Salvatore Marsico, Pennsylvania State University, Wilkes-Barre

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

consequently recorded as final actions.Licensing StatutesIn some instances, such as Alabama, a distinction is made between graduates from accreditedand nonaccredited institutions.: “ 1. Graduation in an approved engineering curriculum plus four years experience…. 2. Graduation in an unapproved engineering curriculum plus six years experience….10Whereas, other states require: “(i) graduation from an approved engineering curriculum of fouror more years.11 Each jurisdiction exercises autonomy and works with the registration boards todevelop statutes which meet their specific needs and make provisions for those coming fromother jurisdictions to either practice permanently or temporarily: “(A) The state board of registration for

Conference Session

Topics in Engineering Ethics IV

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

George Catalano, State University of New York, Binghamton; Caroline Baillie, Queens University, Kingston

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

engineers is broadened importantly. Those potentialitiesand possibilities are as important to the ongoing dynamic process of creation in theUniverse as those that reside within us as each of us plays an integral role in thecommunion of subjects.As educators, we might ask how can we integrate an engineering ethic based on love intothe curriculum? No, we are not calling for a new course or a new section of course thatfocuses on engineering or professional ethics. Rather, we are suggesting that whilemodeling engineering problems whether in capstone design or engineering sciencesettings we can directly and explicitly speak to the issues that have been tabbed by theUnited nations as the most important challenges we face as a society at the start of

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics: Using Case Studies

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Didier Valdes, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez; Erika Jaramillo Giraldo, University of Puerto Rico; Jorge Ferrer, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez; William Frey, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

has taught business and engineering ethics at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez for the last 19 years, currently in that university’s College of Business Administration. His areas of research include engineering ethics, moral psychology, computer ethics, as well as research and business ethics. He is currently a Co-PI on the GERESE project in research ethics and Co-PI on another NSF project devoted to developing an online toolkit of modules and cases for use in ethics across the curriculum initiatives . Page 14.307.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2009 Case analysis: a

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics V

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Ochs, Lehigh University; Lisa Getzler-Linn, Lehigh University; Margaret Huyck, Illinois Institute of Technology; Scott Schaffer, Purdue University; Mary Raber, Michigan Technology University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

, 2009IntroductionA four-university collaboration has received National Science Foundation (NSF) Course,Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) funding for a three-year project with twoprimary goals: 1) to develop a database of reliable and valid measures for assessing attainmentof teamwork skills and ethical awareness in undergraduate students enrolled in multidisciplinaryproject based, design projects, and 2) to identify and describe ‘best practices’ from across theseinstitutions that improve the achievement of learning objectives and thereby increase programquality. Example learning objectives from one course are described as follows: “Studentsenrolled in these project courses will experience and demonstrate an understanding of ‘bestpractices’ in the

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics - Courses and Curricula

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Seamus Freyne, Manhattan College; Micah Hale, University of Arkansas

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

. Students see engineering ethics at both the start and end of the undergraduate program. We have an ethics module in the Introduction to Engineering course, Page 14.88.5 where instructors allot about three hours of class time, and we weave ethics into the capstone course. In between, students are required to take at least three courses offered by the religious studies department. I will discuss ethics in various courses by providing examples of situations in which ethics is a frequent concern. We have five courses in the curriculum that have distinct ethics modules. A few of my colleagues post

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics: Using Case Studies

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

William Loendorf, Eastern Washington University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

management, real-time embedded systems, and digital signal processing. Page 14.1182.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2009 Case Study Approach to Engineering EthicsAbstractEngineers are routinely called upon to make decisions that affect the users of the products theydesign, develop, and manufacture. The desired outcome is to produce a product that is withoutdefects and safe for the public to use. However, the potential impact could be very harmful if thewrong decisions are made. The technical aspects behind these decisions are studied in detail asan integral part of the engineer’s undergraduate curriculum