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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Jon E. Freckleton

Session 2563 CASE STUDIES IN ENGINEERING ETHICS Jon E. Freckleton, P.E. Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, New York 14623ABSTRACT The case studies presented in this paper are based on 22 years of experience at two majorUS companies, four years on active duty in the military, and 11 years of teaching. Cases arepresented first as the situation, with the results of action taken in a later section so that they canbe used for discussion with students. These occurred over a career that started as a new collegehire and

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Michael E. Gorman; Matthew M. Mehalik; Julie M. Stocker

Session 2461 Using Detailed, Multimedia Cases To Teach Engineering Ethics Michael E. Gorman, Julie M. Stocker, Matthew M. Mehalik School of Engineering and Applied Science The University of VirginiaABET has decided to switch to outcome-based assessment of engineering programs rather thanlists of required courses (See the last page of this paper for resources on outcome-basedassessment). Thus, programs will be evaluated according to their contribution to the skillsABET has decided must be demonstrated. While a progressive move in some ways, it raisesserious questions for the

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Brian A. Alenskis

Session 2247 Integrating Ethics into an Engineering Technology Course: An Interspersed Component Approach Brian A. Alenskis Purdue UniversityAbstract The format or approach to teaching professional ethics in engineering or engineeringtechnology can be troublesome. The issue is often how to present ethics as an important aspect ofthe technical profession, without hindering the learning of more technical matters. To accomplishthis, institutions have employed a variety of approaches, each with its strengths and weaknesses. Purdue University is

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

James A. Reising

and final report, and adiscussion of professional ethics.The non-credit seminar is usually taken in the spring of the junior year. Students select projectsinvolving areas of current interest in engineering and make presentations preparatory for theengineering design project series.The first semester of the two-semester course sequence is devoted to a discussion of ethics inprofessional practice and the preparation and presentation of an engineering design proposal.Students work with the course coordinator and a faculty project advisor to develop the proposaland preliminary conceptual design. They also practice oral presentation of their proposals.The second semester of the two-semester course sequence is devoted to completion of thetechnical

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Joseph Herkert

Engineers?MIT's first Dean for Undergraduate Education, the late Margaret MacVicar, once noted [1] thatthe challenge for educators with respect to integration of engineering, humanities and socialsciences is to bring about: “...a true educational partnership among the technical, arts, social andhumanistic disciplines so that on some level students see the interrelationships between scienceand technology on the one hand, and societal, political, and ethical forces on the other.”One approach to exploring such interrelationships is through the STS courses and programs thathave sprung up over the past quarter century. Indeed, the critical reflection on the interactionsamong engineering, humanities and social sciences typically found in successful STS

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Samuel P. Clemence; Daniel J. McGinley

beenformally exposed to these issues.In the proposed Engineering Criteria 20001 that has been developed by the Accreditation Boardfor Engineering and Technology (ABET) it clearly states (Criterion 3. Program Outcomes andAssessment) “Engineering programs must demonstrate that their graduates have…(f) anunderstanding of professional and ethical responsibility.” This requirement, coupled withspecific proposed Program Criteria2 (e.g. Civil Engineering, Architectural Engineering) stating“Graduates of the program must demonstrate an understanding of professional practice issues”warrants proven methods for delivering professional practice and ethics education.The Institute for Professional Practice (IPP) has developed an innovative approach to includethese

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Enno 'Ed' Koehn

level. They include: an ability to apply knowledge ofmathematics, science, and engineering; an ability to identify, formulate and solve engineeringproblems; and an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility. In contrast, all threegroups rate a knowledge of contemporary issues at a relatively lower score. The foregoingattributes are among those that have been proposed by the Accreditation Board for Engineeringand Technology (ABET) as criteria that should be satisfied in order to be awarded an accreditedengineering degree.IntroductionOver the years there have been studies conducted by employers and varioustechnical/professional organizations to revise the engineering curriculum to ensure that studentsare prepared for the future

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Mark A. Shields; John P. O'Connell

, science and engineering; b) An ability to design and conduct experiments, analyze and interpret data; c) An ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs; d) An ability to function on multidisciplinary teams; e) An ability to identify, formulate and solve engineering problems; f) An understanding of professional and ethical responsibility; g) An ability to communicate effectively; h) The broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global societal context; i) A recognition of the need for and an ability to engage in lifelong learning; j) A knowledge of contemporary issues; and, k) An ability to use the techniques, skills and modern

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

John K. Brown

in response the combined challenges of unalterable staffing and funding levels andanticipated enrollment growth. This paper outlines how the Division of Technology, Culture andCommunication at SEAS plans to refashion its introductory writing and speaking class (TCC 101)to meet these challenges. Our goals are simply put:--accomplish more teaching with fewer resources--improve the quality of our instruction in writing and public speaking--promote students’ awareness of modern social, economic, and political issues relating to engineering practice--increase students’ ethical awareness--decrease the attrition rate of first-year students (chiefly a problem of transfers into UVA’s liberal arts college)At present, TCC 101 is a labor

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Charles U. Okonkwo

3MET 494G/598D Waste Minimization and Prevention 3MET 4XX Material and Energy Balan in Manufacturing Processes 3MET 4XX Energy 3MET 4XX Environmental Ethics and Regulations 3MET 4XX Environmental Site Planning for Industries 3Students with environmental emphasis option would substitute Manufacturing and theEnvironment course (MET 4XX) and Waste minimization and Prevention (MET494G/598D) for MET 344 and MET 346 respectively. In order to maintain the total 128semester credit hours, they would use the remaining four of the proposed courses as

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Ingrid H. Soudek

which offers an array of courses which address theinterface between technology and society, technical writing and oral presentation, as well asengineering ethics. We have found that teaching gender issues is very effective when coupledwith the teaching of ethics and values of professionals. In this paper, I discuss the specificmaterials, methods and basic philosophy of teaching that are effective in teaching issues ofgender.My course, TCC 211, "Values of Professionals," explores the value framework, the "calling" ofvarious professions, including engineering. To help students understand how one establishes thevalues for a particular profession, we talk about applied ethics and about what we consider rightand wrong behavior both on the job and in

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Mary E. Besterfield-Sacre; Larry J. Shuman; Cynthia Atman; Harvey Wolfe

directly, but there appeared to be a natural relationship between the two,a new category was formed. If no relationship was found between the categories and theassociated cards, the literature-based survey coding was consulted to determine how the category(and corresponding cards) may be assigned. If no consistencies could be found between theaffinity diagrams and the survey coding, a new category was formed. Three such categories wereformed: discipline specific knowledge, creative thinking and engineering ethics. These final,synthesized categories became the outcome variables used in the larger research effort, as shownin Table 1. Definitions for the outcomes were based on the responses written on the individualcards that comprised each group

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

C. Dianne Martin; Edmund Tsang; Rand Decker

, sharingideas and working in a group, designing a project to suit others, the importance of total groupinvolvement, the ability to communicate with team members, and the recognition of roles withinthe group.Concerning the objective that engineering students will learn to team effectively with middle-school teachers, they became more bothered on a series of items measuring teaming during thewinter quarter and less bothered during the spring quarter. The spring quarter improvement wasstatistically significant.Integrating Service Learning into an Electrical Engineering and Computer ScienceCurriculumAs part of new curriculum guidelines to incorporate social and ethical implications of computertechnology into the required curriculum, a Technology and

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Robert P. Taylor; B.K. Hodge

pursueother majors and careers. Does this happen? Is engineering education excluding by defaultgreater diversity in the profession? A more fundamental question might be how well individualswith different learning styles from those of the usual engineer might fare in engineering careers.Factor 19: EthicsThe perceived value of any profession to the public rests in part with the ethical conduct bymembers of that profession. In many surveys, engineering is usually assessed to possessrelatively high ethical standards. ABET considers ethics to be important enough to be specifi-cally mentioned as a requirement for accreditation. However, formal instruction in ethics isusually viewed as a collateral topic by many in engineering education. The ethical

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

John Valasek

their effect on the vehicle is a major concern 11.Although perceived by many as a natural or inherent understanding, engineering ethics must betaught. Typical issues which aircraft design students should be required to addresses in opendiscussions in the classroom include: "How safe is !Safe Enough ?" "If it is not practical orpossible to design for zero accidents, then how many fatalities are acceptable?"; "Should wedesign and operate aircraft which carry 1,000+ passengers in spite of the potential for large lossof life should one of them crash?". Although rhetorical in nature these questions serve tostimulate critical thinking. COURSE STRUCTUREAt Western Michigan University AE 469 Airplane Design is a three

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Taggart Smith

Session 2542 Engineering Management: The Practical Discipline Taggart Smith School of Technology, Purdue UniversityA headline in USA Today caught my eye: "Education gaps leave graduates ill-prepared." 1 Thelead stated: "College graduates enter the work force with strong technical skills but aren't verygood at communicating, being part of a team or accepting ambiguity, among other things." The"other things" included ethics and global awareness. The report was the result of a study done bythe Task Force on High-Performance Work and Workers, sponsored by the Business

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Joseph Herkert

archives from the Three Mile Island,Chernobyl, Apollo 13, Challenger, and Exxon Valdez cases, and other resources such as thediscussion of the Challenger case maintained at the World Wide Web Ethics Center forEngineering and Science located at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Documentaryvideos, obtained from PBS and various broadcast and cable channels, include footage of thedisasters and/or their aftermaths for all of the major case studies considered in the course as wellas such cases as a ship explosion that leveled downtown Texas City, Texas, Three Mile Island,Apollo 13, and a gas leak which occurred at a Union Carbide plant in Institute, West Virginia.Students are also required to screen the feature film, Apollo 13.Students are

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Andrew S. Lau

: • It goes beyond ‘green engineering’ to discuss ethics, diverse cultural critiques of technology, and the politics of technology. • It is a technical elective and requires a significant group design project. • It qualifies as a ‘Diversity-Focused’ course and considers three specific cultural groups and their attitudes toward technology: feminists, the Amish, and Native Americans. • It makes use of collaborative groups throughout the course and requires considerable writing and speaking assignments.BACKGROUNDThe course evolved from several other courses taught by the author since 1984, including anIntroduction to Energy Technology course which made use of Jeremy Rifkin’s

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Brian S. Mitchell

added and removed since the inception of the course.For example, linear regression was covered the first year, but was removed in subsequent yearssince essentially the same material is covered in Stoichiometry. Experimental design wasintroduced, including factorial analysis, but was removed in 1996 to make room for moreengineering economics and an expansion of the design project. One-hour lectures on safety andengineering ethics are also incorporated as time allows. The majority of the class, however, isdevoted to the five areas described above. Statistics for Engineering and the Sciences byMendenhall and Sincich1 is currently the textbook for this course.Descriptive statistics, probability fundamentals and probability distributions are covered

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Edward Pines

experiential learning through theiranalysis and classroom discussion.Concern for popular press interpretations led to discussion of workplace ethics. Ethics becomes Page 2.180.3a critical topic when people are going to discuss injuries and errors, and costs to avoid them.Engineers and managers should be aware of the total costs of decisions they make.Last, an important purpose was the introduction of a vocabulary and a way of looking at theworkplace. This was an additional concern in developing class lectures and the class project. Asone purpose of the course was to provide a background to students who would work withindustrial engineers and ergonomists

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Gerald R. Frederick; Benjamin Koo

restructuring their programs, this presentation attempts to extendthat effort to a much wider community through the American Society for Engineering Education.UNIVERSITIES Each university should identify and establish a long-range global vision through self-examination of its academic activities, indicating their strengths and weaknesses. In the area ofcurricula enhancement, strategic planning must accentuate courses including foreign languages,cultural development, social and political sciences, psychology, behavioral science, businessmanagement and ethics. It is recognized that many of these courses can be included withinABET guidelines as well as within a general education core which is required at manyuniversities. However, the breadth

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

V. Coppola; K. Powell; D. Hyland; B. Cosgrove; A. Waas; A. Messiter; Joe G. Eisley

years to address specific career goals. The implementation of implicit curricular “threads” (i.e. coverage of topics via coordinated portions of courses throughout the four-year program, as opposed to coverage in a separate course). - written, oral and visual technical communications; - engineering problem solving through computing; - engineering ethics; - teamwork and team leadership; - randomness and uncertainty; - environmental impacts and issues. Increased use of teamwork in courses: five of the ten required courses inside the Aerospace department are to be based on team projects and team grades. A

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Tracy S. Tillman

. People and teamwork. Included here are the means of organizing, hiring, training,motivating, measuring, and communicating to ensure teamwork and cooperation. Resources and responsibilities. Resources (inputs) include capital, people, materials,management, information, technology, and suppliers. Responsibilities (outputs) includeemployee, investor, and community relations, as well as regulatory, ethical, and environmentalobligations. The expected skills, knowledge, and abilities of a certified enterprise integrator, based onthe body of knowledge, are as follows: 1. Determine customer needs and solutions. 2. Effectively interface with the user/customer. 3. Form, train, and develop teams, people, and organizations. 4. Gather data, and

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Stephen A. Raper; Susan L. Murray

concern for the environment, quality and ethics. (5)A second definition states Engineering Management is the discipline addressed to making andimplementing decisions for strategic and operational leadership in current and emergingtechnologies and their impacts on interrelated systems. (12)In 1989, IIE prepared the following definition of IE to reflect what the profession would be in2000:Industrial Engineering will be recognized as the leading profession whose practitioners plan,design, implement, and manage integrated production and service delivery systems that assureperformance, reliability, maintainability, schedule adherence and cost control. These systemsmay be sociotechnical in nature, and will integrate people, information, material

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Robert J. Witt; Gilbert A. Emmert

enable students to pursue post-graduate education in nuclear engineering and relatedfields, and to adapt to emerging technologies throughout their career; and a broad perspective ofthe ethical responsibilities and societal impact of their profession. Page 2.236.1Knowledge GoalTo provide a fundamental education in all of the areas of: mathematics, physics,computer science, basic engineering science, nuclear engineering design, and humanitiesincluding ethical, societal and diversity issues. This will include in-depth exposure to most of theareas of: radiation shielding, reactor physics and design of core loading patterns to achieve safeand efficient

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Jack Waintraub

projects provided by industry partners ordesigned by faculty in collaboration with industry representatives, with students assuming greaterresponsibility for their own learning. Work experiences for students will play an important role,and a wide range of instructional methods and tools will be employed, making use of advancedinstructional technologies to develop critical thinking skills, work ethics, social values, and teamparticipation, as well as leadership qualities. Emphasis will be placed on developing the skillsthat allow students to function as team members on group projects, to write effective memorandaand reports, to give clear and concise oral presentations, and to make timely and cost-effectivedecisions based on social, environmental

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

J. M. Mendel; H. H. Kuehl

. (5) Undergraduates are required to satisfy an ethics requirement, by including in theirhumanities and social science electives one of several courses which have been developedspecifically to include a substantial component of engineering ethics issues. (6) Three design courses, including one capstone design course, are required. (7) A non-EE engineering science elective course is required. (8) One chemistry and three physics courses are required. (9) Five mathematics courses, including calculus, differential equations, andengineering mathematics, are required. (10) Twenty units of humanities and social science electives are required. F. Innovation

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Charles C. Adams

engineering students, even–and perhaps especially–in the engineeringclassroom.If engineering design requires a holistic and integrated perspective on reality, why is it that thetendency in modern technology seems to be in the opposite direction? That is, why is it easy forengineers to have their perspectives so narrowed that important aspects of design problems areoverlooked? Dams that disrupt the ecological balance of a region, VCRs that are too difficult forthe average person to program, and the addressing of age old medical problems with geneticengineering solutions that raise even greater ethical problems are just three kinds of designfailures that result from what has been called the narrowness tendency in design (Van Poolen,1987, p. 785

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Kathryn A. Neeley

hierarchy implicit in the expert audience/lay audience distinction in favor of a more democratic view in which communicating on equal terms with experts in other fields and people without extensive technical backgrounds are seen as normal parts of professional practice.5.) It should recognize that both ethical management of technology and successful marketing of new technology require communicating effectively with users and others-mostly non- expert-who are affected by the technology in question. For example, obtaining informed consent from those exposed to technology-related risks and winning acceptance for new technology require communicating with people who are not experts on the technology in question

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Susan M. Bolton; Scott D. Bergen; James L. Fridley

professionalsocieties generally adopt a code of ethics to guide their membership. A code of ethics shouldeventually be adopted for ecological engineering.The second sticking point then, is if we decide to include a statement of values in the definition,what values should we express? This is a hot topic, but concepts such as human benefit,sustainability, and ecological health and integrity are often mentioned in the literature. For now,the statement of values in the definition of ecological engineering will be most accepted if itappeals to a plurality of value frameworks.7Program ScopeWe have defined ecological engineering broadly and advocate its application to a number ofproblem areas. Potential applications include: 1. The design of ecological systems