Conference Session

Sustainability and Humanitarian Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ryan C. Campbell, University of Washington; Denise Wilson, University of Washington

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

number of other problems with traditionalengineering education for HE. One of these problems is the existence of pervasive valuehierarchies in the minds of engineers, such as valuing: 1) science over design, 2) high-tech over low-tech solutions, and 3) engineering over non-engineering (e.g., humanities and social sciences) work.Another problem given in [4] is the pervasive use of the engineering problem solving method,which begins by presenting the students with the necessary information to solve the problem andthen having them: 1) extract the relevant technical information, 2) create idealized abstractions (e.g., free-body diagrams), 3) make simplifying assumptions so the problems can be solved more efficiently, 4

Conference Session

Ethics in different disciplines

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Diana Bairaktarova, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Demetra Evangelou, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

students graduating from engineering programsmust have an understanding of how ethics work in the real world and how ethical problems canaffect an engineer’s entire professional career. This course will focus on the ethics of engineeringpractice. As part of the course students will be expected to consider the effects of their actions(and failure to act) including the economic, environmental, political, societal, health and safetyconsequences of their work, while also keeping in mind the manufacturability and sustainabilityof their structures and products.This course was originally developed in the context of a curriculum design course. It was createdwith the intention of further development using the results of a program of rigorous research

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics and Justice

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rodney W. Trice, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

used to assess changes in moral reasoning ability from pre- andpost-class assessment. The average pre-class N2 score was 40±13, which correlated very wellwith the N2 scores for first year college students. After taking the course, a N2 score of 51±11was measured, indicating significant improvement in their moral reasoning ability as defined bythe DIT2 test.While 19 students was a reasonable number for the first time this course was taught, PurdueUniversity’s engineering enrollment per class is approximately 1600 students. Thus, a largerimpact is desired. With this in mind, an 10 lecture module is being developed that would beoffered to the other schools within the engineering college. The module will be designed toemphasize both theory and its

Conference Session

Ethics in different disciplines

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Marilyn A. Dyrud, Oregon Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

.36 But after the foundation was poured and the basement levels completed, owner LeeJoon changed his mind. Instead of an office building, the structure would become a massiveupscale shopping mall, offering customers a variety of goods ranging from groceries to expensivedesigner clothing. The new vision included the addition of a fifth floor roller-skating rink.36Woosung engineers expressed doubt about the changes and refused to comply. Rather thanchange his vision, Lee simply fired the engineers and used his own firm, SampoongConstruction, to complete the building to his satisfaction. Lee had been involved in constructionfor more than two decades, initially doing work for the military and then branching out tocommercial real estate ventures

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics Issues Part II

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rebecca A. Bates, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

. Bushan, “Organizing a K-12 AI Curriculum using Philosophy of the Mind,” Proc. American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition, 2005.[6]Jonathan Vos Post, Kirk L. Kroeker, “Writing the Future: Computers in Science Fiction,” Computer 33, 1, 2000, pp. 29-37.[7] Nathan Schurr, Pradeep Varakantham, Emma Bowring, Milind Tambe and Barbara Grosz, “Asimovian Multiagents: Applying Laws of Robotics to Teams of Humans and Agents,” Proc. 4 th International Conference on Programming Multi-agent Systems, 2007, pp. 41-55.[8] Nick Bostrom, “Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence,” Cognitive, Emotive and Ethical Aspects of Decision Making in Humans and in Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 2, ed. I. Smit et al

Conference Session

Sustainability and Humanitarian Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Seamus F. Freyne, Mississippi State University; James P Abulencia, Manhattan College; Powell Draper, Manhattan College

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

plants Neutral Engineers Lean toward viewpoint B Nonengineers Agree strongly with viewpoint B 0 10 20 30 40 50 Page 22.576.10 Responses, %Ethical Issue 7: Violent Video GamesDo these games corrupt children’s minds or are they just harmless entertainment?Viewpoint A: Habituation to ViolenceHow can it be ethical to make a game that glorifies extreme violence, crime, and gratuitous sex?How can it be ethical to profit on such a

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics Issues Part II

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Katherine McComas, Cornell University; Nancy Healy, Georgia Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

Zoology from the University of Rhode Island and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from the University of South Carolina. Page 22.851.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 Incorporating Societal and Ethical Issues of Nanotechnology into an Integrated User Network – Results from the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure NetworkAbstractNanoscale science and engineering (NSE) is viewed by many to be the next “technicalrevolution” which will transform science and industry in the 21st century. It is important thatsociety and the researchers bringing

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics Issues Part II

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Martin S. High, Oklahoma State University; Steve Harrist, Oklahoma State University; Scott D. Gelfand, Oklahoma State University, Department of Philosophy

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

value (Taylor, 1992) Awareness of the desire to be Page 22.1534.8oriented to the good can motivate people to act ethically. In addition, this drive to be oriented tothe good explains why people might try to justify in their own minds unethical behavior, therebyconvincing themselves that this behavior is, in fact, ethical.)VII. Future Efforts and Applications to the Ethics Classroom In the coming semesters, we will be designing, administering and testing theeffectiveness of an ethics program for engineers and scientists that, unlike traditional ethicsclasses, focusing to a considerable extent on why people violate ethical codes or act

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics and Justice

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Caroline Baillie, University of Western Australia

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

has been stalled by boundaries between ways of thinkingand seeing. Practitioners on the ground have to learn from experience with no foundationalconcepts to help them build their knowledge. This study hopes to move engineering education ina more useful direction by breaking down these barriers to learning. It is not the intention toenlarge the amount that engineering students have to know by unimaginable leaps, but to expandengineering students minds and their potential to act in the best interests of society and toquestion what this might be. The approach is to introduce them to different ideas, thoughts andways of thinking by eliciting the support of scholars in other domains who, by engaging withmultidisciplinary knowledge building

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics Issues Part One

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Claire Komives, San Jose State University; Moira M. Walsh, Independent Scholar

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

AC 2011-2571: APPLICATION OF CLASSICAL REALIST PHILOSOPHYPRINCIPLES TO ENGINEERING ETHICSClaire Komives, San Jose State University Claire Komives earned her Ph.D. degree at the University of Pittsburgh in Chemical Engineering. She worked at DuPont Research and Development before starting at San Jose State University, where she is currently an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering. She teaches Process Safety and Ethics currently. She took an interest in ethics when teaching a freshmen seminar course, Biotechnology and Ethics. Her research interests are in whole cell bioprocesses and biochemical engineering education. Moira Walsh received her Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Notre Dame in 1998, where

Conference Session

Integration of Liberal Education into Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

George D. Ricco, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics, Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

, he would not go so far as to say that the needs of society are overruled bythe needs of the individual or even in continuous conflict. Vygotsky’s observations stemmedfrom cultural change in Russia during his lifetime. He noticed change in what would then becalled the developmental learning pathways of individuals based on grand scale societal changes.Thus, the societal impetus was responsible for changing lifelong learning habits and the minds ofindividuals. In the engineering education community, many efforts are spent on developingphenomenographical approaches to problems, but almost none are spent on phenomenological orexistential approaches to problems. The issue at hand may be two-fold: first, phenomenographyas a research

Conference Session

Integration of Liberal Education into Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tom A. Eppes, University of Hartford; Ivana Milanovic, University of Hartford; Frederick Sweitzer, University of Hartford

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics, Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

recovery plans. In remarks by President Barack Obama on the AmericanGraduation Initiative, a top priority is to ensure that the U.S. has the highest percentage ofcollege-educated workers in the world.10 However, to make excellence truly inclusive, qualitymust drive commitment to college completion.3The implications of LEAP on the engineering and technology higher education community leadsto the following question: What is the purpose of liberal education and how should it permeateour curricula? Newman’s approach to liberal education is that of “enlargement or expansion ofthe mind,” a process in which university education helps students develop skills necessary forintellectual expansion.11 Heywood12 introduced the idea of engineering literacy being

Conference Session

Integration of Liberal Education into Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

K.L. Jordan, Michigan Technological University; Anahita Pakzad, Michigan Technological University; Renee Oats, Michigan Technological University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics, Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

other classmates, and participate in live feedback sessions.Internet-based learning also bears in mind students with various learning styles andphysical disabilities. There are many positive implications of internet-based learning suchas a means to interactively present and disseminate curricula through courseworkmanagement tools such as Blackboard. It also promotes collaboration and continuingeducation for full time employees, i.e. “learning anywhere, anytime.” 1 Students areencouraged to expand their knowledge of the material being taught through media,images, animation and streaming audio/video.Internet-based engineering education is an accepted practice throughout the United Statesand abroad. There are interesting ethical and societal