Conference Session

Ethics and Technology

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sylvia W. Thomas, University of South Florida

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

had increased only slightly to 68%.1 With the nanotechnologyindustry manufacturing over $50 billion in goods, it would be beneficial for the general publicto know about some of the new and emerging nanotechnologies. Similarly, a 2010 ResearchAmerica survey on Floridians found that 60% of individuals in Florida would like to see moreinformation about science and research.2 Therefore, this work looks to assist in increasing thepublic awareness of innovative nanotechnology.Particularly, the advancements in the area of nano materials technology, and its applications toalternative energy, have spurred the debate on ethical considerations for society and theenvironment. Dr. William Marcy, P.E., executive director of the Murdough Center

Conference Session

Ethics and Technology

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christa Walck, Michigan Technological University; Jacqueline E. Huntoon, Michigan Technological University; Jim R. Baker, Michigan Technological University; Jean S. DeClerck, Michigan Technological University; Nora Allred, Michigan Technological University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

will report lessons learned, student responses, application of the programto an undergraduate NSF-funded REU program, and transition to a sustainable ethics educationprogram for STEM graduate students.Intellectual Property for STEM StudentsUnderstanding the basics of U. S. intellectual property law and the norms of scholarly publishing– copyright and appropriate attributions, fair use, falsification of data, plagiarism, and patentrights and infringement – are essential to ethics education for STEM students.1 Three factorscontribute to its urgency: 1. Federal mandates for responsible conduct of research (RCR) for students engaged in funded research. Ethics education in intellectual property and scientific publishing is a

Conference Session

Ethical Issues II: Academic Integrity and Student Development

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Amy L. Miller, University of Pittsburgh, Johnstown; Jerry W. Samples, University of Pittsburgh, Johnstown

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

, in academic institutions with honor codes or otherwise centralizedrules for such cases this process may not be available or allowed.The following are several recommendations for success. 1. Do have persons of authority oversee the independent study. This demonstrates the importance placed on the exercise and can be a humbling for the student and allows an opportunity for one on one mentoring. 2. Do make the assignment meaningful and ordered so that the students know what is expected. In this case the work required was to evaluate a topic, write an outline, a final paper, and a presentation. 3. It is important to impress upon the students early that it will be an easy class to fail if they are irresponsible

Conference Session

Approaches to Teaching Ethics

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Heywood, Trinity College, Dublin

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

developments in the study of philosophy, engineering and engineering educationThe last decade has been marked by an increasing interest among engineers and engineeringeducators in the philosophy of engineering education. In 2003 there were two major publicationsconcerned with this matter. First, Billy Koen‟s “Discussion of the Method: Conducting theEngineer‟s Approach to Problem Solving” rooted in the use of heuristics that he claimed to beuniversal [1]. Second, Louis Bucciarelli explored the connections between philosophy andengineering especially engineering design, in a book with the formidable title of “EngineeringPhilosophy” [2]. A year later, Goldman argued the case for a philosophy of engineering asopposed to a philosophy of science [3]. A

Conference Session

Approaches to Teaching Ethics

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Marilyn A. Dyrud, Oregon Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

(2), 329-345.18. Luegenbiehl, H. C. (2004). Ethical autonomy and engineering in a cross-cultural context. Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology, 8(1), 57-78.19. Robinson, S., Dixon, R., Preece, C., and Moodley, K. (2007). Engineering, business, and professional ethics. New York: Elsevier. Page 25.1047.820. Callahan, J. C. (1988). Ethical issues in professional life. New York: Oxford.21. Lawson, W . D. (2004, January). Professionalism: The golden years. Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, 130(1), 26-36

Conference Session

Ethical Issues I: Sustainability and Environmental Ethics

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

April A. Kedrowicz, University of Utah; Maria Dawn Blevins, University of Utah

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

and societal aspects, engineering design criteria,business perspectives, and values. On a more micro scale, three common notions of sustainabilitywere present in each principle: (1) safety, toxicity, and health, (2) eliminate or minimize/managewaste, and (3) resource conservation. The second part of their analysis looked at the congruencyof the published principles with what is being taught in universities. An analysis of publishedcourse descriptions showed that most courses with “sustainable” in the title or descriptionemphasized traditional technical engineering or environmental engineering including topics likeenergy and economic sustainability. Of note, descriptions of societal impacts typically invokedthe “triple bottom line” of society

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics and Justice

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rodney W. Trice, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

engineering leaders from across the United States and abroad and to prepare themfor work in technical fields. As evidenced by employers’ interest in our graduating engineersand consistently high rankings by its peers and national news magazines, Purdue University doesa good job of imparting technical knowledge to its students. However, while technicalcompetence is necessary, it is not a sufficient condition for the engineer of 2020 to be successful,as noted in a recent NAE document,1 and as acted upon recently in the College of Engineering.2Within the engineering and scientific community, it is difficult to overestimate the importance ofacting with high ethical standards in global, social, intellectual and technological contexts.When this attribute

Conference Session

Ethics in different disciplines

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert M. Brooks, Temple University; Jyothsna K. S., St.Joseph's College, Bangalore, Department of English; Amithraj Amavasai

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

experimental design. In the present studythe posttest-only two-group randomized experimental design conditions applied and hence the t-test was used.In fall 2005 an undergraduate course on “Transportation Systems and Management” was taughtusing the traditional lecture method. This course was used as the control group. In fall 2010 anexperimental group was taught with ethics counting for 10% of final exam grade.Twenty case studies17 involving problems that are commonly faced in engineering practice, asshown in Appendix 1, were taught throughout the course following the principle of “InterruptedCase Method”. The instructor reviewed several appropriate courses of action for each casefollowing the moral developmental theories of Kohlberg and Piaget18. The

Conference Session

Sustainability and Humanitarian Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Angela R. Bielefeldt, University of Colorado, Boulder

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

; 35-37% of environmental engineers before themodule vs. 77-79% after the module. About 40% of the students incorporated sustainability intotheir definition of civil or environmental engineering; this seems to indicate that the students hadintegrated sustainability into their identity of these engineering disciplines. Based on statementswithin the final essays, more of the environmental engineering students seemed to recognizesustainability as an ethical imperative than the civil engineers. The results indicate that a 1-creditcourse can positively impact students‟ attitudes and awareness toward developing a sustainabilityethic.BackgroundSustainability has been recognized as an imperative by the engineering community,21 withspecific inclusion

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics Issues Part One

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Craig Titus, Purdue University; Carla B. Zoltowski, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Margaret Huyck, Illinois Institute of Technology; William C. Oakes, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Jill L. May, Illinois Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

widely used and is well validated,but it, like many of the other measures, is designed for the business environment and does nottranslate directly to the engineering context.Our ultimate goal as educators is to develop our students’ ethical reasoning skills and equip themto guide themselves through the complexities of today’s global, team-based engineeringprofession. As a significant step in achieving that goal, our project has aimed to 1) developinstruments to measure individual ethical reasoning and team ethical climate, 2) track the growthof these constructs in student populations, and 3) identify methods for developing educationalinterventions and teaching materials to help students develop these skills.This project is a collaborative effort

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

Inventory Report, will help the student engage in reflection inorder to determine what sorts of situations the student might find ethically challenging. Thestudent will then develop a personal plan (Adaptive-Strategies Report) addressing what strategiesthey might use in order to increase the likelihood that they will act ethically in challengingsituations (that is, the situations arrived at while developing the Personal Inventory Report). TheAdaptive Strategies Report will help the student: 1) recognize when an ethically challengingsituation; and 2) act ethically in ethically challenging situations (that is, apply the strategiesdeveloped for the Adaptive-Strategies Report). The products of this exercise – PersonalInventory Report and Adaptive

Conference Session

Sustainability and Humanitarian Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Khanjan Mehta, Penn State University; Duarte B. Morais, North Carolina State University; Yu Zhao, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Mary Lynn Brannon, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Sarah E. Zappe, Pennsylvania State University, University Park

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

(UCD) is an approach to design that grounds the design process ininformation about the people who will use the product. UCD processes focus on usersthroughout the planning, design and development of a product25. ISO 13407: Human-centreddesign process is an international standard informing many UCD methodologies. This standarddefines a general process for including human-centered activities throughout a development life-cycle. The four activities that form the main cycle of work include: 1. Specify the context of use: Identify the people who will use the product, what they will use it for, and under what conditions they will use it. 2. Specify requirements: Identify any business requirements or user goals that must be met

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

international development.The Humanitarian Engineering program at the Colorado School of Mines defines it as: "designunder constraints to directly improve the wellbeing of underserved populations" [1], whereconstraints are not just physical and economic, but also environmental, legal, political, cultural,and ethical. As illustrated by Burnham [2], the emerging field of humanitarian engineering hasgreat potential for addressing many of the world’s problems, especially, we believe, if such workcan be carried out sustainably in a way that fully engages the local people, considering them aspotential resources (not problems), and recognizes their inherent nobility and worth. If thesuccess of such organizations as Engineers Without Borders is any indication

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

Development of an Engineering Ethics CourseIntroductionCriterion three of ABET's Engineering Criteria 2000 requires engineering programs todemonstrate that their graduates have “an understanding of professional and ethicalresponsibility”1. The field of engineering ethics examines and sets standards for engineers’obligations to the public, their clients, employees and the profession.2 In the course of practicingengineering, an engineer solves problems. The engineering decisions are generally guided by theproject management variables of cost, schedule and quality. But engineering decisions are alsoguided by moral values; concern and respect for others. Gaul Baura in “Engineering Ethics”states: “The corporate culture is very powerful and can sway a

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics Issues Part One

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael Bowler, Michigan Technological University; Susan Amato-Henderson, Michigan Technological University; Thomas David Drummer, Michigan Technological University; Joanna M. Schreiber, Michigan Technological University; Joseph H. Holles, University of Wyoming; Ted W. Lockhart, Michigan Technological University; Jingfang Ren, Michigan Technological University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

orientation more likely to increase that person’s ethical sensitivity to RCR.II. MethodsInstruments:Research Role Orientation InventoryPrevious research and pilot testing by our group led to the development and pilot testing of theResearch Role Orientation Inventory (RROI).11 The instrument, designed to assess a researcherssense of responsibility, authority, agency, autonomy, and duty, utilized a 6-point Likert-typescale requiring participants to rate their level of agreement (ranging from strongly disagree tostrongly agree) to 26 items designed to measure the role constructs (See Tables 1 and 2). Usinga factor analytic approach, the 26 items in the RROI included approximately 5 items found tomeasure each construct. Participants were instructed to

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

allow students to easily place themselves in the situation and claim a senseof ownership. Students may already know the basic facts of some real, contemporary ethicalcases, which are in abundant supply.4,5,6,7This article presents the findings from a survey given to 459 undergraduate students, bothengineers and nonengineers, during the 2009/2010 academic year. The objective of the survey isto understand what students think about ten contemporary ethical issues. The ethical issuesinvolve the work of engineers, but the topics also fall within the realms of philosophy, politics,economics, law, sociology, and psychology. The ethical issues are as follows:1. New transportation corridors through neighborhoods. Commerce depends on an efficient

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics and Justice

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

William M. Jordan, Baylor University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

developing world support the concept thatwe should have ethics statements that takes into consideration the needs of the people whom wewish to serve. This can be expressed as requiring engineers to demonstrate justice as part of theirpractice.Appendix 1: ASEE 1999 Policy on engineering ethics education Page 22.587.7ASEE Statement on Engineering Ethics EducationAs the result of the accelerating pace of scientific and technological change which is rapidlytransforming society and the economy, issues of ethical choice have taken on an increasingimportance for all professions, and especially for engineering. In recognition of this challenge

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics and Justice

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dean Nieusma, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

Pedagogical, Curricular, and Institutional ReformIntroductionThis paper surveys and analyzes a range of progressive engineering reform efforts that extendfrom explicit concerns with social justice, or what Joe Herkert has usefully called questions of“macro-ethics” in engineering. 1 The paper categorizes these efforts and shows how they work atvarious levels of reform: material change through reforms in how and for whom technologies aredesigned; situated educational interventions, including both pedagogical and curricularexperiments; professional community-building interventions; and lastly scholarly contributionschallenging how “engineering” is typically understood and how new understandings mightprompt better attention to questions of social

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

Conference Session

Ethics in different disciplines

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Marilyn A. Dyrud, Oregon Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

pertinent information necessitateallocating significant class time, which may be prohibitive for those technical instructors whotake an integrated approach. Small cases are much more contained: “By their nature,” Lynch andKlein note, “small cases can never be presented in full ethnographic detail. . . .”1 “All elseequal,” suggests Michael Davis of Illinois Institute of Technology’s Center for the Study ofEthics in the Professions, “the shorter the case, the better.”2Second, small cases allow students to more fully exercise their moral imagination, the ability toexamine an ethical problem from multiple perspectives. Even very small cases, remarks DavidJonassen, exhibit “myriad perspectives.”3 Indeed, as Harvard faculty member Kenneth Winstonexplains

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics Issues Part One

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gretchen L. Hein, Michigan Technological University; Amber Kemppainen, Michigan Technological University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

prior to the course that they were participating in a pilotprogram. They were notified that these design projects were new and that their feedback wouldbe used to improve the projects and the course. The distribution of the majors is shown in the Page 22.720.3table below. Many of the students choose either electrical or mechanical engineering. A fewstudents have not selected an engineering major or were not College of Engineering students.Table 1. ENG1001 Engineering Major As part of this pilot project, the team design projects Distribution completed were: wind energy, biomechanics andEngineering Major

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics Issues Part II

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Steven Culver, Virginia Tech; Vinod K. Lohani, Virginia Tech; Ishwar K. Puri, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

Act of 2007stipulates that mentoring of postdoctoral fellows and ethics training of graduate andundergraduate students in science and engineering should be included in proposals to theNational Science Foundation [1]. Professional schools, such as engineering and business,have been particularly concerned with future practitioners’ ethical development [2].Accrediting bodies, such as ABET and AACSB, have been especially keen to incorporateethical knowledge of students as a part of the accreditation process for institutions. As perABET criterion 3f, for example, an engineering graduate should demonstrate anunderstanding of professional and ethical responsibility (though no specific guidelines toachieve this objective are provided). A workshop

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics Issues Part II

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sophia T. Santillan, Sidwell Friends School

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

college in previous years. Several students admitted to using anonline homework solution site to complete their homework, even though there wasa stated policy against copying any type of answer key to complete any textbookproblem assignment. Because many students argued that the online site was helpfulin learning the material covered in the assignment, data was collected for the remain-der of the semester to track use of the online site and corresponding performance oncourse exams. There are many online homework solutions sites; one is www.cramster.com, asite describing itself as offering “homework help for math, science, engineering, andbusiness classes by providing resources to accelerate and strengthen the learning pro-cess”1 . The website

Conference Session

Integrating Engineering Ethics into the Curriculum

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Steven Culver, Virginia Tech; Vinod Lohani, Virginia Tech; Ishwar Puri, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

solving [1]. Suggestions also include a widerange of solutions, including faculty development programs for ethics instruction [1a],required social sciences coursework [2], and the incorporation of an open ethics dialoguewithin engineering courses [3]. It has been suggested to consider professional codes ofethics in engineering as a useful framework for thinking about the student learningoutcomes in the area of ethics and professional responsibility [4]. Service learning hasbeen proposed as the learning pedagogy for effectively teaching professional skills andneed to continue research is the area of assessment of professional skills is emphasized[5]. In a recent article, ethics instructions in engineering, health, business, and lawprofessions are

Conference Session

Integrating Engineering Ethics into the Curriculum

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Edward Glynn, Villanova University; Frank Falcone, Villanova University; Mark Doorley, Villanova University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

ethicaland professional responsibility issues that are most pressing in contemporary engineeringpractice: 1. We often think about ethics primarily through the prism of some engineering disaster. Considering engineering / project disasters that you've been involved with, read or heard about; what do you think are the most important ethical and professional responsibility issues that need to be addressed in undergraduate engineering education? 2. Questions or issues involving ethics and professional responsibility occur regularly, on a day to day basis in engineering practice. Given your experience on the job, please identify the ethics and professional responsibility challenges

Conference Session

Ethics in different disciplines

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Craig T. Evers P.E., Minnesota State University - Mankato

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

class through a closeexamination of cultural, managerial, commercial, governmental and human factors in the contextof the time in which the failures occurred.In one 3-hour class, as an example, aerospace and aviation was the topic as seen through thestories of Apollo 1 (1967), TWA Flight 800 (1996) and the Concorde crash (2000). In Apollo 1,faulty wiring in an explosive atmosphere led to loss of the capsule and crew. (Three years later,Apollo 13 was almost lost due to faulty wiring in an explosive atmosphere.) Almost thirty yearslater, TWA Flight 800 was lost with all aboard due to faulty wiring in an explosive atmosphere.The Concorde, which had a long history of tire failures causing wing and fuel tank damage, waslost when it hit debris and a

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics and Justice

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Caroline Baillie, University of Western Australia

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

reporting only on the first stage of theproject.The curriculum team focuses on critique of current practices as well as the development ofknowledge for the Socially and Environmentally Just Engineer. They are considering thequestions below:1.What does engineering look like, now and in the past, which contributes to social andenvironmental justice/ injustice both locally and globally?2.What does / how should a post development critique of industrial development contribute toengineering practice in developing countries in a time of globalisation?3.Learning from history to avoid repeating the atrocities of the past. What examples are therenow and in the past of how engineering contributed to abuse of power and inequalities amongpeople? How can we

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

example, therace to the moon coincided neatly with the original Star Trek television series. The interchangebetween creative work and technical development is especially fun to examine in the field ofartificial intelligence, where there are many examples ranging from Isaac Asimov stories toWall-E to intelligent artificial agents within many games.The course goals of AI & SciFi include 1) presenting students with a fun opportunity to improvetheir writing, 2) exploring the social impact of the field of AI, 3) preparing students to deal withethical questions that will arise in their professional careers, 4) connecting students to thebroader culture of the technical community, 5) exploring connections between creativity in artsand in computer

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

level onBloom’s scale. These include: 1. Restate the six fundamental canons of the NSPE Code in order to demonstrate knowledge of a code of engineering ethics. 2. Identify the ethical issues in an engineering case study. 3. Design a strategy to manage a situation where an employee/subordinate commits an ethics violation. 4. Identify all potential consequences of an ethical infraction. 5. Recognize the requirement of personal responsibility with regard to striving to be a well- prepared, technically competent engineer by the time of graduation. 6. Explain the foundations of the code of engineering ethics as stemming from the notion that all human beings share a common human nature and as such, it is

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics Issues Part One

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David H. Jonassen, University of Missouri

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

processes engaged by problem solving and models and methods for supporting those processes during learning, culminating in the book, Learning to Solve Problems: A Handbook for Designing Problem- Solving Learning Environments. Page 22.226.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 Arguing to Solve Engineering Ethics ProblemsABET, Inc. (formerly know as the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology,1997, p.1, p.2) includes in their criteria for accrediting engineering programs a requirementthat graduates must demonstrate an understanding of professional and