Conference Session

Engineering Ethics Division Technical Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Brittney Hope Jimerson, North Carolina A&T State University ; Eui Hyun Park, North Carolina A&T State University; Vinod K Lohani, Virginia Tech; Steven M. Culver, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

ethic instructioncoverage, an interdisciplinary faculty group received a grant from the National ScienceFoundation (NSF) to help achieve this objective. This paper will discuss two main objectives: 1.Understand and evaluate the results of a college-wide survey administered to gauge theperceptions of undergraduate and graduate engineering students regarding their current ethicsinstruction. 2. Identify areas in the ethics curriculum that might need to be strengthened, andsuggest a more informative way of enhancing ethics instruction at NC A&T.2. The Need for Ethics Instruction in EngineeringOver the years, Universities have shown concern about raising the ethical knowledge of studentsby finding ways to influencing their ethical reasoning. In

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics Division - Technical Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jodi Reeves, National University; Larysa Nadolny, Iowa State University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

activity in two engineering Page 23.547.2management courses in two different course delivery formats.SciEthics Interactive Project DesignTo simulate a real-life industrial situation, we built a hypothetical company TransGen that isproducing genetically modified (i.e. transgenic) salmon. The students join the company as a newemployee on their first day of work and are provided one of three roles in the virtual world: 1)scientist, 2) activist, or 3) government regulations agency member. Through an instructionalhandout, the students are introduced to the challenge ahead. Your report is a very important part of your job as a researcher/activist

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics Division Technical Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Justin L Hess, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

Applications of Engineering Ethics Education: A Systematic Literature ReviewIntroduction Engineering education plays a crucial role in leading students to develop thecompetencies needed to succeed in a global world .1 Engineering educators now seek to helpstudents foster a “global perspective” in order to thrive in the global environment2, yet theirfocus has a tendency to be on the economic incentives of so doing.3,4 Dewey stated long ago, “Ifever we are to be governed by intelligence, not by things and by words, science (andengineering, I add) must have something to say about what we do, and not merely about how wemay do it most easily and economically”.5 Ethics education is one arena for such discourse.The contemporary

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics Division - Technical Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jason Borenstein, Georgia Institute of Technology; Robert J Butera, Georgia Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

funding source.This paper outlines the strategy used to ensure that these students receive RCR trainingand seeks to highlight the challenges associated with implementing this training on acampus-wide scale at Georgia Tech. The aforementioned policy has both an online andan in-person component. For the purposes of this paper, the focus will be on the in-personportion. The policy is eventually supposed to grow to cover master’s students as well butthat process will not be discussed here.Federal policies and RCRSince 1989, NIH has required RCR education for trainees who are funded through certaincategories of its grants.[1] In 2009, NIH made several key modifications to its RCRpolicy. Included among the changes is that NIH now states that “online

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics Division Technical Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

William J. Schell IV P.E., Montana State University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

in need ofstrengthening. As a profession, engineering recognizes the importance of ethical behavior, citingit as the first obligation of a newly graduated engineering student,1 and as the final canon of theNSPE Code of Ethics.2 Given this recognition, engineers should take a leading role in serving asa positive role model for the ethical behavior expected within a healthy society. Engineeringeducators play a key role in developing engineers who see this role as a key aspect of theirprofessional responsibility. By ensuring that engineering ethics becomes an increasinglyimportant component of engineering education, educators can model the way to instill thesebehaviors in professional practice

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics Division Technical Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rebecca A Bates, Minnesota State University, Mankato; Michael C. Loui, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

provide experiences and resources that can supportfaculty members in incorporating more ethical discussions and decision makingexperiences in their engineering classes. Readers are encouraged to participate in theonline forums described here. Page 23.794.5References[1] Center for the Study of Ethics in Society. 1992. Teaching engineering ethics: a case study approach. Pritchard, M., editor. http://ethics.tamu.edu/NSFReport.aspx. Accessed January 6, 2013.[2] Davis, M. 1999. Teaching ethics across the engineering curriculum. Presented at the OEC International Conference on Ethics in Engineering and Computer Science, March 1999. Available at

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics Division Technical Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Martin S. High, Oklahoma State University; Scott D Gelfand, Oklahoma State University, Department of Philosophy; Ronald Steve Harrist Ph.D., Oklahoma State University; Shelia M. Kennison, Oklahoma State University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

with common, everyday ethicalchallenges. We suggest that students would profit immensely from learning why (otherwise)well-intentioned people fail to live up to their own moral commitments and/or the ethicalrequirements of their professions. And after teaching students about this last, we believe studentsshould be provided a set of tools, an ethical toolbox if you will, they can use to decrease thelikelihood that they will make ethical errors in the future. Most (perhaps all) professional ethicsclasses and textbooks neglect to provide students with these tools.1# (Note: We do not claim thatlearning ethical theory is unnecessary or ought to be eliminated. In fact, we believe ethical theoryis important. However, learning about ethical theory

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics Division Technical Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rigoberto Chinchilla, Eastern Illinois University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

the universities remain instruments of monetized economic growth.” - “The institutional autonomy and academic freedom, which have enabled universities and faculty to advance learning and disseminate knowledge as a public good in itself , is correspondingly selected against and abolished”1 The MME might describe in many ways how a sector of professionals within academiaand private companies might want to drive the university mission. There is little doubt amongprofessors that having the input of the private sector is a valuable tool for designing ourcurriculum. Also, there is little doubt that research shared between the private sector andacademia can give valuable input knowledge and skills needed to fine tune

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics Division Technical Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David K. Ware; David J. Ahlgren, Trinity College; Harvey F. Silverman, Brown University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

value and effectiveness of the ethics lectures. The surveyquestions asked students to recall the lecture, to consider the lecture’s effect on their ability tomake ethical choices, and to rate the value of the ethics lecture on their engineering education.Approximately 80% of those surveyed considered ethics to be a generally important topic to becovered in their college education, and 74% found this particular lecture to have been helpful formaking ethical choices.Making the Case for an Ethics LectureThere is an apparent consensus among the business world, educators, accrediting authorities andagencies for scientific advancement [1] that colleges and universities should address ethics aspart of undergraduate and graduate engineering curricula

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics Division - Technical Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Frank E Falcone, Villanova University; Edward F. Glynn P.E., Villanova University; Mark Edward Graham, Villanova University; Mark Doorley Ph.D., Villanova University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

on your current knowledge of ethics, do you feel qualified to discuss this issue with your students in class?  If yes, would you use this case study in class?These case studies were specifically selected such that the answer to the first question is notobvious and, therefore, the specific case study is subject to discussion. The thought process herewas to select case studies that support a subtle purpose of the survey which was to convince thefaculty that many critical cases in engineering ethics do not have obvious answers. Perhaps theambiguity of the case studies selected led to the results obtained.The results of the survey are summarized in Table 1

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics Division Technical Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Marilyn A. Dyrud, Oregon Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

was unbelievable. I couldn’t believe what Iwas seeing, but I was seeing it and hearing it.” Others in the room simply uttered “one wordexpletives.”43The collapse occurred in a stadium devoid of spectators and only occupied by some 40steelworkers. Due to the workman’s keen observation of the buckle, all were safely evacuated;the only fatality was the structure itself. Even the workers’ mascot, a cat, emerged unscathedfrom the rubble.43 Damages were estimated at $500,000 to $1 million.40Structural failure analyst Ken Carper, from Washington State University, attributes the collapsenot to the design but rather a poor decision to remove temporary stabilizing cables that preventedthe roof from twisting. Because final stabilizing features were not

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics Division Technical Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jessica A Kuczenski, College of San Mateo / San Francisco State University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

and Century College were in general similar to those fromnational surveys, there were differences noted in the areas of exam cheating and plagiarism.IntroductionEngineering is an important and learned profession. As members of this profession, engineers arerequired to adhere to the highest principles of ethical conduct as engineering is a profession withpublic purposes, including contributing to public safety and the environment. Thus, engineersmust maintain standards of honest and conscientious practice as is crucial for maintaining humanwelfare.Dishonest (unethical) behavior in the engineering workplace has been found to be linked toacademically dishonest behavior in college.1-3 Unfortunately, academic dishonesty is widespreadin the United

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics Division Technical Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mona Itani, American University of Beirut

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

so 8, 10, 11, 12, 17.In order to minimize the risk of being only superficially effective as argued by Newberry,2004, different universities have been using a variety of learning tools such as casestudies, problem solving, videos, games, simulation, and role-playing in order to attain abetter ethics learning experience and achieve the required outcomes of applied ethics Page 23.1193.2courses 1, 11, 19. So far, case studies have been the most popular tool used in teachingengineering ethics 3. However, since case studies often involve a lot of reading from thetext which many students often find boring and difficult to follow, a need for

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics Division - Technical Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Trevor Scott Harding, California Polytechnic State University; Donald D. Carpenter P.E., Lawrence Technological University; Cynthia J. Finelli, University of Michigan

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

- ating methods to improve teaching, and exploring ethical decision-making in undergraduate engineering students. Dr. Finelli leads a national initiative to create a taxonomy/keyword outline for the field of en- gineering education research, and she is past chair of the Educational Research and Methods Division of the American Society of Engineering Education. Page 23.1272.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2013 Two Years Later: A longitudinal look at the impact of engineering ethics educationIntroductionBetween accreditation requirements [1

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics Division Technical Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Carla B. Zoltowski, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Patrice Marie Buzzanell, Purdue University, West Lafayette; William C. Oakes, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

Engineering Education, 2013 Utilizing an Engineering Ethical Reasoning Instrument in the CurriculumAbstractThe need for understanding and enhancing engineering students’ ethical development has beenthe subject of numerous publications and has been embedded in ABET criteria. Although thereare reliable and valid measures of individual ethical development (e.g., Defining Issues Test,Version 2 (DIT2)1), engineering ethics offers a unique site in which the confluence ofdisciplinary concerns, professional codes, industry regulations, accreditation and other Boardconsiderations, and insight into human issues enter design considerations. As a result, wedeveloped the Engineering Ethical Reasoning Instrument (EERI