Conference Session

Engineering, Engineers and Setting Public Policy

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Douglas Sicker, University of Colorado at Boulder; Tom Lookabaugh, University of Colorado at Boulder

Tagged Divisions

Engineering and Public Policy

to gain an understanding of public policy as it related to their discipline. Wefound that many of these students did value such knowledge. We also found that the more seniorstudents and the students with work experience overwhelmingly valued such material.As a follow-up to this research, we surveyed approximately one hundred engineers in a variety ofhiring positions in industry to determine their view on the inclusion of public policy in anengineering curriculum. Among the questions included in the survey, we asked, “Do you believethat engineering students should be exposed to public policy issues as part of their education?”We also addressed a number of other issues, including: 1) How do these engineers define publicpolicy? 2) Should the

Conference Session

Engineering, Engineers and Setting Public Policy

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Bodde, Clemson University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering and Public Policy

ethical decision-making into the engineering curriculum, weeducators can better prepare our students to serve as “public citizens.” In particular, Isuggest that three perspectives can serve as a framework for moral reasoning in decisionsregarding design or technology: • a rule-based reasoning process, termed deontological; • an outcomes based process, termed consequentialist; and, • an aspirational frame, where ethical judgment springs from the kind of human being the decision maker seeks to become.These have been proposed for other professions,1 both to teach moral reasoning and forcareer-long application. They could serve engineers equally well.Ethical Values in EngineeringiThe engineering profession has done well in