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

inclusion of such policy issues be part of a standalone course or integratedinto existing courses? 3) Who should teach this material? 4) Could such knowledge help astudent advance in their career? and 5) Would you favor hiring students with educationalbackground in public policy? In this paper, we report on the findings of this survey. Of note, wefound statistically significant differences based on the engineering discipline and on the job titleof the survey participant.1. IntroductionAs part of the Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program (ITP) curriculum (a master’sdegree program in the Engineering College at the University of Colorado at Boulder), studentshave been required to take course work that includes public policy material and attend

Conference Session

Engineering, Engineers and Setting Public Policy

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Reisel, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Tagged Divisions

Engineering and Public Policy

education of engineering students concentrates primarily in thescientific and design realms, and rightfully so as most engineers have to be very knowledgeablein these areas to perform their jobs well. But a disservice that this education provides is thatmany engineering students graduate without a good understanding of the non-technologicalissues that may impact their careers. Their education also often does not provide them with good Page 12.1405.2skills for communicating their expertise to non-engineers. ABET, the Accreditation Board forEngineering and Technology, does try to have schools address these concerns by having theminclude effective

Conference Session

Engineering, Engineers and Setting Public Policy

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Peter Mark Jansson, Rowan University; William Riddell, Rowan University; Nathan Vizzi, Rowan University; Krishan Bhatia, Rowan University; Ryan McDevitt, Rowan University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering and Public Policy

ofinstalling wind measurement systems and wind turbines based upon the feedback of surveys sentto the zoning officers of over 80 municipalities that lie in the richest wind resource areas of theState. The result of the work has raised the students’ awareness about how public policy affectstheir careers and the engineering projects that they attempt to perform. The interplay betweenpublic policy and project-based learning is dramatized by these types of clinic experiences wherestudents attempt to solve the real world’s problems in real time.BackgroundEnergy and fuel prices are rising exponentially and societal consumption habits are everincreasing the demand for power. Consumer purchasing power, now more than ever, seems tobe dramatically affecting 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

influence the success of public policies by their assertiveness and skill inensuring that technical judgment receives due weight in the implementing decisions. Yetas a practical matter, meaningful risks to employment, career, and reputation attend thisassertiveness, and the question of when an engineer has done his or her duty ranks highamong the ethical considerations of the profession.Consider the case of the R-101, the air disaster that effectively ended Great Britain’sparticipation in lighter-than-air transport. On a rainy Autumn morning in 1930, the R-101 nosed into the ground on a ridge in France. The crash itself occurred at low speedand so appeared relatively benign; but the hydrogen gas ignited, and 48 of the 54 personsaboard perished