Conference Session

Engineering, Engineers and Setting Public Policy

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Bodde, Clemson University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering and Public Policy

increasingly turnto technology to solve societal problems. To be sure, the capacity to create innovativetechnical solutions remains essential. But for those engineers who seek to contributefully to the common wealth, technical problem-solving alone is no longer enough. Inaddition, they must engage with the policy process to ensure that the ethicalconsiderations surrounding any technology reinforce rather than diminish its potential forgood. The history of technologies ranging from nuclear power to genetically modifiedcrops demonstrate the perils of neglect.Public involvement, however, adds ethical and value judgments to engineering design instronger measure than would derive from technical and economic considerations alone.And so, by introducing

Conference Session

Engineering, Engineers and Setting Public Policy

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Haws, Boise State University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering and Public Policy

core class for non-engineers at Boise State University, I focus on helping studentsunderstand the impact of engineering decisions on their individual and communal lives. I attemptto de-mystify engineering design, but also try to explain the engineer’s over-reliance onconvergent thinking, and the dissonance response of engineers to project opposition (denying,marginalizing, or baffling the opposition through intentionally turgid language and the appeal to“special” expertise). We discuss Habermas and Discourse Ethics, and as one of the principalassignments, I have them attend and report on the public hearing required to enable federalfunding for some local engineering project. The Idaho Department of Transportation, and theAda County Highway