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Integrating Ethics Across the Civil Engineering Curriculum

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Conference

2019 ASEE PNW Section Conference

Location

Corvallis, Oregon

Publication Date

March 20, 2019

Start Date

March 20, 2019

End Date

March 22, 2019

Page Count

11

DOI

10.18260/1-2--31883

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/31883

Download Count

557

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Paper Authors

biography

Cara J Poor P.E. University of Portland

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Dr. Poor teaches many of the integral undergraduate civil engineering courses at University of Portland, including hydraulics, fluids, and environmental engineering. Dr. Poor is a licensed professional engineer with ongoing research in green infrastructure design, water quality, watershed management, and engineering
education. She is currently developing new curricula for hydraulics and environmental engineering classes, and conducting research on methods to improve conceptual understanding and critical thinking. Part of this effort includes incorporating ethics into the civil engineering program at University of Portland.

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Abigail Chase Stantec

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Abigail graduated from University of Portland with a bachelor's of science in civil engineering with an emphasis on water resources. Post graduation, Abigail works as a Civil Engineer-In-Training for Stantec at one of their offices in San Antonio, TX. She works in the Community Development group primarily on hydraulics and hydrology modeling using ArcGIS, AutoCAD, HEC-RAS, FlowMaster, and many other modeling softwares. She assists in the planning and design of various projects throughout the San Antonio area.

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Mehmet Inan University of Portland

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MEHMET I. INAN IS THE CHAIR OF CIVIL ENGINEERING AT UNIVERSITY OF PORTLAND. HE IS THE AREAS OF MECHANICS & STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS/DESIGN. HE TEACHES CLASSES IN REINFORCED CONCRETE DESIGN, STRUCTURAL ANAYLSIS, DESIGN, EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING, INTERNATIONAL STRUCTURES.

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Abstract

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Abstract: Ethics is a critical topic that is often overlooked in engineering education. To improve understanding of the many ethical issues students may face as practicing engineers, we developed ethics modules in four civil engineering classes at the University of Portland (UP). These ethics modules ranged from traditional writing assignments to interactive class discussion. As a result, students receive ethics instruction at least one time per year throughout their four years at UP. Survey results indicate students thought their understanding of the ASCE Code of Ethics improved, and the ethics modules were helpful for their professional career. Student comments and survey results also indicated the interactive class discussion was more impactful than the writing assignments because they were able to learn about more than one ethical situation. The results of the survey will help improve the ethics modules, and continue our efforts to integrate ethics into the Civil Engineering Program at UP.

Poor, C. J., & Chase, A., & Inan, M. (2019, March), Integrating Ethics Across the Civil Engineering Curriculum Paper presented at 2019 ASEE PNW Section Conference, Corvallis, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--31883

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