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Session No. 2566-3

MECHANICAL ENGINEEING DIVISION: TEACHING ENGINEERING ETHICS IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING DESIGN PROJECTS

Francis A. Di Bella, PE Assistant Professor, Northeastern University Boston, MA 02131 (617-373-5240; fdibella@coe.neu.edu)

ABSTRACT How and when should engineering ethics be taught in a typical four-year engineering curriculum? Should ethics instruction be left to the individual’s own morals education after graduation and thus classroom time spent on more tangible subjects? This paper advocates the teaching of engineering ethics in the classroom but also suggests that there is a rational and realistic way of merging the subjects of engineering ethics and engineering design. This paper will describe the manner in which the author has been able to seamlessly insert the instruction of engineering ethics into the Capstone Engineering Design course. The Capstone Design course is required of senior engineering students before they can graduate from an ABET accredited institution. This paper gives examples of how the problem of instructing ethics is forced by the Instructor to literally “sneak up” on the student when perhaps the student least expects it: when the student is in the thralls of solving a difficult problem with no time remaining on his/her schedule and with limited resources to handle the intrusion. In other words, a situation that is the prefect model of what the student will experience after graduation when there are no visible red flags that warn of impending danger.

INTRODUCTION Teaching the “art’ of mechanical design is considered by some to be a very difficult, almost ephemeral exercise. As difficult as it may be, it does not compare by an order of magnitude to trying to teach engineering ethics to the overworked and (typically) the under 21, engineering student. In fact, the instruction on engineering ethics can be and often is encapsulated into its own course within the engineering curriculum. In that event the student is already “standing guard”, waiting for the ethical dilemma to be pronounced for which even the most naïve student would be prepared to denounce the unethical maneuver. It is rather like the salesman who makes an appointment to see the busy engineer rather than just pounce on the engineer unannounced. While this is the courteous and professional way for the salesman to present the new products to the engineer it also

Proceedings of the 2002 American Society of Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright Ó 2002, American Society of Engineering Education

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Di Bella, F. (2002, June), Teaching Engineering Ethics In Mechanical Design Projects Paper presented at 2002 Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada. 10.18260/1-2--10904