Bridging Macro and Micro Ethics: Advancing Ethics Education for Nano-Scale Researchers

Duke University, Durham NC

Investigators

Abstract

The Ethics Education in Science and Engineering award to Duke University supports a team of five faculty led by Dr. Tod A. Laursen, Civil & Environmental Engineering Department, to conduct research and education on ethical issues which can have profoundly adverse impacts on society, such as those posed by unintended consequences of nanoscientific breakthroughs. This combined research and educational project consists of a team of engineers, scientists, ethicists, and educational specialists to collaboratively develop a new paradigm of ethical education of graduate-level researchers in emerging fields. The team includes researchers from several such interdisciplinary fields and benefits from its presence in a university that has already systematized the delivery of Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) in all its Ph.D. programs. This project will build upon that base by developing, implementing, and assessing multiple modes of delivery for micro- and macroethical training and by working with doctoral and professional master's students to imbed these modes within their graduate experience. The project's collaborative approach to providing ethics education will involve multiple schools and centers within Duke as well as interactions and partnerships with NC Central University's Biomedical/Biotechnology Research Institute, NC State University's Graduate School and Research and Professional Ethics Program, and the UNC-Chapel Hill's Graduate School. The proposal for this award was received in response to the Ethics Education in Science and Engineering announcement, NSF 05-532, and was funded by the Division of Engineering Education and Centers (EEC) in the Directorate for Engineering and by the Directorate for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences.