US-Qatar Workshops: Engineering Ethics for a Globalized World, Doha, Qatar, October 2011 and College Station, Texas, October 2012

Texas A&M Research Foundation, College Station TX

Investigators

Abstract

1066174 Murphy, Texas A&M University Summary of Proposal: This project is for support for US participants, including professors and students - to a workshop on ?Engineering Ethics for a Globalized World, Doha, Qatar, October 2011? The co-Organizer is Dr. Hassan Bashir, at Texas A&M University in Qatar. The plan is for the workshop in Qatar to be followed by a second one at Texas A&M in College Station, Texas in 2012. The first workshop will concentrate on identifying the precise ways that globalization challenges engineering ethics standards and education. It will include sessions on (1) globalization; (2) the relevance of Western engineering codes in non-Western contexts; (3) challenges in licensure in an international context; (4) global differences in engineering practice; (5) pedagogical challenges in teaching engineering ethics in an international context; (6) comparison of Western and non-Western moral perspectives; and (7) comparison of Western and non-Western approaches to moral decision-making. The second workshop will focus on formulating responses to the challenges identified in the first workshop. It will include sessions on (1) the possibility of an international code of ethics; (2) the standards and limits of internationalization in engineering practice; (3) the possibility of international standards of professionalism and registration; (4) the possibility of an international engineering ethics curriculum; and (5) the justification of international standards and an international curriculum in a pluralistic world. The PIs, and TAMU, have played an important role in engineering ethics education through establishing a course and authoring a textbook on engineering ethics. Intellectual merit: While globalization is clearly taking place and the need to develop an international set of standards for engineering ethics is recognized, there has been no systematic treatment of why and how engineering ethics codes, licensure examinations, and curricula must be modified to make them appropriate for and relevant to an international audience and globalized professional setting. The proposed workshops will be among the first international efforts to address these issues. The backgrounds of the PIs and foreign collaborator in engineering, philosophy, and political science make them quite suited to organize the workshops and to bring together knowledge and expertise in the technical, moral, and social/political dimensions of engineering practice and education in an increasingly globalized context. Broader impacts: Engineering research and education has an increasingly globalized character. This raises significant issues about how engineers should adjudicate among different cultural and institutional frameworks. The proposed workshops have direct implications for engineering ethics standards and education, helping to identify and develop the materials required to educate engineers to understand and take into account the social dimensions and implications of their work. Several female scientists from the US and from other countries will participate in the workshops.