INFUSING ETHICS INTO THE DEVELOPMENT OF ENGINEERS

National Academy Of Sciences, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

Ethical practice in engineering is crucial for ensuring public trust in the field and in its practitioners, especially as engineers increasingly tackle international and socially complex problems that combine technical and ethical challenges. The primary goal of this project is to raise awareness of the variety of exceptional programs and strategies for improving engineers' understanding of ethical and social issues. Despite the importance of ethics for developing responsible engineers, there is not much information on the scope of programs in use at the nation's colleges and universities. Recent research on ethics development in science and engineering shows a variety of approaches; some activities focus on ethical decision making, others on awareness of ethical and social issues, and still others on professional standards, rules, and regulations. Some are primarily based on campus; others emphasize off-campus learning and engagement. To address this shortage of information, the National Academy of Engineering Center for Engineering, Ethics, and Society (CEES) is calling for nominations to identify and classify engineering ethics programs in the United States. Based on the selections of a distinguished committee of experts, the project is preparing a report recognizing a selection of exceptional programs. The report is a resource for institutions and educators to strengthen and expand their ethics programs and thus improve the ethical capabilities of practicing and future engineers. Using a call for nominations, the project (1) reviews the variety of ways that ABET and Federal funding agency requirements for ethics preparation are fulfilled both on and off-campus at the undergraduate and graduate levels in engineering and engineering technology; (2) categorizes the types of ethics initiatives offered to engineering and engineering technology students, thus illustrating multiple strategies that can accommodate different learning styles and levels of experience and preparation; (3) highlights exemplary programs and activities; (4) requests and summarizes comments from the engineering ethics education community on the challenges and potential solutions for implementing such activities; and (4) disseminates results broadly. A distinguished committee of experts evaluates nominated ethics programs and selects a broad range of exemplars. Faculty members, administrators, and institutions are actively engaged, nominating ethics activities for review, providing comments about challenges and potential solutions in the implementation of such activities, and promoting strategies that develop skills to address ethical and social issues in engineering. The resulting report classifies the nominated activities, highlights exemplary programs, and summarizes the comments on challenges and solutions.