Overcoming Challenges to Infusing Ethics into the Development of Engineers

National Academy Of Sciences, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

Many students are drawn to engineering because they see it as a career in which they can make a difference in society, but for engineers to change the world and serve the needs of society they must be attuned to the impacts of their work on society. They therefore need to understand their ethical responsibilities and the social and ethical aspects of complex engineering problems. The objective of this project is to hold a workshop that supports and encourages educators and colleges to create socially and globally aware engineers who are thus better prepared to practice safe, ethical, and socially responsible engineering. The project convenes faculty members in ethics and engineering to (1) share their work, experiences, and lessons learned in teaching engineering ethics; (2) discuss strategies for overcoming institutional and cultural challenges; and (3) develop plans and collaborations for advancing efforts to incorporate ethics in the education of engineering students. Recent research shows that during engineering students' education they become less concerned with public welfare issues, which is a problem because engineering codes of conduct state that engineers must "hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public." Increasingly, research is identifying cultural and institutional factors that contribute to a decline in social concern, such as the tendency of faculty members to unconsciously categorize ethics considerations as nonengineering work. By bringing faculty members who are working to improve the ethical development of engineers together with expert speakers that can mentor them, this interactive and collaborative workshop is creating a cohort of faculty and administrators at institutions across the US who will support one another in creating institutional change that will better prepare engineers to be attuned to ethical and social impacts of their work. The aim of this project is to convene a workshop for faculty members in ethics and engineering who are working to improve the ethical development of engineering students. The workshop is designed to create a cohort of US faculty and administrators who can serve as agents of change and support one another in creating institutional transformations to better prepare engineers for the ethically and socially complex work that they face. Faculty and administrators attending the workshop (1) share their work, experiences, and lessons learned; (2) discuss strategies for overcoming institutional and cultural challenges; and (3) develop plans and collaborations for advancing efforts to incorporate ethics into the education of engineering students. To increase attendees' potential impact on their institution, they apply and attend as institutional teams that include faculty and deans and must obtain partial financial support from their university. Attendees have both informal and guided opportunities at the workshop to strategize and develop plans for incorporating ethics in engineering curriculum. Speakers knowledgeable in engineering ethics, ways to overcome institutional and cultural bias, and ethics education serve as mentors for the attendees; and knowledge sharing, mentoring, and active engagement approaches are used to enhance opportunities for professional collaboration and mutual support. Discussion focuses on how to overcome the institutional and cultural challenges that make education in this area difficult. Video recordings of workshop sessions and a summary report on the event are being created and broadly disseminated to enable faculty beyond those in attendance to learn from the presentations and discussions. The project is designed to foster a culture attentive to ethics in engineering development, encourage the inclusion of ethical and social considerations in engineering programs across the country, and shine a spotlight on institutions that are successfully preparing engineers for the ethical aspects of their work.