An Ethics and Professionalism Seminar in the Civil Engineering Curriculum

Abstract

This paper describes the development of a seminar devoted to ethics and professionalism in engineering. The course is designed to provide an introduction to the role of the engineer in society in addition to an overview of the ethical and professional responsibilities of the engineer. Another important factor in offering the seminar is related to the recommendations of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), which states that, “an understanding of the ethical, social, economic, and safety considerations in engineering practice is essential for a successful engineering career.”Typical course discussion topics include: Ethical and human factors in construction and design safety; professionalism and ethics in highway construction; infrastructure, problems and possible solutions; the ethics and safety of nuclear power; the challenger disaster, a question of ethics; and quality in the constructed project manual, introduction and implementations. Evaluations indicate that the seminar is w...