Proposal to Design a Program in Engineering Ethics for Doctoral Engineering Students

为了锻炼领导力，科学和工程教育工作者需要为他们的学生提供工具，以识别和适当地应对具有道德维度的专业问题。该项目涉及4至8名本科工程专业学生，以确定有希望的伦理问题和问题的来源，这些问题和问题可以为研究生的工程伦理课程提供基础。在首席研究员的监督下，与一组合作教师一起，学生将收集有关当前有前途的论文主题的信息。他们将与从事这些主题的教师和学生会面，以获取有关如何处理道德问题的信息。他们还将考虑更普遍的工程中出现的伦理问题。随着他们的研究和访谈结果的发展，他们将被纳入麻省理工学院春季教授的工程伦理学研究生课程并进行测试。研究将在夏季和秋季继续进行，以发现新的问题，并对之前发现的问题进行更深入的研究。研究结果将被纳入麻省理工学院的研究生工程和其他项目，并在会议和工程出版物上广泛报道。这个建议集中在伦理和价值研究的一个重要领域。调查人员非常有资格；这个计划考虑周到，可行；大学的支持很好。研究结果可能会改善该校和全国研究生课程的工程伦理教学。强烈建议提供支持。

To exercise leadership, science and engineering educators need to provide their students with the tools to identify and respond appropriately to professional problems with ethical dimensions. This project involves four to eight undergraduate engineering students in the identification of promising sources of ethical questions and problems that can provide the basis for a curriculum in engineering ethics for graduate students. Under the supervision of the principal investigator, in association with a group of collaborating faculty, the students will gather information about current dissertation topics that are promising sources. They will meet with the faculty and students working on these topics to obtain information about how the ethical issues are being handled. They will also consider ethical issues that arise in engineering more generally. As the results from their research and interviews are developed, they will be incorporated and tested in a graduate course in engineering ethics to be taught at MIT in the spring. Research will continue over the summer and fall, to identify new issues and examine those previously identified more deeply. Results will be incorporated into graduate engineering as well as other programs at MIT, and be reported on widely at meetings and in engineering publications. This proposal focuses on an important area in Ethics and Values Studies. The investigators are very well qualified; the plan is thoughtful and feasible; university support is good. Results are likely to improve the teaching of engineering ethics on this campus and in graduate curricula nationwide. Support is highly recommended.