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Research: Advancing Engineers’ Ability to Recognize, Strategize About, and Act On Concerns Related to Public Welfare

研究：提高工程师认识公共福利相关问题、制定战略并采取行动的能力

基本信息

批准号：
2053046
负责人：
Erin Cech
金额：
$ 35万
依托单位：
Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2021
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2021-05-01 至 2025-04-30
项目状态：
未结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2053046&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Research Advancing Engineers Ability Recognize

项目摘要

Engineers’ attention to the impact of technology on public safety, health, and welfare has never been more imperative. Recent reports of algorithmic bias, drone-based surveillance, and emissions falsification (among other issues) underscore the potential harms of the socio-technical systems in which engineers may play a part. Through surveys and interviews, we will develop and test a multilevel theoretical framework for understanding engineers’ concerns for public welfare and for examining cultural, institutional, and identity factors that shape these concerns. We will develop a research-informed graduate seminar that will provide a model for engineering programs at other institutions to enhance professional responsibility training among their students. Having a better understanding of how engineering professionals and students recognize their public welfare responsibilities will help engineering educators and leaders revise training efforts and accountability infrastructures to equip engineers to more effectively uphold their professional responsibilities. The project will also contribute to the knowledge base on engineering workforce onboarding and training, and will serve as a benchmark for research on engineers’ understanding of their public welfare responsibilities.We will examine possible factors that impact engineers’ concern for public welfare across three levels: professional cultural ideologies, institutional contexts (engineering education, engineering workplaces, and professional societies), and professional identities. We will use this multilevel framework to address several primary research questions: (1) to what extent do engineering professionals and students recognize, strategize about, and act on concerns for public welfare as part of their professional responsibilities? (2) What cultural, institutional, and identity factors promote or undermine these outcomes? (3) To what extent can a research-informed seminar teach students to recognize public welfare responsibilities and to understand strategies for intervention? We will investigate these questions with a representative survey of US engineers (N=500) and a longitudinal interview study following a cohort of electrical and computer engineering master’s students into the workforce (N=60). Using insights from these data, a novel “Public Welfare Responsibility and Intervention Training” (PubWRIT) graduate seminar will be designed (and assessed) to train engineers to recognize and understand how to respond when they encounter situations where they perceive the health and safety of the public to be at risk.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

工程师对技术对公共安全、健康和福利的影响的关注从未像现在这样迫切。最近关于算法偏差、无人机监控和排放伪造（以及其他问题）的报道强调了工程师可能参与其中的社会技术系统的潜在危害。通过调查和访谈，我们将开发和测试一个多层次的理论框架，以理解工程师对公共福利的关注，并检查塑造这些关注的文化、制度和身份因素。我们将建立一个以研究为基础的研究生研讨会，为其他院校的工程项目提供一个模式，以加强学生的专业责任培训。更好地了解工程专业人员和学生如何认识到他们的公共福利责任，将有助于工程教育工作者和领导者修改培训工作和问责基础设施，使工程师能够更有效地维护他们的专业责任。该项目还将有助于建立工程人员入职和培训的知识库，并将作为研究工程师对其公益责任的理解的基准。我们将从三个层面考察影响工程师关注公共福利的可能因素：专业文化意识形态、制度背景（工程教育、工程工作场所和专业协会）和职业身份。我们将使用这个多层框架来解决几个主要的研究问题：(1)工程专业人员和学生在多大程度上认识到、制定战略并采取行动，将公共福利作为他们职业责任的一部分？(2)哪些文化、制度和身份因素促进或破坏了这些结果？(3)以研究为基础的研讨会能在多大程度上教会学生认识到公益责任，并了解干预策略？我们将通过对美国工程师的代表性调查（N=500）和对一组进入劳动力市场的电气和计算机工程硕士学生（N=60）进行纵向访谈研究来调查这些问题。利用这些数据的见解，将设计（并评估）一种新颖的“公共福利责任和干预培训”（PubWRIT）研究生研讨会，以培训工程师在遇到他们认为公众健康和安全受到威胁的情况时，如何识别和理解如何做出反应。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。