Cultivating Responsible Wellbeing in STEM: Social Engagement through Personal Ethics

尽管工程学通常被理解为一种“技术”事业--例如，许多人将它与电子设备、高性能材料和现代基础设施联系在一起--但同样重要的是理解工程学所处的许多社会背景，以及相关的社会影响。该项目吸引学生(包括本科生和研究生)和教职员工深入体验，他们直接将社会、伦理和全球问题(SEGI)视为其教育、研究和职业发展活动的基本方面。因此，它使参与的学生和教职员工能够利用传统和非传统技能和敏感性的组合，在新颖和非传统的环境和角色中发挥作用。实例结果包括：一名本科生选择服务学习选修课来加强她的工程设计项目；一名毕业生作为一名专业工程师工作，扮演着诚实的经纪人的角色，在社区和大型开发商之间进行调解；一名即将毕业的学生创建了一个非营利性组织，以创造供“发展中国家”使用的新技术；一名研究人员运用他或她的知识和技能来设计一项研究项目，以满足特定的社会、地区或社区需求。通过这些和其他方式，该项目吸引了传统上代表性不足的人口和边缘化社区，特别是来自波多黎各、海地和拉丁美洲其他几个国家的人口。为了反映这一国际化方向，该项目使用了四种语言：西班牙语、英语、法语和海地克里奥尔语。负责任的福祉(RW)的概念，特别是如罗伯特·钱伯斯所阐述的，与道德的道德方法相结合，在哲学上和规范地统一了该项目的活动。从本质上讲，这种方法认为，个人幸福和社会幸福都在稀缺/贫困和对物质和金钱财富的极端/无限追求之间的某个点上汇聚。要达到这一点，需要实行自我施加的节制。在工程背景下，它可以通过在工程设计和研究应用中做出有意识的选择，同时借鉴诸如适当技术(AT)、价值敏感设计(VSD)和人的能力(HC)等关键原则来实现。该项目赞助的四项活动通过(1)为工程学院的中级和顶层课程开发新的教材、案例研究和战略；(2)提供一系列研讨会、讲习班和会议，向参与者介绍RW、AT、VSD和HC的原则，所有这些都概括在向所有参与者提供的一般读者中；(3)支持几个独立的研究项目，这些项目响应特定的社会或社区背景，并嵌入RW、AT、VSD和/或HC的概念，以及帮助参与者寻找有意义地参与SEGI的机会的替代招聘会；以及(4)执行指导和跟踪总体项目进展的创新发展评估计划，使用五个阶段的框架：认识、评估、整合、预期和价值实现。PI在工程伦理、工程教育和本项目所基于的适当技术方面的几个先前项目中具有共同经验。

Although engineering is commonly understood as a "technical" enterprise -- many associate it with electronic devices, high performance materials, and modern infrastructure, for example -- equally important is an understanding of the many social contexts in which engineering is practiced, and the related social impacts. This project engages students (both undergraduate and graduate) and faculty in deep experiences in which they directly consider social, ethical, and global issues (SEGIs) as essential aspects of their educational, research, and career development activities. As a result, it empowers participating students and faculty to function in novel and non-traditional settings and roles, using a combination of traditional and non-traditional skills and sensitivities. Example outcomes include: an undergraduate student choosing a service-learning elective to enhance her engineering design project; a graduate who works as a professional engineer playing the role of honest broker to mediate between a community and a large developer; a graduating student founding a non-profit organization to create new technologies for use in a "developing country" a researcher deploying his or her knowledge and skills to design a research project that addresses a specific social, regional, or community need. In these and other ways, this project engages traditionally under-represented populations and marginalized communities, particularly from Puerto Rico, Haiti, and several other countries from Latin America. And, reflecting this international orientation, this project deploys four languages: Spanish, English, French, and Haitian Creole.The concept of Responsible Wellbeing (RW), particularly as articulated by Robert Chambers, combines with a virtue approach to ethics to unify, philosophically and normatively, this project's activities. Essentially, this approach holds that both personal happiness and societal wellbeing converge at a point between scarcity/poverty and the extreme/unlimited pursuit of material and monetary wealth. Reaching such a point requires exercising self-imposed moderation. In the context of engineering it can be realized through making conscious choices in engineering design and research applications while drawing on key principles such as Appropriate Technology (AT), Value Sensitive Design (VSD), and Human Capabilities (HC). The four activities sponsored by this project integrate RW throughout the educational and research missions of the College of Engineering through (1) development of new teaching materials, case studies, and strategies for intermediate and capstone courses in the College of Engineering; (2) delivery of a series of seminars, workshops, and conferences that introduce participants to the principles of RW, AT, VSD, and HC, all of which are encapsulated in a general reader made available to all participants; (3) support of several independent research projects that respond to a specific societal or community context, and embed the concepts of RW, AT, VSD, and/or HC, together with alternative career fairs that assist participants with their pursuit of opportunities that meaningfully engage with SEGIs; and (4) execution of an innovative developmental assessment plan that guides and tracks overall project progress, using a framework of five stages: awareness, evaluation, integration, anticipation, and value realization. The PIs are collectively experienced with several prior projects in engineering ethics, engineering education, and appropriate technology upon which this project builds.