(31f) Incorporation of Engineering Ethics in a Senior Unit Operations Laboratory

An unfortunate realty of today's undergraduate engineering environment is that engineering students often scoff at the idea of taking an ethics course. A quick survey of students reveals that there are several reasons behind this. First, many believe that engineering ethics cannot be taught. They believe that their peers are sufficiently savvy that a person's behavior cannot change by teaching right and wrong behavior (i.e. the ?you can't teach an old dog new tricks? argument). Second, many believe that a course in ethics is not the reason they went to engineering school. These students would rather be calculating the number of theoretical trays in a distillation column, or the best way to design a heat exchanger (i.e. the ?I don't need these silly humanities courses as an engineering major? argument). Despite these reasons, it is difficult to imagine an area of study that has a greater importance to society than understanding the ?rights and wrongs? behind difficult decisions.

In this project, the use of a real-world engineering ethics case study was integrated into the Senior Unit Operations Laboratory course at Manhattan College. The motivation behind this was twofold. First, the assignment provides the opportunity to develop a student's oral communication skills. Although oral presentations were an existing component of the course, this assignment provided a separate and distinct venue for a student to use this skill. More specifically, students were required to use reason and analysis in presenting their final argument. Second, an ethics component in this course would help bridge the transition between college and the workplace. An ethical dilemma involving the choice between doing what is right and maintaining a positive bottom line is often seen in industry. Exposure to previous examples and the decision-making process involved would be beneficial for students.

The data for the case study was compiled by the Laboratory for Innovative Technology and Engineering Education (LITEE) at Auburn University, and incorporates several ethical issues and moral challenges that emerge from the interplay of manufacturers, employers, and employees. Before presenting this scenario, a short lecture on basic ethics was delivered by the instructor, thus creating a framework of knowledge for students to process the information provided in the case study. Subsequently, students were divided into four constituencies, and asked to review the relevant data from the LITEE website. Each group offered their positions through an oral presentation, and followed up with other questions after all groups have finished.

The ultimate questions in this study are: 1) Do students find it important to study ethics in the context of an engineering program, and 2) Is senior laboratory the best course in the chemical engineering curriculum to insert an ethics project. Results obtained from surveys distributed after the assignment show that students agreed that it is important to study ethics, but senior lab is not the best venue. Moreover, they felt that the assignment improved their presentation skills. Overall, students felt that the assignment was an additional load in a course that is already work intensive.