Award Abstract #0629416
Collaborative: Ethics in the Details

NSF Org:	EEC Division of Engineering Education and Centers
Initial Amendment Date:	August 31, 2006
Latest Amendment Date:	February 9, 2007
Award Number:	0629416
Award Instrument:	Standard Grant
Program Manager:	Sue Kemnitzer EEC Division of Engineering Education and Centers ENG Directorate for Engineering
Start Date:	September 1, 2006
Expires:	August 31, 2009 (Estimated)
Awarded Amount to Date:	$239776
Investigator(s):	Michael Davis davism@iit.edu (Principal Investigator) Vivian Weil (Co-Principal Investigator) Kathryn Riley (Co-Principal Investigator)
Sponsor:	Illinois Institute of Technology 3300 South Federal Street Chicago, IL 60616 312/567-3035
NSF Program(s):	Ethics & Values of SET, REESE, NANOMANUFACTURING, SPECIAL STUDIES AND ANALYSES, ENGINEERING EDUCATION
Field Application(s):	0116000 Human Subjects
Program Reference Code(s):	SMET, OTHR, 9179, 9177, 7491, 084E, 0000
Program Element Code(s):	7915, 7625, 1788, 1385, 1340

ABSTRACT

Michael Davis, Illinois Inst. of Technology ; Alan Feinerman, Univ. of Illinois-Chicago

Proposal # 0629416 / 0629393

Ethics and Values in Science, Engineering and Technology

This award is made under Ethics Education in Science and Engineering (NSF 06-524).

There are three major approaches to ethics education in engineering and science:

(1) free-standing courses in ethics; (2) large scale education ethics modules, and (3) micro-insertions

of ethics instruction into technical courses. This project proposes an innovation in

the application of micro-insertion. It will focus on the micro-insertion approach in graduate education of engineers. Because labs are central to graduate education in both engineering and science the comparison of the effectiveness of micro-insertion in the classroom with micro-insertion in the lab will be studied. A nanotechnology lab will be included because graduate students' engagement with practical projects in an emerging technology should provide illuminatingly new micro-insertion problems, useful questions related to them, and useful insights.

The objectives of the project are: 1) to demonstrate an efficient way to teach faculty and

graduate students how to develop micro-insertion problems that are suitable for use in

graduate engineering curricula, both courses and labs; 2) to assess the effectiveness of the

micro-insertion in graduate engineering curricula, comparing its effects in the classroom

with its effects in a nanotechnology lab; and 3) to create an electronic resource for

disseminating micro-insertion problems to engineering faculty worldwide.

The proposed project will contribute in at least two ways to the field of

engineering ethics. First, the multi-year assessment data that the project team will gather and

analyze will not only provide insights into the micro-insertion method but will also lay the

groundwork for later comparative research with other methods. Second, it will prepare

graduate students to produce micro-insertion problems, allowing the determination of whether

grad students can assist faculty in integrating ethics into engineering courses (a proof of

concept).

The proposed project will both advance understanding and promote teaching and

training at the graduate level in engineering ethics. The project team and participating universities

include underrepresented groups and will ensure that the Ethics In-Basket meets

accessibility standards for users with physical and cognitive disabilities. Research results will be

reported in a series of articles and conference papers directed at researchers and educators in three

interrelated fields: engineering, ethics, and technical communication.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

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Kathryn Riley, Michael Davis, Apryl Cox, and James Maciukenas.  "Ethics in the Details: An NSF Project to Integrate Ethics into the Graduate Engineering Curriculum,"  Proceedings of the 2007 International Professional Communication Conference, October 2007, Seattle, WA,  2007, 


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