TEACHING OF ETHICS IN ENGINEERING

Moral or ethical issues frequently arise in all professions. Unlike the well established Medical Ethics and Legal Ethics, Engineering Ethics is a relatively new area of academic endeavour, although it may have often been a part of Business Ethics. Over the past 20 years there have been several major engineering accidents or failures (Challenger, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Bhopal, power blackouts ….) and engineering-related ethical failures (California energy crisis, Enron, etc). These have brought into sharper focus the pivotal role of engineers in our society and particularly their social responsibilities. Today’s engineer must be socially accountable, including the responsibility for the environment and sensitivity to sustainability issues, in addition to his or her technical competence.

Papers are solicited broadly in the following areas:

· Design and delivery of an Engineering Ethics course

· Incorporation of engineering ethics into mainstream engineering and engineering technology courses

· Pedagogical issues relating to Engineering Ethics

· Engineering Ethics as a bridge between engineering and social responsibility – including environmental and sustainability concerns

· Role of Ethics in risk, safety and reliability issues

IMPORTANT DATES:

January 15, 2004: Abstract due (submit through website indicated below, with e-mail to Session Co-Chairs. Be sure to begin the text of your abstract with the title of this session)

February 10, 2004: Notice of preliminary acceptance

March 15, 2004: Paper submission deadline

March 15, 2004: Early registration deadline (required for final acceptance of papers)

March 15, 2004: Deadline for authors’ registration to ensure publishing of submitted papers

April 15, 2004: Notice of final acceptance based on peer review (Registration fees will be refunded if papers are not accepted)

Further information is available at the iCEER-2004 web site: http://www.fs.vsb.cz/akce/2004/iceer/index.htm

Session Co-Chairs:

Timothy L. Skvarenina                          Vojislav Ilic
Professor of ECET                                           Senior Lecturer
Purdue University                                             University of Western Sydney
Knoy Hall, Rm 155                                          College of Science, Technology and Environment

401 N. Grant Street Locked Bag 1797
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2021 South Penrith DC

USA                                                                NSW 1797
765-494-7493                                                 Australia
765-496-1354 (fax)                                         61-2-9579-3451
E-mail: tskvaren@purdue.edu               v.ilic@uws.edu.au