Last weekend (4/23 to 4/25)Farleigh Dickinson University, at their Teaneck, New Jersey campus hosted the ASCE 2010 Metropolitan Regional Conference. The conference consisted of a technical paper presentation Friday night, the AISC/ASCE Steel Bridge Competition Saturday and the Concrete Canoe competition on Sunday. Ten schools competed in the competition.
I had the pleasure of being one of the judges for the technical paper presentation. One student from each of the competing schools was required to write a technical paper answering the questions cited below in regards to the document entitled “The vision for Civil Engineering in 2025” which was prepared in June 2006 by a diverse group of civil engineering leaders gathered at the Summit on the Future of Civil Engineering with the purpose of articulating an aspirational global vision for the future of civil engineering.
The questions posed to the students were:
Is the current ASCE Code of Ethics adequate for the Civil Engineer of 2025?
How do we prepare the Civil Engineers of 2025 for the ethical questions they will face during their careers?
How can we encourage greater expectations for engineering ethics by 2025?
What effect does new technology have on ethics for the Civil Engineer of 2025?
Will an increased participation in the policy environment help or hurt the ethical standards of the Civil Engineer of 2025?
How can the Civil Engineer of 2025 use their ethical standards to demonstrate a mastery of planning, designing, stewardship, innovation, management, and leadership?
Are high ethical standards necessary to meet the aspirational vision set forth by ASCE?
The papers were submitted to the judges prior to the conference and each student gave a 5 minute presentation of their paper at the dinner Friday night. Some of the students were stronger in their presentation skills while some were stronger in their writing, however overall the papers were great and it was very interesting to hear student engineers discuss how they feel ethics will impact the future of the civil engineering industry.
Many of the students called for more classes on ethics to be given as part of the undergraduate curriculum. Some students recommended that seminars or courses on ethics be mandated as part of continuing education guidelines for professional engineers. Hearing these different opinions from students really made me think about ethics and if we really are educating engineering students and professional as much as we should on this important topic. With regards to ethics, do you feel that engineers are properly educated on this topic, not only in school, but throughout their careers?
On another note, not necessarily related to ethics, one of the students recommended that colleges consider providing a course for engineers on the history of engineering, which would discuss how engineering evolved. The class would highlight engineers and engineering projects throughout time. What are your feelings on a course of this nature?
Anthony Fasano, P.E., LEED AP, CPESC, CPSWQ, CPC
www.linkedin.com/in/anthonyjfasano
www.facebook.com/anthony.j.fasano
www.twitter.com/anthonyjfasano
Join my Linkedin Engineering Career Development Group
Related posts:
Powerful Purpose Associates is founded on the expertise of Anthony Fasano, P.E., author of the acclaimed engineering career development book "Engineer Your Own Success: 7 Key Elements to Creating an Extraordinary Engineering Career" (Premier Publishing 2011). It is a comprehensive, easy to read book, aimed at helping engineers develop their soft skills and leadership abilities to create extraordinary engineering careers. Order your copy now:
Anthony Fasano, P.E., aka Your Professional Partner, founded Powerful Purpose Associates after he realized that it was the development of his soft skills that helped him to become an associate partner at a reputable engineering firm at the young age of 27. With history as a civil engineer, Anthony is now a nationally recognized executive coach and inspirational speaker, specializing in the areas of engineering career development, as well as leadership. He uses his highly effective coaching and speaking techniques through affordable programs to help engineers develop their soft skills, work through blocks, prioritize effectively, set clear goals and achieve their maximum potential.
In a related matter, the ASCE Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge (available as a free PDF file at http://www.asce.org, click on Knowledge and Learning and look for the red report) is driving reform of education and pre-licensure experience of tomorrow’s civil engineers. The BOK includes 24 outcomes, the last of which is named Professional and Ethical Responsibility. This outcome sets a high ethical understanding and behavior bar at completion of the bachelor’s degree and an even higher bar at completion of the experience requirements needed for licensure. My point: The BOK will increasingly influence the education and pre-licensure experience of CEs, including ethics. The ethics and other requirements will be reflected in accrediation and licensing criteria and, beyond those requirements, concientious faculty and emoployers will place additional emphasis on ethics.
Great information Stu thanks so much for the feedback! The BOK sounds like a wonderful resource and I agree that beyond those requirements, faculty and employers be a huge factor!
Anthony
Anthony,
I find your posing very interesting. I have developed an interactive seminar on ethics and delivered it in, Oct 08 in Santa Fe, Nov 08 in Philly, and June 09 in LA. I present 19 true to life case studies where questionable tactics were used to win the next client and the audience votes on each one as a breach of ethics, a brilliant marketing approach or who cares, everyone does it anyway. The responses are compiled, the results shared with the audience and compared to the responses in other locations.
Several of the examples are obviously unethical, but an amazing number of attendees liked the tactics and plan to use them in the next selection process.
Ethics are very personal value judgements and no one size fits all.
That sounds like an extremely interesting seminar Tom. If you ever do it again, please let me know. I would love to see it!
Thanks for the great feedback!