|
Credit: 1 course
unit
Required course
Catalog Description:
BE303/EAS 303 provides an overview of the ethical and professional
responsibilities of engineers, as engineering professionals, as members
of engineering organizations, and as participants in medical or
scientific research. The course will make extensive use of student group
presentations and role playing in the analysis of cases based on real-world
problems with ethical dimensions. The case studies will vary from
year to year, but will be chosen to reflect the full range of engineering
fields and disciplines including areas of bioengineering and biomedical
research.
Prerequisites: Junior
Standing
Textbook(s) and/or Other Required Materials:
Required: Harris, Pritchard, and Rabins,
Engineering Ethics: Concepts and Cases, second edition (Wadsworth, 2000).
Course Objectives:
The goal of the course is to introduce students to the ethical and
professional responsibilities of engineers, and ways to analyze these
responsibilities in real-world situations. The course has a broader focus
than a traditional “engineering ethics” course, but includes aspects
of bioethics and research ethics to address needs of the many students at
Penn who are headed for careers in medical research and practice.
Topics Covered:
·
Methods
for moral problem solving
·
Utilitarian
and respect for persons approaches to analysis of ethical issues
·
Engineering
codes of ethics: ACM, AIAA, AIChE, ASCE, ASME,
IEEE, NSPE
·
Risk,
safety, liability in engineering; expert and lay understanding of risk;
acceptable risk
·
The
engineer as employer and employee; whistleblowers
·
International
dimensions of engineering ethics; diversity
·
Ethical
issues in medical research relevant to engineers; IRB and human
experimentation; informed consent; Nuremberg Code and Belmont Report
Class/Laboratory Schedule:
Lecture (required) 1.5 hours/week
Recitation (required) 1.5 hrs/week total
Contribution towards Professional Component:
Understanding of professional and ethical responsibility of
engineers 50%
Understanding of the impact of engineering solutions in a global
and societal context 50%
Contribution towards
Program Outcomes:
|
Multidisciplinary
Ability
|
Low
|
|
Problem Solving
Approach
|
Low
|
|
Problem Solving
Methods
|
Low
|
|
Experimentation
|
Low
|
|
Design
|
Low
|
|
Professional
Orientation
|
High
|
Person(s) Preparing
Description and Date:
K. R. Foster
July 2007
|
