ES 225 Page

ES 225 - Engineering Professionalism and Ethics
Section 01

When & where: MWF8-8:50, AEC 325; Tu7-8:00 AEC 200

Instructor

Dr. David Brandes
Office: AEC 320
Office hours: MTuWTh4-5, and by appt.
Phone: 330-5441
E-mail: brandesd@lafayette.edu

Course Overview

This course will explore some important aspects of engineering that you probably haven't thought about much: technical writing, moral "theory" and its application to engineering ethics, professional responsibilities of engineers, and engineering economics. We will accomplish this through daily readings and discussion, writing assignments, and analyzing case studies. Evening guest lectures, videos, and work sessions will be used to explore certain topics.

Base of the Citicorp Tower, NYC. Notice the innovative design in which the main columns are not
at the building corners. (photo by R.G. Driver)

Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, Jan 28, 1986. The cause was determined
to be an O-ring failure in a solid rocket booster due to cold weather at launch.
(image from www.spacepix.net)

Pictures from Africa and Honduras

Objectives
1) to introduce students to common types of moral reasoning and to give them opportunities to apply these types of reasoning to societal and engineering problems.
2) to introduce students to engineering case studies/issues where significant lessons were learned (e.g., the Bhopal disaster, the Challenger explosion, Citicorp building).
3) to introduce students to fundamentals of engineering economics involving the time-value of money and to give students opportunities to apply these economic concepts to engineering problems.
4) to continue to develop students' writing skills. Emphasis will be placed on improving organization and clarity of their writing.

See the course Syllabus and tentative course Schedule for further details.

Engineering Professionalism and Ethics Links

The Philosopher's Song (lyrics with links) The real thing :-)

National Institute of Engineering Ethics
Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Science
moral leader (?) William LeMessurier (Citicorp building, NYC)
moral leader Rachel Carson (pesticides in the environment)
moral leader Roger Boisjoly (Challenger disaster)

Union Carbide's Bhopal site
Another take on Bhopal

Challenger page from RIT

Engineering Codes of Ethics:

National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE)
American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)
American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)

Other Useful links:
Engineering at Lafayette
Lafayette academic calendar
Lafayette course schedule
Skillman library
ASCE homepage

Updated 12/31/02