GOLDEN, Colo., March 11, 2016 – The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Center for Engineering Ethics and Society (CEES) has released the report “Infusing Ethics into the Development of Engineers,” showcasing 25 engineering programs at colleges and universities that are exemplary in their approach. Colorado School of Mines was the only university to receive three awards. 

The Mines programs and associated faculty are:

• Corporate Social Responsibility Course: Jessica Smith, Hennebach Assistant Professor, Division of Liberal Arts and International Studies (LAIS)
• “As I teach it, CSR empowers students to practice engineering within corporations in a way that also promotes the social, environmental and economic wellbeing of communities and other stakeholders. This kind of training has become increasingly important as we see the energy and commodity markets shifting so significantly before our eyes, raising new questions about how corporations, employees and communities manage their relationships with one another during downturns,” said Smith.
• Nature and Human Values Course: Sarah Hitt, Teaching Associate Professor, LAIS
• “We utilize faculty expertise from multiple disciplines and use real-world ethics scenarios to explore the social, cultural, political, and environmental aspects of science and engineering, which prepares students to excel in their academic, professional, and civic life,” said Hitt.
• Enacting Macroethics: Making Social Justice Visible in Engineering Education: Jon Leydens, Associate Professor, LAIS; Juan Lucena, Professor, LAIS; and Kathryn Johnson, Associate Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
• “Working against disciplinary silos, our (Leydens, Lucena and Johnson’s) multi-course, multi-disciplinary approach emphasizes identifying interplays between technical and social dimensions of engineering problem defining and solving. This collaboration is a clear example of how rigorous, technical courses like Feedback Control Systems always have social dimensions that, if rendered visible, can lead students to see how the engineering curriculum connects with social justice,” Leydens said.

The programs described in the report all clearly connect ethics to technical engineering curriculum and conduct assessments of their programs, both of which were criteria for submissions. See the full report on the National Academies website.

Contact:
Karen Gilbert, Director of Public Relations, Colorado School of Mines | 303-273-3541 | kgilbert@mines.edu
Kathleen Morton, Digital Media and Communications Manager, Colorado School of Mines | 303-273-3088 | kmorton@mines.edu