The OEC 1999 International Conference on Ethics in Engineering and Computer Science
Conference Schedule
All papers are copyrighted by and are
property of their respective authors.
Sunday, March 21
Opening Reception and Initial Formation of Working
Groups
6 PM The Glidden House Inn, 1901 Ford Drive on the Case
Western Reserve University campus.
Evening unscheduled. Working and Interest Groups may wish to
meet.
All remaining conference sessions will be held in the George
S. Dively Building at the corner of Bellflower and Ford Drive
on the Case Western Reserve University campus.
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Monday, March 22
9:00-11:00 Opening Session Plenary in Room, 202
9:00 Welcome and Introduction to the Conference
9:30 -11:00 Chaired by Robert Lawry, Case Western Reserve
University
-
ABET's
Engineering Criteria 2000 and Engineering Ethics: Where Do We
Go From Here?
- Joseph R. Herkert, North Carolina State University
-
EC2000 and
the Engineering Ethics Dilemma
- Sarah K. A. Pfatteicher, University of
Wisconsin-Madison
11-11:30 Break with opportunity for Working Group
mini-meeting
11:30-1:30 Concurrent Sessions in Rooms, 202 and 213
11:30-12:20, 202 Chaired by Helen Nissenbaum, Princeton
University
- Teaching Ethics
across the Engineering Curriculum
- Michael Davis, Illinois Institute of Technology
12:30-1:20, 202
- Role-playing in Teaching Ethics
to Engineers
- Michael C. Loui, University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign
Demonstration of the use of role-playing in teaching
engineering ethics with three or four speaking parts. Each
student who does not have a speaking part will serve as a coach
for a speaker. The students will caucus for 20 minutes to
prepare the role-play. During this time, observers will discuss
the case in small groups. The role-playing session will run for
20 minutes, and the remaining time will be allocated for
general discussion of the case.
11:30-1:20, 213 Chaired by Carl Mitcham, Pennsylvania State
University
- Engineering
Ethics in Europe
- Bertrand Hériard, Université catholique de
Lille (France)
- The Neglect of the
Subject of Engineering Ethics in France: An Historical
Interpretation
- Christelle Didier, Université catholique de
Lille
- Engineering Ethics in
Engineering Education: a Portuguese Experience
- Paulo T. de Castro, Faculdade de Engenharia de
Universidade do Porto
1:20-2:30 Lunch and Lecture
A New Frontier in Engineering Ethics: Ethics and Design,
Clive Dym, Clive L. Dym, Director, Center for Design Education,
Harvey Mudd College
2:30-4:20 Concurrent Sessions in Rooms, 202 and 214
2:30-4:20 214 Chaired by Caroline Whitbeck, Case Western
Reserve University
- Recent efforts of Some Japanese Engineering Societies to
Establish Codes of Ethics
- Jun Fudano, Kanazawa Institute of Technology
This lecture reviews the recent history of the efforts of
the Japanese Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Japanese
Societies of Civil Engineers to establish codes. This history
is viewed in relation to the Development of the engineering
profession and engineering education in Japan.
- Two Cases of Engineering
Errors That Led to Accidents in Japan
- Hiroshi Iino, Kanazawa Institute of Technology
These two accidents (in a fast breeder reactor and in a fuel
recycle plant) highlight both similarities and differences
between accident case histories in Japan and the United
States.
- International Engineering
Ethics
- Vivian Weil, Illinois Institute of Technology
This lecture explores the possibilities of developing
international ethical standards.
2:30-3:20 213
- Ethics and the
Engineer as Expert Witness: An Active learning Method Using
Role-Play
- Dr. Joesph Wujek,
University of California at Berkeley
3:30-4:20 213
- Development of
Engineering Ethics in the Capstone Design Experience
- Steven P. Nichols, University of Texas at Austin
4:20-4:30 Break
4:30-6:00 Concurrent Sessions in rooms 213 and 214
4:30-5:20 214
- Major Issues in Computer Ethics in 1999
- Helen Nissenbaum, Princeton University
4:30-5:45 213 Chaired by Joseph R. Herkert, North Carolina
State University
- Some Recent Engineering
Ethics Cases that have come to the IEEE
- Stephen H. Unger, Columbia University
- An Update on Professional
Ethics and the NCEES
- R. L. Greene, The National Council of Examiners for
Engineering and Surveying
6:30 Conference Banquet
Evening unscheduled. Working and Interest Groups may
meet.
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Tuesday, March 23
8:30-10:00 Concurrent Sessions in rooms 202 and 214
8:30-10:00 214 Chaired by Robert Lawry, Case Western
Reserve University
- Selecting Materials from the Online Ethics Center for
Engineering & Science for Use in the Engineering
Curriculum
- Caroline Whitbeck, Case.
- Using the Web
for Teaching Engineering Ethics across the
Curriculum
- Nicholas H. Steneck, University of Michigan
This lecture describes how web resources are used as a
"co-instructor" for both faculty and students to introduce
ethics across the curriculum in a large engineering school
(4000 undergraduates).
9:00-10:00 202
- Ethical vs. Legal
Considerations in Software Testing
- Joseph Wujek, the University of California at
Berkeley
Role-playing considering courses of action in a realistic
scenario In addition to the role-play, the instructor has the
option of several assignments that call on engineering
judgment, ethical reasoning, and communications skills.
10-10:30 Break with opportunity for Working Group
mini-meeting
10:30-11:20 Concurrent Sessions in rooms 213 and 214
10:30-11:20 213
- Presuppositions,
Expectations, and Experiences: An Ethics Survey of Stanford
Engineering Students and Practicing Engineers,
- Robert E. McGinn, Stanford University
based on replies from several hundred engineering students
and about a hundred practicing engineers to an engineering
ethics questionnaire he administers each year at the outset of
his engineering ethics class.
10:30-11:20 214
- The Construction of
a Multi-Purpose Ethics Digital Library and Website for the
Teaching of Computer Ethics and Social Impact
- J. A. N. Lee, Department of Computer Science, Center for
the Study of Science in Society, Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and State University
11:30-1:00 Concurrent Sessions in rooms 202 and 214
11:30-12:20 214
- Active Learning in an
Online Learning Environment: Web Censorship
- Keith Miller, Department of Computer Science, University
of Illinois at Springfield
Web pages on this subject are now available and students
should review them in advance.
12:00- 1:00, 202
- Moral
Change
- C E. Harris, Texas A&M University (Co-sponsored by
the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities)
Moral beliefs on many topics have changed: slavery, the use
of torture, contraception, usury, religious liberty, and many
others. What are the factors involved in moral change? Can we
use them to identify issues presently undergoing moral
change?
12:30-2:00 Box lunches to allow for Working group and
interest group meetings
2:00-3:30 Concurrent Sessions in rooms 202 and 214
2:00-3:30 202
- Fieldwork and
Cooperative Learning in Professional Ethics
- Michael C. Loui, University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign
- The
Service-Learning As a Vehicle for Learning Engineering
Ethics
- Michael Pritchard, Western Michigan University
2:00-3:30 214 Chaired by Joseph Wujek, the University of
California at Berkeley
- Representation
and Misrepresentation: Tufte and the Morton-Thiokol Engineers
on the Challenger
- Wade Robison, David Hoeker, and Stefan Young, Rochester
Institute of Technology
This lecture discusses and evaluates the charge made by
Edward Tufte, in his major work on visual representations,
Visual Explanations, that Morton-Thiokol engineers
were at fault for not using more convincing graphical
representations of the risk in arguing against the launch of
the ill-fated Challenger Space Shuttle.
- Engineering Failures and the
Standard of Care in Engineering
- Joshua B. Kardon, S.E., University of California,
Berkeley
This lecture discusses the concept of the standard of care
in engineering. It briefly describes several engineering
failures that the author studied in twenty-five years of
practice as a consultant and expert in construction-defects
lawsuits.
3:30-4:00 Break with opportunity for Working Group
mini-meeting
4:00-5:00 Concurrent Sessions in rooms 213 and 214
4:00-5:30 213 Panel Discussion
- Ethics and Design, Design and Ethics - Is there a place
for ethics within the design process itself?
- Carl Mitcham, Pennsylvania State University, Michael
Loui, University of Illinois and Richard Devon, Pennsylvania
State University
4:00-5:30 214 Chaired by Paul G. La Forge, Nanzan
University, Nagoya, Japan
- Invention and
Social Context
- Michael Gorman, University of Virginia
- Exigent Decision
Making in Engineering
- Taft Broome, Civil Engineering, Howard University
Evening unscheduled. Working and Interest Groups may
meet.
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Wednesday, March 24
8:30-12:30 103
- The Third Annual IEEE
Roundtable
- Chaired by editors of the IEEE Spectrum will
take place in conjunction with the conference. This year's
topic is "Ethics, Intellectual Property, and the New
Information Technologies." The participants whom the IEEE has
invited will interact with one another in a roundtable
format. The first two hours will address the topic of who
owns intellectual property created in corporations or
universities. The second will address the topic of electronic
publishing. Conferees with nametags who wish to observe the
discussions are welcome to sit in a surrounding ring of seats
are welcome to do so.
Observers may not participate in the roundtable
discussion, but may pursue discussion with the participants at
lunch afterwards.
8:30-9:20 214 Students' Teleconference Discussion with
Roger Boisjoly
Students coming to this session should read beforehand the
story of Roger
Boisjoly's efforts to avert the Challenger
disaster at http://onlineethics.org/cms/9609.aspx,
and, if possible, should attend Representation and
Misrepresentation: Tufte and the Morton-Thiokol Engineers on
the Challenger on Tuesday at 2 p.m.
9:30-10:00 214 Chaired by Carl Mitcham, Pennsylvania State
University
- Cultivating Moral Imagination
through Meditation
- Paul G. La Forge, Nanzan University, Nagoya, Japan
This lecture is about cultivating the moral imagination.
10-10:30 Break
10:30-11:20 214
- Value Definition: An Engaging Classroom Activity
- Rush M. Kidder, Steven E. Benzley, Val D. Hawks and
Ronald E. Terry, Brigham Young University
This learning activity was developed by the Institute of
Global Ethics as part of its Ethical FitnessTM seminar and then
adapted to the university classroom. It helps students identify
values that are shared by individuals from diverse
backgrounds.
11:30-12:20 214
- Ethical Deliberations About a Code of Ethics for Software
Engineers
- Donald Gotterbarn, Director of the Software Engineering
Research Institute, Computer and Information Science
Department, East Tennessee State University, Keith Miller,
Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois at
Springfield
The authors were members of the three-person Executive
Committee in charge of creating and revising an ethics code for
software engineers. Both the ACM and the IEEE Computer Society,
the two leading scholarly organizations for computing, recently
adopted this code. This session will illuminate the process of
developing such a code. If you'd like to participate in their
concomitant demonstration, we invite you prepare by doing some
reading and some thinking.
- Required
reading materials are available at the following
link:
- http://www.uis.edu/~miller/code.html
12:30-2:00 Lunch, Reports from the Working Groups, and Plans
for the Future