Prerequisites:  Successful completion (passing grade) of STS4500.  Students may not take STS4500 and STS4600 simultaneously. 

General: In STS4500, a prerequisite for STS4600, you learned about the ways that STS approaches can positively shape engineering practice and projects. In STS4600 you will learn how to identify and analyze the ethical dimensions of technological design, technology use, and engineering practice. You will use your thesis project as a case study of the complex interactions of the engineer, ethics, and society, with that research culminating in the creation of an STS Research Paper.

Engineers and applied scientists frequently find it ethically complicated to practice as professionals in a corporate environment because of conflicting responsibilities to employer, client, community, and self.  In addition, codes of ethics often create contradictory imperatives for engineers and applied scientists working in a corporate setting, and sometimes confuse rather than clarify choices.  To increase your awareness of this complexity and to help you develop your moral insight and imagination, during this course we will discuss a variety of readings and consider a number of cases that focus on engineering ethics and ethical choices. 

Goals:  This course helps to satisfy a number of ABET outcomes, most importantly an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility; an ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing; a knowledge of contemporary issues; and the ability to engage in life-long learning.

After taking STS4600, you should be able to

• describe the ethical principles and codes that are relevant to engineering
• frame questions about ethics and take a systematic approach to analyzing ethical issues, especially those that arise in engineering
• construct persuasive academic arguments about issues of ethics and professional responsibility.