| Engineers cannot make decisions based solely on their technological merits. Rather, engineering decisions affect and are affected by law, policy, economics, public relations, and social ethics. Given this reality, it is important that engineering faculty help students to make connections between social and technical aspects of engineering. This can be done effectively by presenting the social impacts of engineering alongside the technical material commonly taught in engineering science courses. However, there are several barriers to implementing these lessons, including (valid) concerns about faculty members’ preparation, students’ response, and the narrative that engineering is apolitical. In this interactive workshop I will address these concerns by describing our evidence-based ethics dialogues that cultivate students’ moral awareness, or the recognition of the ethical dimensions inherent to engineering. These lessons go beyond typical professional ethics and focus on macroethical questions about engineering’s effect on society. |