Skip to main content

Cornell University

Bovay Program in the History and Ethics of Professional Engineering

A catalyst for consideration of social and ethical issues in engineering

Teaching Archive

This page archives the Program’s teaching activities from 2023 onward. For earlier years, see the Kline & Doing Archives.

ENGRG 1050 Engineering Seminar

In Fall 2023, Dr. Goetze delivered a short lecture on how engineering failures can be attributed either to technical mistakes or to ethical mistakes, and that these two skillsets are each essential to doing engineering well. Students then discussed generative artificial intelligence—computer applications such as ChatGPT or DALL-E, which can produce text or images in response to prompts. Students each received a card with an ethically important value on it, such as generosity, justice, or nature, and were challenged to use their reflection on the values they received to decide whether generative AI is good or bad.

Ethics Modules

2023–24

  • ENGRI 1160 / CEE 1160 Modern Structures. Topic: Accessibility, Ableism, and Structural Design
  • ENGRI 1130 / CEE 1130 Sustainable Engineering of Energy, Water, Soil, and Air Resources. Topic: Environmental and Ecological Justice
  • ENGRC 3027 Cross-cultural Communication and Ethics in Engineering Workplaces. Topic: Value-Sensitive Design
  • ENGRC 3500 Engineering Communications. Topic: Value-Sensitive Design and Difficult Conversations
  • MAE 4300 Engineers and Society. Topic: Value-Sensitive Stakeholder Analysis
  • CHEME 4620 Chemical Engineering Design. Topic: Ethics in Chemical Engineering.
  • EAS 5060 Earth & Atmospheric Sciences Workshops on How to Succeed. Topic: Solar Geoengineering
  • MAE 6130 Engineered Living Materials. Topic: Engineered Living Materials, Disaster Relief, and Ethical Decision-Making

Courses

ENGRG 3600 Ethical Issues in Engineering Practice

Cross-listed in Philosophy and in Science and Technology Studies, this course provides a broad overview of engineering ethics. The course surveys a range of ethical issues that arise in professional engineering, and provides discussion- and writing-based practice in analyzing and addressing them. Using normative frameworks from professional codes, philosophical ethics, value-sensitive design, feminist theory, and science & technology studies, the course engages with a series of historical, current, and fictional case studies. Specific topics to be discussed may include: privacy, consumer rights, smart cities, geoengineering, artificial intelligence, and cloning. Instruction is through a mix of lectures and discussions.

Links to class roster archives: