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Cornell University

Bovay Program in the History and Ethics of Professional Engineering

A catalyst for consideration of social and ethical issues in engineering

Teaching

The central activities of the Bovay Engineering Ethics Program are in undergraduate engineering education at Cornell. This page highlights the program’s teaching in the current academic year. Previous years’ teaching activities are in the Teaching Archives.

First-Year Engineering Seminar

ENGRG 1050 Engineering Seminar is a first-year experience for all matriculating students in the College of Engineering. The seminar has a double function of introducing students to the college experience and the support systems available to them on campus, as well as giving them a primer on important non-technical skills expected of professional engineers. Amongst these offerings is a module on engineering ethics.

In Fall 2025, the ethics module is an entirely in-class experience. Peer Advisors will lead the first-years through a lesson plan developed by the Bovay Program. The lesson includes a short lecture video on engineering ethics, with a focus on the idea that engineering projects can fail for technical reasons—such as a bridge collapsing from unanticipated aerodynamic effects—or for ethical reasons—such as a weapon that is a fantastic success purely from the perspective of innovation but horrific from the perspective of humanity. Peer Advisors will then guide the first years through discussion of one of four case studies, depending on their specific interests.

ENGRG 1050 ethics modules from past years.

Ethics Modules

Each semester, the Bovay Engineering Ethics Program visits a number of engineering courses to deliver ethics modules. These are designed to introduce students to social and ethical issues that arise in connection with the engineering topics they are studying, and to give students practice in using their ethical reasoning to make responsible decisions in engineering practice.

Spring 2026

  • Coming soon

Fall 2025

  • ENGRI 1160 (crosslisted with CEE 1160) Modern Structures. Course head: Chloé Arson.
  • ENGRG 1400 Engineering Project Team Onboarding. Course head: Lauren Stulgis.
  • ENGRC 3500 Engineering Communications. Course head: Hua Wang.
  • MAE 4300 Engineers and Society (two sections). Course head: JJ Yeo.
  • CEE 4640 (crosslisted with CEE 6648) Sustainable Transportation Systems Design. Course head: Francis Vanek.
  • CEE 5200 (crosslisted with ENMGT 5200, SYSEN 5210) Economics of the Energy Transition. Course head: Jacob Mays.

Ethics modules from previous years.

Courses

Below are the courses offered by the Bovay Engineering Ethics Program in the current academic year.

Past years’ courses.

ENGRG 3600 Ethics in Engineering Practice

Offered each spring, ENGRG 3600 is survey of topics in engineering ethics. The course surveys a range of ethical issues that arise in professional engineering, and provides discussion-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, across a wide variety of engineering disciplines. 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.

This course is held with STS 3601 and PHIL 2471. It fulfills a liberal studies distribution requirement for engineering majors.

ENGRG 3605 Ethics of Computing and Artificial Intelligence Technologies

First offered in Fall 2024, ENGRG 3605 is a survey of ethical issues specific to computing technologies, including AI. Computing is ubiquitous in modern life, and essential to professional work in engineering and many other disciplines. However, computing technologies, especially artificial intelligence, raise distinctive normative issues. This course surveys a variety of social, ethical, and political issues that arise in connection with computing technologies, including artificial intelligence, from a philosophical perspective. Specific topics may include: hacking, privacy, intellectual property, forms of deception and manipulation enabled by computing technologies, social injustices that are reinforced by algorithmic systems, machine ethics, and science fiction issues such as robot rights or existential risks posed by superintelligent computer systems. Content delivery will be through a mix of lectures, readings, and in-class discussion.

This course is held with STS 3605 and PHIL 2473. It counts towards the AI Minor offered by the Cornell Bowers College of Computing and Information Science. It can be used to fulfill either the “Foundations of AI: Ethics, Governance & Policy” requirement, or a minor elective. It also fulfills a liberal studies distribution requirement for engineering majors.