Trust and Trustworthiness in Research This paper develops an overview of the subject of trustworthiness among researchers. It illustrates and discusses various types of betrayal and defections in research conduct and locates these in relation to many of the situations discussed elsewhere in this issue.
How to Be a Good Engineer The idea of taking a pledge or oath has been discussed often in professional circles. The following is the Hippocratic Oath for Scientists, Engineers, and Executives.
What is Cheating? A Cell Biology professor in the core course assigns a problem set. It is not clear to the class whether the assignment will be graded, but it is clearly required. Three first year students share an apartment in the student residence hall. Two of those students work together on the problem set while the third one feels uncomfortable about their join effort and works alone.
Who Benefits From Ethics Support , by Stephen H. Unger. This essay discusses the benefits of support for ethical issues, specifically ethics support by IEEE. Should an engineer object when his boss is about to make a decision that may endanger lives?
Military Projects in the Workplace by Francisco Juan Donez. The author presents a scenario in which an employee objects to working on a federally-sponsored corporate project to develop parts for use in a new weapon. Interviews with employees in various companies reveal a diversity of responses to this problem.
Weapons For Life You are an engineer working for a company that is the sole supplier of a chip component that is crucial to the operation of a lethal defensive military weapon. Such ethical issues are raised as the nature of the product and its various uses once consumers obtain it.
Resolving Ethical/Technical Dissent Through Due Process , by Walter L. Elden. Sometimes potentially unresolvable conflict arises when an engineer refuses, on ethical or technical grounds, to work on a particular project. In this essay, the author proposes the need to establish a profession-wide set of due process guidelines for handling ethical and technical dissent. Note: This page is not maintained by the Ethics Center.
Computer Encryption Software A software engineer, working for a multinational corporation, creates some software that provides security for email documents. The engineer realizes that there is a federal law prohibiting the distribution of security algorithms and information outside the United States. Ethical issues arise when the engineer's boss does not share this concern about the distribution of the software.
Relevant Literature on this Topic
Controlling Technology: Ethics and the Responsible Engineer, by Stephen H. Unger. (From the back cover): This valuable guide provides an in-depth treatment of what constitutes ethical behavior on the part of engineers. It carefully examines the various conflicts faced by engineers and offers practical, proven advice on what to do in such situations. Stephen H. Unger, Controlling Technology: Ethics and the Responsible Engineer, Second Edition, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1994. Other keywords for this book: code violations, ethical codes and guidelines, engineering ethics, the media, professional societies, professional responsibility, ethics support, technological disasters, unions, whistleblowing.
Stephen H. Unger, "Reality Check: Ethics and Air Bags", IEEE Institute, August, 1998, p. 2. Other keywords for this article: product quality, professional societies, ethics support.
Stephen H. Unger, "Would Helping Ethical Engineers Get Professional Societies into Trouble?", IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, V. 6, No. 3, Sept, 1987, pp. 17-21. Reprinted in Johnson, "Ethical Issues in Engineering", 1991, Prentice-Hall. Other keywords for this article: ethics and the law, professional societies, ethics support, whistleblowing.
Gunsalus, C. K., "How to Blow the Whistle and Still have a Career Afterwards", Science and Engineering Ethics, V. 4 (1998): Issue 1, pp. 51-64. Other keywords for this article: research misconduct, professional responsibility, self-preservation, whistleblowing.
Nancy K. Austin, "Ethics: Personal vs. Professional," in Working Woman (September 1992): 28, 32. Other keywords for this: professional advice; ethics support; corporate ethics; supervisors and managers.