The Implementation of Ethics Education in the Penn State Architectural Engineering Curriculum

open_access
Open Access
Author:
Adavi, Sanjana
Area of Honors:
Architectural Engineering
Degree:
Bachelor of Architectural Engineering
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Dorukalp Durmus, Thesis Supervisor
Richard Mistrick, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
Ethics Education
Architectural Engineering
Engineering Ethics
Abstract:
Graduates of the Architectural Engineering program at the Pennsylvania State University have a significant impact on the field of study. In order to ensure that these graduates are prepared for professional work environments, the curriculum must provide content that reaches beyond technical skills. Ethics education is vital to graduating responsible and reliable engineers. This study sought to analyze successful methods of ethics education, and its implementation in the Architectural Engineering curriculum at Penn State. Ethics lectures were administered in two undergraduate courses (AE 124 and AE 311) and surveys were utilized to investigate student perception of the content and analyze how the curriculum can be strengthened. The results demonstrated a positive reaction to the content overall, with slight uncertainty of specific topics including the relevance of ethics education to Architectural Engineering students and where to seek support when faced with ethical dilemmas. Based on these results, recommendations including implementing a 1 credit course on ethics and/or assigning an “ethics officer” role in the department were made to provide additional content and resources to better prepare them for the Architectural Engineering industry upon graduation.