Ethical responsibility and societal context: Integrating ethics and public policy considerations in the engineering curriculum

ABET's Engineering Criteria 2000 requires that graduates of engineering programs `have...an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility' and `the impact of engineering solutions in a global and societal context.' Curriculum models aimed at simultaneously addressing professional and ethical responsibility and the societal context of engineering have been successfully implemented at a number of institutions. A useful teaching method for addressing these two criteria in an integrated manner involves broadening discussions of engineering ethics so as to include the ethical implications of public policy issues in such areas as risk and product liability, sustainable development, and healthcare.