Judges Need for Ethics Bowl Competition, July 7, 2014

The Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions invites faculty, staff and interested graduate students to participate as a judge or moderator in the Boeing Scholars Academy Ethics Bowl on Monday, July 7, 2014 from 2-5 p.m. on the Main Campus.

The IIT Boeing Scholars Academy brings 100 high-achieving Chicago area high school students together for a four-week, thematic program that introduces them to diverse science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) career fields and involves the students in searching for solutions to pressing world problems with both significant technological and ethical aspects.

The Ethics Bowl competition on July 7 will challenge the students to take what they have learned during the first weeks of the program a step further, asking them to work as a group to analyze and discuss a series of ethics cases concerning world problems such as issues surrounding emerging technologies, the environment, disease prevention, crime, and issues related to the current economy and job creation.

There will be a 45 minute training session for judges and moderators at 2 pm after which there will be one round of ethics bowl. The deadline to volunteer is June 30, 2014.

If you have questions or are interested in being a part of the competition, email Kelly Laas at laas@iit.edu.

CSEP Receives NSF Award to help improve the Ethics Education Library and the Online Ethics Center

The Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions has received a 5 year grant from the National Science Federation for $158,868.00 to help build an Online Resource Center for Ethics in Science and Engineering. This Online Center will assist scientists and engineers find the resources and support they need to recognize and address the ethical implications of their work.

This project expands the National Academy of Engineering’s Online Ethics Center (OEC) to be the go-to online source for these critical resources and support for ethics and ethics education in science and engineering. Collaboration with the Ethics Education Library (EEL) of the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions will provide access to a wider array of materials than will be housed in the OEC and promote interactions with other repositories of ethics-related information. The OEC and the EEL will redesign and augment its resources so that ethical and social justice considerations associated with science and engineering 1) are incorporated in the work of practicing engineers and scientists, 2) inform faculty teaching and course development, 3) are broadly appreciated by undergraduate and graduate students

Kelly Laas, the librarian of the Ethics Center, will be heading CSEP's involvement in this project.

Brown Bag Lunches...Ideas for topics for Fall 2014

CSEP will be restarting its Brown Bag Lunches this coming semester. Each lunch focuses on a ethics topic in engineering, science, and the social sciences and following a short talk, participants will be invited to take part in an informal discussion.  Topics can be just about anything from current events in the news to longstanding ethical issues that arise in professional practices.

We are looking for ideas for topics as well as suggestions for speakers, so please feel free to reply to this blog post or email Kelly Laas at laas@iit.edu with your thoughts!

AAAS Workshop, February 13th - Responsible Professional Practices in a Changing Research Environment—Integrating Ethics Education Into the Research Environment.

Come join us at a AAAS workshop on Research Ethics! 

What?

A full-day Workshop on Responsible Professional Practices in a Changing Research Environment—Integrating Ethics Education Into the Research Environment.

http://www.aaas.org/event/workshop-responsible-professional-practices

When?

February 13, 2014, 8:30 am - 5:00 pm. Breakfast and lunch provided.

Where?

The Hyatt Regency Chicago, Skyway 260.

Content?

The workshop is grounded in a recognition that many research ethics issues are relevant to the practice and application of science, from developing hypotheses and designing a protocol, to data management and analysis, to reporting findings and advising others on the uses of the work.  Integrating ethics instruction into the performance of those various stages of research can be an effective strategy for educating future researchers. Participants will be introduced to rationales, content, approaches, tools, and resources to give them the means to develop and implement research ethics education in specific research environments.

Attendees?

University administrators, faculty, and post-docs interested in creating concrete, discipline-specific strategies to incorporate research ethics education into the context of the research environment, whether it be a lab or field work.

Registration?

The meeting is open to all for a US$25.00 fee. Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more from the same institution. (For details, contact rcarlson@aaas.org.) One need not register or attend any part of the AAAS Annual Meeting to participate in this special workshop. To register:

1.       Go to the AAAS Annual Meeting registration page,

2.    ShowAAA131/Default.aspx, and click the General Attendees box.

        3. Login: enter your email address and password; click next 3. Membership: enter your AAAS member information or click "not a member"; click next

        4. Contact: enter your contact information; click next

        5. Registration Type: for those who plan to attend the workshop, but are not registering for the Annual Meeting, select option C "Pre-Meeting Workshop Only"; click next

        6. Select the option "Responsible Professional Practices in a Changing Research Environment"; click next

        7. Continue through the registration process and enter your payment information.

Encyclopedia of Ethical Failure

Though out for a while, I just came across this unusual publication. The Encyclopedia of Ethics Failure is published by the U.S. Department of Defense. Started 10 years ago, it is meant to be an ethics guide for government employees. In an effort the keep employees' attention on a subject that can often be rather dry, the DoD Standards of Conduct adopted this eye-catching name and assembled a selection of cases of ethical failure for use as a training tool.

Its an eye-opening read, and you can catch an interview with the founding editor of the Encyclopedia and its current editor from a July 2013 interview done by Freakconomics.

An interesting example of how to make ethics education more alive to this perspective audience.

Is Snowden a whistleblower?

Here at the Center, we often talk about what it takes to be a whistleblower and what kinds of protections whistleblowers should have from retribution after they report wrongdoing. While waiting out this latest chilly spell of weather, I spent a lot of time listening to NPR and heard an interesting exchange on Morning Edition about if Edward Snowden and what his status should be. Is he a criminal for leaking classified documents? Is he a whistleblower and a hero for helping make the public aware of the extent to which our government is spying on its citizens?Or is he something in between?

On January 1st the New York Times published an editorial called Edward Snowden, Whistle-Blower that argues that Snowden deserves far better than a life in exile, as his leaked documents have led to public revelations about the National Security Association's collecting of of millions of phone calls, email messages and and other information. As Congress scrutinizes these practices and the Obama administration  and it does seem that this might be one of those classic cases of whistleblowing. Snowden's leaks at least partially led to the forming of a  panel convened by President Obama to review the National Security Agency's current policies. In December, the panel put out a number of recommendations, including that the NSA should be banned from attempting to undermine the security of the internet and from collecting telephone records in bulk. So Snowden's leaks have lead to a number of reforms already in this area.

However, Fred Kaplan of Slate Magazine wrote an interesting piece a few days ago about why he thinks Snowden should not get clemency.  While aplauding the public debate raised by Snowden's actions, Kaplan condemns his leaking of information that deals with the NSA's international surveillance programs, as well as his the way in which he gained access to these documents by lying to his colleagues.

So what do you think? Should we view Edward Snowden as a whistle-blower who deserves some leniency when considering how he gained access to and leaked these classified documents to the world? Or does his actions place him outside of the definition of whistleblower?

Winter Break Hours

The Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions will be closed from December 24th to January 1st due to the winter break. We will reopen on January 2nd.