This project will organize and conduct a series of three workshops in Russia on engineering ethics. For Russian educators and scholars, the project will assist in developing materials and strategies for incorporating ethics instruction into engineering education. For U.S. participants, it will be an opportunity to reassess methods and content in engineering ethics curricula. Russian engineers, accommodating to changes in the economy, democratization, and restructuring of institutions, confront new issues of professional ethics and social responsibility: concerns for public safety and problematic technologies, issues of intellectual property, and development of ethical and technical standards. Engineering ethics education is of assistance in confronting these issues, and a small but growing network of Russians are interested in collaborating with their U.S. counterparts to foster research and teaching in this field. Prominent U.S. scientific and engineering societies along with several accomplished scholars and educators are participating in this joint effort. The workshops will combine plenary sessions and small, interactive discussion groups. A joint committee of Russian and U.S. educators and scholars will develop the agendas and choose the literature for translation for use at the workshops. An instructional module composed of that literature and case studies, some of which will be produced as part of the workshops, will be prepared for Russian use.
