2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Character-Based Engineering Virtues

Presented at Engineering Ethics Division (ETHICS) Technical Session _Monday June 26, 11:00 - 12:30

One of the most neglected subjects in engineering education is engineering ethics. The engineering profession has a greater impact on more people every day than any other profession and therefore, the importance of engineering ethics education cannot be understated. Over the years this neglect has garnered some attention; however, engineering ethics education has not been thoroughly addressed or improved. Virtue ethics is one approach to engineering ethics education that helps in character development. Virtues are character traits/habits of the good, which should be the character traits of the ethical engineer. This article seeks to address engineering ethics education through virtue and identifies the major engineering virtues of phronesis, justice, fortitude, and honesty as the “Hallmarks of an Engineer”. Phronesis is practical wisdom, justice is rendering each person that which he/she is due, fortitude is the moral and physical courage to do what is right, and honesty is rendering truth in all endeavors. These virtues are a solid foundation for character formation and form a construct for engineering ethics education. Internalizing these virtues enables engineers to become more ethical and better equipped to deal with ethical challenges of modern society and engineering.

Authors

Dr. Kenneth McDonald United States Military Academy, Department of Systems Engineering [biography]

Dr. Kenneth McDonald is a Professor of Engineering Management, Department of Systems Engineering, West Point. His academic focus is on capacity development, planning, and consequence management. He also studies engineering ethics and how it applies in today’s complex world. Dr. McDonald has authored and co-authored over 50 technical publications to include book chapters and refereed publications on infrastructure, capacity development, geotechnical engineering, engineering management, value modeling and ethics. He is also co-author of the book “Pursuing the Honorable – Reawakening Honor in the Modern Military”. During his 28 years as an Engineer officer in the US Army he deployed throughout the world numerous times with his last deployment to Afghanistan in 2010. As an academic, Dr. McDonald has served as Engineering Management Program Director, the Director of the Center for Nation Reconstruction and Capacity Development, and Deputy Department Head in the Department of Systems Engineering, United States Military Academy. He graduated from West Point in 1985 with a BS in Civil Engineering. He earned Masters in Geography; City and Regional Planning; Environmental Engineering; Information Systems Management; and Ethics. He also has a PhD in Geological Engineering. He is a licensed Professional Engineer (PE), a Project Management Professional (PMP) and a Certified Planner (AICP). He is a Fulbright Scholar and has worked for the Ministry of Education of the Republic of the Marshall Islands and most recently, he traveled to Kosovo in January 2020 to work with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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