2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Assessment of FE ethics performance and experiences integrating ethics into the curriculum in a Civil Engineering department at a military institution [Research Paper]

Presented at Engineering Ethics Division (ETHICS) Technical Session - Ethics education methodologies and interventions

Virginia Military Institute (VMI) offers an engineering curriculum that integrates technical knowledge with leadership training, emphasizing ethical decision-making. Discussions of ethics arise in Civil Engineering (CE) courses, Leadership Education and Development (LEAD) programs, and The Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) training, allowing students to reflect on the ethical implications of their engineering choices. Furthermore, in an extracurricular capacity, VMI's Honor Court further promotes a culture of integrity and accountability among cadets.
The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) underscores the importance of ethics in engineering education, requiring programs to cultivate professional and ethical responsibility. As a Civil and Environmental Engineering program, ABET requires ethics to be assessed and evaluated as a student outcome (SO 3), specifically the ability to recognize ethical responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgements. The American Society of Engineers (ASCE) ABET program criteria also specifies that the CE curriculum must include the application of an engineering code of ethics to ethical dilemmas. VMI’s approach aligns with these standards, embedding ethics within both the curriculum and the broader educational experience. Evidence regarding the extent to which VMI’s curriculum meets these standards, including methods to approach, type of application, and correlation to industry experience, will be presented in the paper.
This paper will assess the performance of VMI’s Civil Engineering students by analyzing longitudinal data from ethics-related questions on the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam. The FE exam is a key graduation requirement for all CE students at VMI, providing a quantitative measure of the effectiveness of the institute’s ethics education. This analysis will focus on identifying trends in student performance over time, offering insights into how well VMI prepares its students for ethical challenges in their professional careers. Overall, this paper provides a comprehensive review of the integration of ethics in VMI's engineering programs, highlighting the synergy between technical education, ethical leadership, and military values.

Authors

Dr. Rebekah L Martin http://orcid.org/https://0000-0001-8188-7683 Virginia Military Institute [biography]

Dr. Martin completed her bachelor's in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Bucknell University and her PhD in Civil Engineering at Virginia Tech. She is currently an assistant professor at VMI teaching fluids, environmental engineering and water resources courses. Her research focuses on drinking water quality and public health. She also co-advises the newly formed Society of Women Engineers at VMI.
Mrs. Tanjina Afrin Virginia Military Institute [biography]

Dr. Tanjina Afrin, P.E. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), where she has taught since 2017. She earned her Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Clemson University in 2016 and currently serves as the Assistant Director of the VMI Center for Undergraduate Research (VCUR).

Dr. Afrin’s research interests focus on urban infrastructure challenges, particularly stormwater management and air quality in densely populated areas. She is also deeply engaged in engineering education, exploring innovative teaching methods to enhance student learning and engagement. She mentors student organizations including the VMI chapters of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the Society of Women Engineers (SWE).
Dr. Kacie Caple D'Alessandro Virginia Military Institute [biography]

Kacie C. D’Alessandro received her B.S. and M.S. in Civil Engineering at Clemson University and her Ph.D. in Civil Engineering at Virginia Tech. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at Virginia Military Institute, where she teaches courses on structural engineering, engineering mechanics, and materials. Her research interests include ultra-high performance concrete, design of concrete structures, structural investigations, and experiential learning.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 25, 2025

« View session