Engineering Ethics
The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics explores ethical issues in engineering.
Focusing on ethical issues confronting professionals, the Center offers materials to help engineers identify and respond to dilemmas they face. Offering case studies, curriculum, and commentary for engineering students, educators, and practitioners.
Developed and managed responsibly, generative AI can be used to expand our creative capabilities and push the boundaries of what is possible.
Santa Clara team identifies male “brilliance bias” in world's top AI robowriter. Next step: Solving the problem.
Set to retire this summer, the founder of three major SCU electrical engineering labs reflects on six decades of teaching.
Our Responsible Computer Science (RCS) project is a collaboration between computer science and software engineering faculty as well as staff members of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. This page offers a variety of teaching resources for faculty in computer science or computer engineering looking to integrate coverage of ethics into curricula and student-focused events.
Santa Clara University was awarded a grant in April 2019 as one of the winners of the Mozilla Responsible Computer Science Challenge. The grant is aimed at promoting innovation and experimentation in the integration of ethics into undergraduate Computer Science curricula. This is a summary of what we have been doing, and some of the plans ahead.
This ethics module for cybersecurity-related courses includes a reading, homework assignments, and case studies, all designed to spark a conversation about ethical issues that students will face in their role as cybersecurity professionals.
Designed to be incorporated in data science courses, this module includes a reading, homework assignments, and case studies to spark a conversation about ethical issues that students will face in their role as data practitioners.
Designed for use in software engineering courses, this module includes a reading, homework assignments, case studies, and classroom exercises that will prompt conversation about ethical issues that students will face in their role as software engineers.
This story of Occidental Engineering is provided by Michael McFarland, visiting scholar at the Ethics Center and former president of College of the Holy Cross. It is a fictional case study designed to illustrate several important points about the complexity and responsibilities involved in day-to-day ethical judgments for engineers.
Find ethics case studies on topics in Engineering ethics including intersections in bioengineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, and pressures in the public and private sectors.
Find ethics case studies on topics in Internet ethics including privacy, hacking, social media, the right to be forgotten, and hashtag activism.
Find case studies illustrating real-world dilemmas in technology and ethics including artificial intelligence, data, virtual reality, and encryption.
Articles and research addressing the ethics of artificial intelligence, the following selection of readings aims to highlight some key issues.
Free materials to encourage and support ethics training workshops for designers and engineers in technology companies. Supported by a grant from Omidyar Network’s Tech and Society Solutions Lab.
A resource to assist senior mechanical engineering students at Santa Clara University in identifying and navigating ethical considerations that arise over the course of the senior design project.