Ethics and Professional Development for Biomedical Engineers and Scientists

 

Spring 2011

 

Instructor

E. Morris

 

Course type – Graduate seminar

Class period – once per week for 1hr 50 min

Course location – TAC N207  (except as listed)

First Class Jan 21, 2011 

Location of First Class TBA

 

 

Course goals

Ethics

To learn to recognize and to evaluate methodically moral dilemmas that may occur in the practice of science or engineering.

To learn to recognize the potential for conflicts between individual parties in a scientific or engineering project.

To learn some of the historical background and reasons for the current protections of healthy subjects and patients who are subjects in scientific experiments or experimental medical treatments.

To broaden students’ appreciation for the societal consequences and implications of their work as scientists and engineers.

Science/Engineering Practice

To understand obligations of the trainee and the mentor in academic science.

To become familiar with the practice of science on a local (data handling, interactions with a mentor) as well as on a larger (publishing papers, submitting proposals, presenting results) scale.

To learn to manage shared ownership of ideas, and credit, among multiple collaborating parties.

To improve writing and communication skills.

 

Course description

A seminar class that will explore ethical issues, frameworks for understanding issues, and boundaries of honorable execution of science and engineering through relevant reading of a broad variety of historical nonfiction, novels, case studies, newspaper and magazine articles and other resource material.  Lively but reasoned and respectful debate will be encouraged and expected.  Essentials of the practice of science will also be addressed.  Short writing exercises will be used to foster good writing, thinking, and communication skills.  Acquired skills will be applied to ethical issues of science and engineering in the news.

 

Prerequisites: none.

Course is open to all graduate students and upper level undergraduates.  Material will focus on science and engineering with particular attention to special issues that arise in biomedical science and engineering because human subjects are used in the development of new technologies or in the development of new treatments for disease.

 

Grading

Grades will be based equally on (a) class participation, (b) short writing assignments, (c) short in-class exercises.

 

Course topics to include