Ethics are integral to every decision, design, and service performed by civil engineers.
A recent ASCE video series, sponsored by a United Engineering Foundation grant, explored four case studies in engineering ethics. Here are four engineering ethics lessons from those videos:
1. Never put an engineer in a position to prove something will fail
On Jan. 28, 1986, the weather forecast in Orlando, FL, predicted a cold...
The Einstellung Effect – where the German word means “approach” or “way of doing something” – refers to trying to resolve an issue, problem, or opportunity only by using approaches that have worked in similar situations, rather than looking at each new situation on its own terms. This narrow, habitual, and left-brain dominated tendency, which is illustrated below, inhibits creativity and innovation.
Another term for...
Issues with the Flint, MI, water crisis and Washington, DC’s metro service show us that now, more than ever, innovation is required to reinvent our approach to sustainable infrastructure.
Introducing innovation inherently presents several obstacles for organizations and businesses to overcome. Whether the source of the obstacle is funding, technology, manpower, or operations, DC Water’s CEO and General Manager George Hawkins, Esq. believes innovation is...
This is the last of three posts on innovation and creativity by Brent Darnell, Aff.M.ASCE, president and owner of Atlanta-based Brent Darnell International. For more information, email [email protected] or visit brentdarnell.com.
In the first post in this series, we talked about why it’s important for companies to promote innovation. The second post discussed 10 ways to do just that.
But what about you as an individual? How do...
This letter, from a father to a son, was written by professional engineer Bob Breeze upon his son’s graduation as a mechanical engineer. The letter was published in a collection entitled, Letters to Young Engineers, published by the University of Ontario Institute of Technology and edited by Daniel Hoornweg, UOIT associate professor and Jeffrey Boyce research chair. Inspired in part by Ranier Maria Rilke’s...
This is the second in a series of three posts about innovation and creativity by Brent Darnell, Aff.M.ASCE, president and owner of Atlanta-based Brent Darnell International. For more information, email [email protected] or visit brentdarnell.com.
In the first post in this series, we talked about why it’s important for companies to promote innovation. Now we’ll look at 10 ways to do just that.
Many of the following...
With increasingly complex projects requiring new technology, will we have enough civil engineers prepared for the challenges of tomorrow?
It is essential to inspire more students to choose careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields, pursue gender and minority equality in the workplace, and foster partnerships with diverse groups.
Here’s how.
1. Reform education to include engineering in K-12 schools
Stephen Pruitt, Ph.D., project lead for...
As an engineer, you are always tackling new challenges. It is important for you to stay informed on issues affecting your profession, so you can be prepared with better solutions for tomorrow. Watch these videos from the Interchange series as ASCE’s senior managing director Casey Dinges interviews industry leaders on the hot topics dominating the civil engineering profession:
1. Creating sustainable communities that address the...
Apple, Google, Tesla, and Uber are racing to bring self-driving vehicles to market. According to the Gartner Group, there will be 250 million connected vehicles on the road by 2020.
In this ASCE Interchange, the executive director of Contra Costa, California's transportation authority, Randy Iwasaki, P.E., explains how connected and autonomous vehicles can transform our nation’s transportation system to make it safer, smarter, and more...
