Integrating Societal Impacts and Ethics Into the Undergraduate Engineering Curriculum

About the UCLA Teagle Project's Societal Impacts and Ethics in the Undergraduate Curriculum Initiative

This Teagle Grant supported effort coordinates with department chairs and instructors of record in the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering to integrate societal-impact and ethics content into undergraduate engineering courses.

Faculty submit a brief description of specific content they are currently teaching or can easily add to their course curriculum to enhance students’ exposure to liberal arts foundations during the engineering undergraduate experience. The goal is to develop students’ awareness of the ethical implications and the range of societal impacts of engineering endeavors in the world.  Faculty, therefore, identify one or more student learning outcomes that the societal and ethics course component aims to teach and that address the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) Student Outcome Criteria #4.

ABET STUDENT OUTCOME CRITERIA #4: The ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgements, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts.

 

Learn More about ABET
Information and Submission Guidelines UCLA SEAS Faculty

Faculty can submit their course Societal Impact & Ethics content & outcomes by completing the submission form here. 

SEAS Teaching Faculty workshop on Integrating Societal Impacts and Ethics into the Engineering Curriculum

Watch the workshop here.

Examples of Engineering Societal Impacts/Ethics Course Content & Outcomes
Department Course Number Course Title Submitting Faculty Full Submission PDF
Bioengineering 188 Case Studies in Drug Development Jennifer Wilson BE 188
Chemical Engineering 101A Transport Phenomena 1 Carissa Esler CH ENGR 101A
Chemical Engineering 104B Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Laboratory II Dante Simonetti CH ENGR 104B
Chemical Engineering 118-218 Environmental Multimedia Assessment Yoram Cohen CH ENGR 118-218
Civil and Environmental Engineering 120 Principles of Soil Mechanics Scott Brandenburg CEE 120
Electrical and Computer Engineering 170A Principles of Photonics Sergio Carbajo ECE 170A
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 163C Control of Robotics Systems Veronica Santos MAE 163C
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering M20 Introduction to Computer Programming with MATLAB Mohammad Khalid Jawed MAE M20
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 133A Engineering Thermodynamics Tim Fisher MAE 133A
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 157A Aerospace Design Laboratory Raymond Spearrin MAE 157A
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 162D/E Mechanical Engineering Design I/II Robert Shaefer MAE 162D/E
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 166A Analysis of Aerospace Structures Gregory Carman MAE  166A
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 136 Energy and the Environment Laurent Pilon MAE 136

Faculty can submit their Societal Impact/Ethics Content & Outcomes HERE.

For more information, contact:

Pilar O’Cadiz, Teagle Project Coordinator
mpocadiz@tanms.ucla.edu