Teaching ethics and the social impact of engineering within a capstone course

ABET accreditation specifies the need to address both technical and professional skills through a comprehensive set of programmatic outcomes. The presentation of professional skills presents particular challenges for traditional CSET curricula. The Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) Program is a service-learning engineering design program that was initiated in Purdue University in the Fall of 1995. Through the EPICS program students are presented with "real world" opportunities to develop their professional skills. However, without explicit reflection and analysis, the impact of this experience may be lost. The solution has been the development of supplemental learning materials, paralleling the student's work on their design projects. This paper will present the supplemental materials used for developing an awareness of ethics and professional responsibility and an appreciation of the role that engineering/computer science can play in social contexts. The design of the materials allows for their use by other capstone and design courses.