Engineers and Their Profession PDF

PREFACE

AHarris Poll regarding public perceptions of engineering was conducted by Louis Harris and Associates in late July 1998; it was commissioned by the American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES), an umbrella organization based in Washington, DC, whose membership societies represent more than 1 million engineers in the United States. This survey, "American Perspectives on Engineers and Engineering," released September 1, 1998, shows that the U.S. public feels uninformed about the engineering enterprise and exhibits a startling lack of knowledge about engineers' involvement in key areas of American endeavor.

The poll confirms what we in engineering education have believed and observed for the past decade—that many young Americans who select engineering as a career do so with a limited perspective of what engineering is really about or, worse yet, bypass engineering altogether because they lack the exposure to engineers and engineering. The low graduation rate of fulltime undergraduates is alarming, at around 65 percent, which means either that engineering is an exceedingly difficult subject or that many who select engineering are not carefully weighing their aptitudes and interests.

In this revised edition, in addition to bringing factual material up to date, we have rearranged the chapters into three distinct parts so that the material may be adapted to students at the high school level through the university senior year. In addition, material that engineering professionals will find useful in their every day practice has been updated, especially in the areas of ethics and public responsibility. Finally, given that recent studies show that the public is poorly informed about engineering, this edition has the ambitious goal of providing a readable, yet well-referenced, introduction to the engineering profession.

Part I contains eight chapters that are of particular importance to those who are contemplating engineering as a career but do not have enough information about engineering disciplines and career paths to be sure engineering is the right choice. More specifically, this part attempts to answer the highly important question, "What do engineers really do?" The material in these chapters is appropriate to the high school junior or senior who is on a technical or science-based educational path and must soon file an admissions application with a college or university; the material is equally important to the college or university lower-division student who also is on a technical or science-based educational path and has yet to commit to a specific major.

Part II contains six chapters whose subject matter is most appropriate to those who have already chosen engineering as a career path and will soon be making the important transition from full-time engineering student to practicing professional. Therefore, Part II is intended to cover in depth the professional responsibilities of engineers and answer the question, "How do engineers meet their professional obligations of protection of the public's health, safety, and welfare?" This section may be used as a supplement to technical course content, as a reference source for faculty and students, or as a textbook for a condensed course on engineering professionalism.

Part III contains supplementary reference material on definitions, codes of ethics, and guidelines for professional employment.

When Parts I, II, and III are combined, the breadth and depth of material is appropriate to a full quarter or semester upper-division course on engineering professionalism.