Gros 1 Ethan Gros WRA 110 28 February 2014 Transformation of the Engineering Field Growing up my parents always let

me take apart broken objects, like toasters and computers, allowing me to see the mechanical design of the objects. Also my parents would buy me LEGO sets, so that I would spend all day building until I had it complete. This fascination with taking apart things to see how they worked and building things based off of an instruction guide are just a few key elements that led me to my career path of electrical engineering. I come from a family of engineers with whom my sister is a materials engineer, my brother is a materials engineer with a biomedical concentration, dad is a mechanical engineer and my grandpa is an aeronautical engineer, so I have seen to an extent how the field of engineering has developed from generation to generation. Through researching I have found that in just the past twenty years there is a difference in the people who are now entering the field of engineering in contrast to those who entered the field twenty years ago. Specifically the interest, values, and concerns of the new generation are what distinguish them from the older generations. Also the ethics is now a key competent when engineering a new innovation. Morality has become a requirement when taking into consideration the development of a new innovation. These aspects that have changed in the last twenty years has greatly impacted the people who now join the field of engineering and the type of work that the new generation of engineers do in comparison to the old generation of engineers.

Gros 2 The field of engineering has continued to advance from generation to generation and as engineering continues to advance, the morality and ethics of engineering has become more significant in the field. In past engineering generations the long term effects of new innovations were not taken into consideration as much as they are today, the newer generations of engineers are taught to focus on the morality of new innovations. The older generation of engineering valued new advancements quickly with fewer concerns for the negative impact that some of the advancements could have. Morality and ethics has become more important because past generations have used their engineering skills to create what some may consider to be immoral innovations like atomic bombs, these things resulted in the destruction of many peoples lives. After the United States used the atomic bomb on Japan and other nuclear testing, according to Adaskova and Ludik Nations decided to come together to stop the development and testing of nuclear weapons by signing the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (n.p.). This helped to make sure there are no advancements in nuclear weapons because they have such a large devastating effect on not just human lives, but the environment that is impacted by the bomb. This is just one reason that student engineers are taught to take morality and ethics into consideration when developing a new innovation, so the new generations of engineers do not make the same mistake as the older generation of engineers. So as new innovations are being developed engineers are now taught to take into consideration the impact and the long term effects of innovations on the world. The new generation is forced to focus more on the morality of the new innovations and impact that it can cause on humanity and the environment. However, some companies do not take into consideration the impact of their innovation, so engineers and workers have been taught to call out these companies to stop them from doing or creating something that could have a

Gros 3 negative impact on the world, who are called whistle blowers. According to Bouville, whistle blowing in the newer generation has become something that is viewed in a more positive light because it helps to protect humanity and prevent people or companies from causing harm. (p. 579).The reason that it is important for people to think about morality behind new innovations and technological developments is because of the impact that I can have on the world. Earths environment has been greatly impacted by the older generations causing the newer generations to bring greater focus to the Earths environment when creating new innovations. Regulations are enforced on engineers, so they must strive for new innovations that do not harm the environment. Whistle blowers do not have to just focus on protecting the environment; they also focus on protecting the security and freedoms of citizens in their country. In Bouville article about whistle blowing also states that whistle blowing on companies illegal activities often results in the end of that persons career, finance problems and many other problems (p.582). These are often the reasons the older generation of engineers did not stand up to the companies and call out the companies on their illegal activities, but the newer generation is becoming more educated so that if they need to call out illegal activity they do not risk their careers. From generation to generation the protection of the environment and the security of humans has become so important that things like whistle blowing are being encouraged. Earths environment has been greatly impacted by the older generations causing the newer generations to bring greater focus to the Earths environment when creating new innovations. According to Dorweiler and Yakhou, Engineering fields are under some environmental regulation because of the negative impacts that can come from these engineering fields (p.52). This has resulted in engineers and many corporations to invest in more environmental friendly innovations. According to Allen, Engineer designers need to strive to ensure that all material

Gros 4 and energy inputs and outputs are as inherently nonhazardous as possible (p.36). This means that with the regulations that are being enforced on engineers today they must strive for new innovations that do not harm the environment. This generation of engineers has to focus more on their environmental impact than the previous generations of engineers because the negative impact that some of the innovations from the previous generations have created. Some of the reasons the newer generation must focus on environmental friendly resource is not just to protect the environment, it is to also prevent from creating wasted, become more energy efficient, and utilize resource materials that are renewable rather than depleting (p.37) as stated by Allen. These problems of creating waste, being inefficient in energy use and using up non-renewable resources has become such a problem to the older generation of engineers that now according to Yakhou, Mehenna, and Vernon degrees in engineering give a general education to all engineers about the environmental impact that engineers can have on the Earth (p.54). This is taught to the new generation of engineers, so that they can work to develop new innovations that help the environment. One specific innovation that has been created by newer generations of engineers to help replace the older generations innovation is the electric car. Although this design still has its issues the electric care was built to help reduce that amount of gas consumption a gas car consumes and low pollution. The gas burned in a gasoline powered vehicle is about 30% efficiency, where gasoline power plants that produce electricity with gasoline do about 60% efficiency, so the electric power created by gasoline and used in an electric car is much more efficient than the gasoline burned in a gasoline car as stated by Toupin. Also since that electric powered car is not burning gasoline there is low pollution. The only issue with electric cars is that they cannot travel as large of distances a gasoline powered car can. Engineers today continues to work to improve the design of electric cars still, but it helps to illustrate that the

Gros 5 newer generation of engineers are focused toward striving to help protect the environment and utilize resources more efficiently. This generation of engineers has to focus more on the moral and ethical development of new innovations and their environmental impact than the previous generations of engineers because the negative impact that some of the innovations from the previous generations have created. The difference in the people who are now entering the field of engineering in contrast to those who entered the field twenty years ago is the interest, values and concerns. The Interest of the older generation was to advance the human race a quickly as possible thats events like the The Soviet-American Arms Race depicts that the older generation was just trying to advance quickly, with no concerns for the environment and no value of the impact their innovations could have on the human population. The interest of the new generation of engineers is to advance the human race, but they are taught to focus more on the environmental impact as a concern, so when making new innovations they do not bring harm to the environment. Also the new generation is taught to design innovations that are more efficient in the use of resources. For the new generation of engineering ethics and morality has become a requirement when taking into consideration the development of a new innovation. The older generations did not take into consideration the ethic and morality of their innovations resulting in the development of things like nuclear bombs. Also this resulted in engineers to encourage people to become whistle blowers to prevent illegal activity and the development of weapons of mass destruction. Engineers are educated on how to properly act when they recognize illegal activity, in order to protect their careers and their lives. The people entering the field of engineering have learned from the previous generation of engineers in order to help improve the field of engineering and with each new generation of engineers opens a world of new possibilities.

Gros 6 Works Cited Adaskova, Dasa, and Tomas Ludik. "The comprehensive nuclear-test-ban treaty and its relevance for the global security/Zmluva o vseobecnom zakaze jadrovych skusok a jej vyznam pre globalnu bezpecnost." Obrana a Strategie/Defence & Strategy 2013.1 (2013): 47+. Academic OneFile. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. Allen, David T. "Green Engineering And the Design of Chemical Processes and Products."Chemical Engineering 114.13 (2007): 36-40. ABI/INFORM Complete. Web. 25 Feb. 2014. Bouville, Mathieu. "Whistle-blowing and Morality." Journal of Business Ethics 81.3 (2008): 579-86. International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS). Web. 25 Feb. 2014. Toupin, Laurie. "Electric Vehicles." The Gale Encyclopedia of Science. Ed. K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner. 3rd ed. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2004. 1375-1378. General One File. Web. 17 Mar. 2014 Yakhou, Mehenna, and Vernon Dorweiler. "Environmental Education for the Nonenvironmental Engineering Student: An Imperative for the Next Generation of Engineers." Journal of Environmental Education 29.4 (1998): 52-58. ERIC. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.