Embedding Environmental Ethics in Engineering Courses

This work focuses on embedding ethics topics in electrical and biomedical engineering courses. A dedicated course titled Engineering Ethics that existed in the curriculum has been replaced in the department recently by embedding ethics topics into several courses. This work focuses on including topics in the area of environmental ethics into two courses, Electric circuits and Biosensors. It is very relevant as it introduces students to current consumerism and its environmental impact. The global world relies on handheld devices that use rechargeable batteries. There is a need to educate public on the proper disposal of them. Some engineering students are unaware of environmental impact of the improper disposal of batteries and other electronic products and discard them as normal waste. The first course on electric circuits is taken by all engineering majors. Energy from mobile device batteries is discussed at the start of the course along with the need for safe disposal. A project to research on safe disposal regionally and internationally is assigned. The project includes students to survey family members and friends on disposal practices and on the need for advocacy and social responsibility. A survey of students on impact of this assignment will be presented here. Similarly, topics relevant to the study of environmental contamination are covered in the Biosensors course. Students are assigned a project on the use of biosensors to study environmental toxins and to survey family and friends on practices of hazardous waste disposal. A survey of the students on its impact will be presented.