ASEE Engineering Ethics Division Nominations 2020

Secretary/Treasurer

Dr. Alison Kerr

I wish to express my keen interest in serving the ASEE Engineering Ethics Division as treasurer/secretary for this upcoming year and in continuing in roles on the leadership team going forward. Of all the ASEE divisions, my interest and enthusiasm has always been most committed to this division. Over the past several years, I have endeavored to serve this division by submitting and presenting papers, reviewing manuscripts, and moderation sessions. Going forward, I hope to continue and expand my service to the division through involvement with the business and leadership team. Just this past year, I complete my Ph.D. this last year in Industrial Organizational Psychology at the University of Tulsa. My dissertation research was a comprehensive evaluation of five years of an experiential engineering ethics education program for undergraduate students. I am currently continuing to pursue research in ethics education through a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Illinois with the National Center for Professional and Research Ethics. Over the past several years, I have also had the honor of working with many of our divisions esteemed members and leadership team alumni and it is my aspiration to continue to be involved with engineering ethics education and research for as long as the field will have me.  My fellow researchers will tell you that I am incredibly enthusiastic about pursuing the challenging task of “solving ethics”. I believe this division supports and elevates this aim and I wish to support and elevate this division through this leadership role if you will entrust me to do so.

 

Thank you for your consideration! Enthusiastically, Alison J. Kerr

 

Member at Large

Dr. Claire McCullough

Dr. McCullough received her bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Vanderbilt, Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Tennessee, respectively, and is a registered professional engineer in the state of Alabama. She is a member of I.E.E.E., Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Xi, and Eta Kappa Nu. She is currently Professor and Founding Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the High Point University, and teaches courses in such areas as Engineering Ethics, Controls, and Engineering Design. Dr. McCullough has over 30 years’ experience in engineering practice and education, including industrial experience at the Tennessee Valley Authority and the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command. Her research interests include Image and Data Fusion,  Bioinformatics, and ethical issues related to engineering, including cyberbullying and under-representation in STEM fields. She is a former member of the ABET Engineering Accreditation Commission, and is on the board of the Women in Engineering Division of ASEE. Dr. McCullough regards ethics as absolutely critical to the practice of engineering, and has both written papers and supervised honors theses on engineering ethics. It is for this reason that she would like to serve the Ethics Division of ASEE in any way possible.

 

Dr. Don Winiecki

Dr. Winiecki is Professor of Ethics and Morality in Professional Practice at Boise State University. He is a sociologist and has been teaching in the Boise State University, College of Engineering since 1996. At present his principal instructional assignments are focused on professional morality and ethics with the Department of Computer Science where he is a co-PI on an NSF RED grant. Other instructional duties include on-demand presentations and activities throughout the College, from 1st year introductory courses to the Senior Design courses. These courses focus on both the societal values for inclusion and the quality and commercial gains that come from ensuring inclusion and justice in engineering. He is also certified in braille transcription by the U.S. Library of Congress and a principal in an emerging laboratory in the College to convert STEM content (literary, mathematics, graphics) into braille and tactile forms for students who are blind and low vision. This lab involves students with no experience in tactile media, who they train and coach in gradual steps to become sensitive to the needs of students with disabilities, and capable of advocating for them in professional settings, as well as helping them build skills in adapting materials and equipment to facilitate inclusion through higher education and into professional practice. Throughout these efforts, his goal is to normalize the value of inclusion and diversity in engineering education by including it through the entire undergraduate curriculum. By making it part of the normal, everyday focus of engineers it will be seen as an essential element for future engineers and the future of engineering

 

Dr. Jonathan Beever

Jonathan Beever, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Ethics and Digital Culture in the Department of Philosophy and the Texts & Technology Ph.D. Program at the University of Central Florida. He founded and directs the UCF Center for Ethics, and also directs the Theoretical and Applied Ethics Certificate Program. His research interests focus on bioethical and environmental ethical implications of science and technology. He has substantial experience in engineering ethics, including as a former chair of this division, as a postdoctoral and early researcher in engineering ethics, and author or co-author of numerous publications in engineering ethics. Further his most recent book, Understanding Digital Ethics (Routledge 2019), is directly relevant to engineering ethics.

 

Dr. Homero Murzi

Homero Murzi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech and the leader of the Engineering Competencies, Learning, and Inclusive Practices for Success (ECLIPS) Lab. He holds degrees in Industrial Engineering (BS, MS), Master of Business Administration (MBA) and in Engineering Education (PhD). Homero has 15 years of international experience working in industry and academia. His research focuses on contemporary and inclusive pedagogical practices, industry-driven competency development in engineering -with a focus on teamwork and ethical development, and understanding the barriers that Latinx and Native Americans have in engineering. Homero has been recognized as a Diggs scholar, a Graduate Academy for Teaching Excellence fellow, a Diversity scholar, a Fulbright scholar, and was inducted in the Bouchet Honor Society. Homero’s interest in becoming a member at large for the Engineering Ethics Division comes from the alignment of this division with the ECLIPS Lab research interests. Homero has been working in the engineering ethics space in countries like Australia, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and the U.S. and can bring a global perspective on the development of engineering ethics.