UCF assistant professor Jonathan Beever recently was recognized by the National Academy of Engineering for his role in collaborating with a multidisciplinary team of engineering, communication and ethics educators from Purdue University in developing and testing a program for enhancing engineering students’ ethical reasoning skills.
Beever, who began the work with the Purdue team before he came to UCF last summer, developed a series of case-based online modules that help engineers develop ethical reasoning skills about contemporary professional and social issues. The project was just recognized this month by the academy’s Center for Engineering Ethics and Society as one of 25 exemplary models of ethics in engineering.
Beever, an assistant professor of ethics and digital culture with the UCF Department of Philosophy and a member of the faculty of the texts and technology program, recently represented the development team on a panel at a national ethics conference.
The team is supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and Purdue through the end of this year, and Beever has submitted two other proposals to build off this work, one with him as the primary investigator from UCF.
Beever said his involvement with the project will help boost UCF’s image as being engaged with engineering ethics at a national level.
Beever also held postdoctoral positions with Penn State’s Rock Ethics Institute and with Purdue University’s Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering before joining UCF. He has held fellowships with the Kaufmann Foundation, the Aldo Leopold Foundation, and the Global Sustainable Soundscape Network. He works and publishes about environmental ethics and bioethics, focusing on questions of ethics, science, and representation.