1.Describe a situation or circumstance that demonstrated lack of technical leadership, professionalism, or ethics that you have encountered (personally or indirectly) over the past several years. These may well have been experienced in a coop, internship, undergraduate or graduate research, or fulltime employment position.

a)Indicate how that situation was handled or resolved.

b) Discuss alternative (preferably better) ways in which that situation

might have been handled.

2.Unprofessional conduct or unethical behavior in the performance of professional duties and responsibilities for engineers and scientists occurs despite continued discussion and reports of these issues.

Numerous reasons have been given for such behavior, including

- career pressure,

-the ability to get away with wrongdoing with no consequences,

-cultural differences regarding the importance of ethical behavior,

-the inability to differentiate between ethical and unethical behavior, and (v) the feeling that I will be at a disadvantage if I behave ethically because others violate such precepts.

a)Rank these possible excuses from most important [1] to least important [5] and explain why you ranked them as you did.

b) What other reasons/factors can you offer that could account for unprofessional or unethical behavior? Do you feel that any of your additions are more important than the five listed above? Explain.

7.Engineers and scientists have duties or responsibilities to their place of employment as well as to society. However, when these responsibilities are in conflict, decisions or choices must be made. Consider the following scenario and then answer the questions. As a result of much hard work and tenacity, you have developed a new process for the manufacture of a commercial plastic that is used in toys. The President and Vice President of Technology for your company, Toys For Infants (TFI), are ecstatic, since this process is more efficient, less expensive, and high yield than the current process. Management is already in the planning stages of a new plant with you as the General Manager. This will increase your value to the company, allow you to expand the savings for your children's college costs, place more funds into your retirement account, and buy that new sports car that you have been wanting.

Due to the change in process conditions, catalyst, and solvents in the new process, a small amount of a toxic impurity is incorporated into the finished plastic. The standard, accepted, and documented analytical test for this impurity does not detect the compound. As a result of your efforts to stay informed about advances in your field, you find out that a new analytical method for detecting this toxic compound has recently been commercialized. You send samples of your plastic to this company to assess their capabilities, and find that this new method indeed detects the toxic compound and that it is above the "safe ingestion limit" published for this compound; the standard routine test that has been used to date, still shows no detection of the compound.

a)What, if anything, should you do with this information and how do you proceed with the project? Explain.

b) Assume that you are either the VP of Technology or the President of TFI. When told about the new test, what would be your reaction and what instructions would you give to the "new General Manager"?

8.Wikipedia defines "dualuse technology" in the following way: "Dualuse is often used in politics and diplomacy to refer to technology which can be used for both peaceful and military aims. It often refers to the proliferation of nuclear weapons, but that of bioweapons is a major issue as well." Such issues were evident with renowned scientists such as Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer who questioned the moral implications of nuclear weapons, despite the fact that both had been intimately involved in their scientific and technological development. Dualuse issues may also apply to other scientific and technological discoveries. For instance, consider a hypothetical new drug developed for the purpose of treating a specific disease such as leukemia that is inadvertently found to result in effective weight loss. A black market therefore develops; however, it is later discovered that individuals who do not have leukemia but take this drug develop horrific side effects which can result in death. A series of lawsuits results. Subsequently the drug is taken off the market even though it is extremely effective for treating leukemia.

Consider the broadest definition of dualuse technology and answer the following questions.

a) Should ANY scientific or technological development be considered dualuse? Explain.

b) Should the developer (individual, company, and/or government) be held responsible for illnesses or deaths resulting from inappropriate use of the chemical/process? Explain.

9.You have been hired under a 1year contract by a ceramics company to work with an R&D group to design a new material that is both electrically and thermally conductive. The contract defines the specifications to be met within a 1year time frame. Your supervisor within the company has been promised a promotion with significantly increased responsibility if the project is successful. Due to the extensive effort that has been required, the project is over budget at the 10month mark with promising but not conclusive results. The results that meet the stated specifications are not reproducible. When you express concern to your supervisor about how to proceed, she indicates that you should report only the specific results that meet the specs and claim that you have honored the contract and met the requirements. How should you handle this situation?