IIT presents ethics workshop
Illinois Institute of Technology will host a workshop on ethics entitled “Ethics in Action: Tools for Transforming the Science and Engineering Classroom.” The workshop will take place on November 2, 2001 from noon to 4:30pm. in the Hermann Union Building at 3241 S. Federal St.
The keynote speaker is Dr. Stephanie Bird, special assistant to the provost for ethics at MIT. Dr. Bird is a nationally known scholar and speaker on teaching research ethics and on professional standards and ethical values in science. She earned her Ph.D. from Yale and has been a visiting scholar at the Hastings Center. She was president of the Association for Women in Science and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The workshop will include a case study for discussion of the bioethical issues arising from current research on human vision at IIT. Participants will discuss the ethics of technology in development at IIT that could help the blind regain very limited vision.
“The workshop will help teachers think about how to introduce ethical questions and considerations into the teaching of science,” says Vivian Weil, director of IIT’s Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions.
A panel of legal and scientific experts will provide diverse perspectives on the complexities of ethical questions in scientific research. The workshop is the result of the joint efforts of the IIT Sigma Xi Chapter, the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions, and the Office of the Associate Vice President for Undergraduate Education.
Over the next three years, IIT Sigma Xi and the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions will present a follow-up series of colloquia, each focusing on a particular topic involving complex ethical issues such as cloning or stem cell research.
The Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its founding at IIT this year. Under the direction of Dr. Weil, the Center provides a unique national resource for bringing scientists and engineers together to deal with ethical issues in their research and mentoring of students.
The workshop is free to registered participants. You can register at lewis@iit.edu or by calling 312.567.3017.
Founded in 1890, IIT is a Ph.D.-granting technological university awarding degrees in the sciences, mathematics and engineering, as well as architecture, psychology, design, business and law. IIT’s interprofessional, technology-focused curriculum prepares the university’s 6,200 students for leadership roles in an increasingly complex and culturally diverse global workplace.
