Veteran researchers agree that some of their toughest problems—the
ones that generate sleepless nights, mind-numbing rumination, and
no easy answers—occur outside the laboratory.
And yet many students find themselves totally unprepared to cope
with troublesome ethical questions they may encounter sometime during
graduate school or on the job.
Heightened awareness of ethical issues, coupled with a Graduate
School initiative, has prompted IT departments to include more formal
professional and research ethics education into their graduate programs.
A new Web site launched under the auspices of Christine Maziar,
vice president for research and dean of the Graduate School, features
an array of resources related to the teaching of ethical conduct
in research and scholarship. The site—Teaching Ethics for Research,
Scholarship, and Practice—includes a curriculum guide with modules
on ethical issues, a database of instructional materials, sample
syllabi, case studies, University policy guidelines, and links to
external sites.
IT dean H. Ted Davis endorses the initiative. “There is no way
math, science, and engineering would exist without ethics,” he says,
adding that researchers must consider the ways in which their work
may affect society.
The approach to ethics education within IT varies by program. Associate
Professor Karin Musier-Forsyth, who recently developed an ethics
course for the chemistry department, believes that students will
be in a better position to make right decisions if they've had the
benefit of an ethics education that includes information, discussion,
and reflection.
Her course, Professional Conduct of Chemical Research, addresses
such issues as careers, responsible data management, and the treatment
of preliminary information that may be patented. The one-credit
course is being offered for the first time this spring. Students
will be required to take the course during the first or second year
of their graduate program.
She says, “It's not a lecture in which the professor is standing
up front dispensing information. Students and professors are getting
together on a different level, and there is more give-and-take in
the discussion."
Ethics education is already required for students working on projects
funded by National Institutes of Health grants. “The NIH requires
ethics training for grant recipients, and we are going to expand
that for all students, not just those working on the grants,” she
says.
Although some research groups and advisors do address ethical concerns,
she says, there is still a need to offer a formal course because
many advisors don't discuss these issues with their students. She
recalls that her own ethics education involved learning as situations
arose.
Postdoctoral associate Penny Beuning (Chemistry Ph.D. '00) learned
about research ethics from Musier-Forsyth, who served as her advisor.
Beuning says, “I think everyone would benefit from department-wide
discussion on the issues. If students don't have a good example
in their advisor, they are at a disadvantage."
According to Beuning, ethics education should familiarize students
with the ethical norms of their profession. “It is about open communication,
about what the expectations are in your profession,” she says. “Much
of what is called ethics is just good science, but it includes other
issues like authorship."
Last fall, Professor Robert Seidel taught Ethics in Science and
Technology, a course he developed in 1995 for the history of science
and technology program. The course examines the development of ethics
within a historical context, including ethical issues surrounding
the activities of individuals and large institutions.
Seidel, a former University of California historian who also has
been museum director and historian at Los Alamos National Laboratory,
says he feels qualified to teach the course because “if you've been
in the belly of the beast, you know more about the beast than most."
When responsibility and accountability are diffused within an organization,
he explains, “ethical questions go away because nobody's driving
and everybody's in the back seat.” The same principle applies to
organizations involved in what Seidel calls “big science,” making
it easier for researchers to ignore or deny the existence of unethical
practices.
Typically, he says, students are ill-prepared for the complex nature
of ethical issues. Seidel says his course helps students to articulate
their values, which they then translate into a personal code of
ethics to help guide their decisions.
He challenges students to examine their own motives and offers
pertinent examples of ethical issues, some of which are close at
hand. “When we look at research at the University, the funds from
sponsoring agencies and the mission of the University [can] come
into conflict."
Conflict of interest can erode a researcher's sense of responsibility.
A researcher who values the money and status associated with corporate
funding may disregard ethical standards in favor of professional
and financial gain.
Seidel acknowledges that a course can't ensure ethical behavior.
“All education can give anyone is the knowledge to make the right
choices,” he says.
The Department of Civil Engineering includes ethics education in
its fall orientation for new students and in seminar series for
all graduate students. The seminars use discussion, case studies,
and role-playing to explore ethics issues. Student response to the
seminar “has been wholly positive,” says Professor Patrick Brezonik.
The role professors play in the professional development of their
students is changing, according to Brezonik. Professors may now
be expected to teach their students job skills like grant writing
or preparing for presentations.
"There's a greater awareness about the responsibility of graduate
faculty to be preparing students in these other areas, and developing
a sense of ethics fits right into that,” he says. “Most faculty
realize their role as mentors. If we accept our role as mentors
at the graduate level, then we ought to accept that teaching students
about ethical issues is a part of that."
Joe Orlins (Civil Engineering Ph.D. '99), served on a Graduate
School subcommittee on student experience in responsible research
and professional ethics. He says that students also need to learn
about ethical standards that are discipline-specific. For example,
he says, people who take the state licensing exam for engineers
must be familiar with the profession's code of ethics.
"There is a greater awareness of ethics education now, but that
doesn't mean that people were unethical in the past,” Brezonik says.
Some policies or practices not previously regarded as unethical
have been changed because they had potential for misuse, he explains.
For example, he says, a faculty member who is reviewing an unpublished
article is not supposed to share the article or information about
it with anyone, including graduate students or colleagues. Past
abuses in this area prompted a change in practice. Ethics education
must be a part of professional preparation, Brezonik says, because
an uninformed person may unknowingly violate ethical norms.
"If people understand things better, they are more likely to make
the right decisions. There are a lot of gray areas, and that's where
we need to focus. People need to realize there isn't always a right
and wrong answer, but we need to think about it, because there are
some answers that are more right than others,” Brezonik says.
