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6
What’s Next?
In the last two sessions of the workshop, Session IV at the end of day
one and discussions on the morning of day two, participants reviewed
the ideas and themes that had arisen during the first three sessions and
identified the issues that merited further attention.
The background questions for Session IV, moderated by planning
committee member Mark Frankel, AAAS, are provided below:
What can we conclude about how to develop and implement programs, how
to export them, and how to assess their effectiveness? What can we conclude
about the development and use of effective methods and materials? What
kinds of research, resource development and dissemination, and assessment
activities do we need in order to respond more effectively in the future?
The following topics were on the agenda for the concluding session,
which was headed by Rachelle Hollander, director of CEES:
Identify promising materials and practices and provide examples of successful
approaches and outcomes, including those that have created bridges between
research investigators and scholars and researchers with expertise in relevant
domains of science and engineering ethics. Identify gaps in accessible and
useful resources and in the knowledge base, and suggest future research, edu-
cational innovations, and outreach and dissemination activities.
In both sessions, participants reviewed the topics and summarized
major themes that had emerged during the workshop. First, in response
to new mandates for ethics education and mentoring, academic insti -
tutions, research investigators, faculty, and students have undertaken
many new initiatives and collaborative efforts to develop and imple -
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4 ETHICS EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC AND ENGINEERING RESEARCH
ment ethics education and mentoring programs on their campuses.
Second, a wide variety of potential resources for ethics education were
identified. Third, the measurement of program effectiveness remains an
unanswered challenge.
The ideas described below emerged from the workshop presenta-
tions and discussions. They are not listed in order of priorities and are
not meant to express a consensus.
Context Matters.
What has been learned?
Societal rewards influence the behavior of organizations and indi-
viduals in ethically desirable and undesirable ways. Therefore, it is
unrealistic to teach standards for
ethical practice in scientific and
engineering research that do not
My fantasy . . . would be if
NSF could . . . actually ask apply to the external environments
universities every five years or
in which they find themselves. In
so to do a self-study of their
other words, ethics is not a vaccine
research practices. It would be
that can be administered in one
amazing.
dose and have long-lasting effects
Deborah Johnson, no matter how often, or in what
University of Virginia
conditions, the subject is exposed
Charlottesville
to the disease agent. Teaching indi-
vidual students and postdoctoral
fellows good professional practices cannot be highly and widely effica -
cious until academic culture and society also model and reward ethical
behavior.
What should be done?
Academic administrations should provide evidence that they have
established wide-ranging cross-institution programs to stimulate and
reward ethically appropriate behavior, particularly in research settings.
Professional societies, government funding organizations, and universi -
ties can cooperate on workshops to promote ethics, prizes for outstand -
ing ethical leadership, and changes to the tenure process that reward
outstanding mentors, for example. They and other individuals and orga-
nizations involved in ethics education in science and engineering should
also look for ways to engage prestigious organizations and individuals
in promoting these activities and expectations. For instance, laboratory
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WHAT’S NEXT?
directors might be asked to become members of the board of universi -
ties’ ethics centers.
Learning Matters.
What has been learned?
Successful ethics programs generally require mandatory student
participation,1 involve relevant faculty, use interactive formats and case
materials, and are scheduled throughout the year. Best practices include
teaching for field-specific standards.
What should be done?
Examples of best practices in ethics education and ethics mentor-
ing should be collected, and a repository or clearinghouse of informa -
tion about these practices and available materials should be created. 2
Ways should then be developed to disseminate these practices to many
colleges and universities. Ethics educators and programs should also
develop materials that are easily accessible and indexed for relevant
audiences. The international aspects of graduate science and engineering
education might require special attention.
NAE member Paul Citron, Medtronic (retired), urged that par-
ticular efforts be made to engage employers of scientists and engi-
neers, to ensure that ethics education programs examine ethical issues
in non-academic laboratories, government-university-industry coopera-
tive research programs, and other settings engaged in or incorporating
results from research activities. Many students and post-doctoral fellows
do not become researchers or academics but work in settings influenc-
ing and influenced by research. This involvement would also provide a
reality check about what industry wants in graduate education.
Criteria for Ethics Programs and Activities
What has been learned?
Reports from administrators, faculty members, postdoctoral fellows
and graduate students indicate that stand-alone, online programs that
1Carlin, D. and D. Denecke, Best Practices in Graduate Education for the Responsible Conduct of
Research. Washington, DC: Council of Graduate Schools, 2008.
2NSF has announced its intention to solicit proposals to support the development of a digital
library of ethics education resources of this kind; see Federal Register 74:37, 8818-9. NSF Respon -
sible Conduct of Research, February 26, 2009.
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ETHICS EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC AND ENGINEERING RESEARCH
students, post-docs, and faculty take on a “pass/fail” basis do not pro-
vide an adequate introduction or enough practical experience to prepare
them for ethical problems that arise in academic and professional life.
Additionally, they indicate that web-based resources that are regularly
checked and updated, and part of a broader program can be useful,
and that successful activities and programs include ethically relevant
perspectives that take account and model different disciplines and
professions.3
What should be done?
Successful programs have some common features: use of case
studies, interactive formats, involvement of research faculty, and clear
take-home messages. Even successful programs can be reinforced with
supplemental material; and online resources and tools should be iden -
tified and classified to assist academic institutions, professional asso -
ciations and societies, principal investigators, and faculty, employers,
and individuals to develop and implement ethics activities of all kinds.
These activities can range from mentoring programs to campus-wide,
multi-level educational modules to consideration of materials from
symposia that can be adapted and disseminated online or at meetings
of professional organizations.
Interactivity Matters.
What has been learned?
Students have demonstrated a facility for and an interest in using
online resources that are interactive and adaptable to meet their
needs.
What should be done?
Online resources targeted to students should have accessible,
engaging interfaces to take advantage of students’ affinity for new
media. Online materials must be updated to reflect changing issues
and interests.
3Carlin, D. and D. Denecke, Best Practices in Graduate Education for the Responsible Conduct of
Research. Washington, DC: Council of Graduate Schools, 2008.
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7
WHAT’S NEXT?
Mentoring
What has been learned?
Not all types of mentoring activities improve ethical outcomes. For
instance, mentoring postdoctoral fellows to be successful in highly com-
petitive environments can encourage unethical behavior.4
What should be done?
Institutions and principal investigators should identify ways in which
research scientists and faculty or administrators with ethics education
responsibilities can work together on mentoring postdoctoral fellows,
especially, but also graduate students at the dissertation level. Particular
attention should be paid to issues that affect international, minority, and
female students and students who satisfy other diversity criteria, such as
age or disability. Finally, professional societies and academic associations
should establish and update a repository—or repositories—of informa-
tion about successful mentoring activities and programs that can assist
principal investigators and provide a basis for evaluating other mentor-
ing activities and programs in the future.
Evaluation
What has been learned?
Attempts to evaluate and improve ethics education for scientific
and engineering research and practice are just beginning. However, they
do show that even though the immediate results of some programs are
positive, circumstances and pressures can overwhelm graduate students,
postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty and researchers and undermine
those results.
What should be done?
Agencies with an interest in ethical research should fund a work-
shop to develop evaluation criteria and measures for ethics education
in science and engineering curricula, particularly graduate programs,
and for mentoring postdoctoral fellows and last-stage graduate students.
These measures should be applicable at the individual and institutional
4 Anderson, M. S., Horn, A., Risbey, K. R., Ronning, E. A., De Vries, R., and Martinson, B.
C. (2007). What do mentoring and training in the responsible conduct of research hae to do with
cientists’ misbehaior? Findings from a national surey of NIH-funded scientists. Academic Medi-
s
cine, 82(9), 853-860.
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8 ETHICS EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC AND ENGINEERING RESEARCH
levels. Results from a portfolio of evaluation projects should be dis -
seminated so the findings can be used to modify ethics education and
mentoring practices. In addition, agencies should consider expanding
assessment measures to include compliance officers in businesses, as well
as academic institutions.
Social Responsibility and RCR (Responsible Conduct of Research)
What has been learned?
Approaches to RCR (often considered synonymous with “research
ethics”) have focused on the internal demands of specific fields of
endeavor and professions for standards of practice. The focus is mostly
on meeting minimal standards of acceptable practice rather than on
exemplary or recommended practices. The teaching of social respon-
sibility in science and engineering has focused mostly on issues arising
from interactions between science and technology and society, such as
environmental risk, medical and social equity, and computers and terror-
ism. Not much dialogue has been initiated between the developers of
RCR programs and those engaged with issues of social responsibility of
science and engineering. Employers, faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and
students should be aware of questions arising in both. The larger issues
of science, engineering, and technology in society are of great interest to
everyone, including junior scientists, engineers, and students.
What should be done?
Educational institutions and federal agencies that support ethics
education should encourage and reward programs that develop cre -
ative approaches to ethics education and teach the social responsi-
bilities of science and engineering, as well as RCR, that carefully define
and explore exemplary practices, and that integrate the issues of social
responsibility and RCR.
