CITI RCR for Engineers Project: Fall 2007 Update Dr. Jason Borenstein

The Core Subject Areas of the Project: – Animal subjects research; – Authorship; – Codes of conduct and professionalism; – Collaborative research; – Computational research; – Conflicts of interest; – Data collection, management, ownership, and sharing; – Environmental and social dimensions of engineering research; – Human subjects research in engineering fields; – National security and engineering research; – Peer review and publication; – Research misconduct; – Responsibilities of mentors and trainees; – Whistleblowing

RCR and Engineering Developers Group: – John Ahearne, Director of Sigma Xi – Stephanie Bird, Editor of Science and Engineering Ethics – Suzanne Brainard, University of Washington – Robert Butera, Georgia Tech – Michael Davis, Illinois Institute of Technology – Charles Fleddermann, University of New Mexico – Mark Frankel, AAAS, SFRL Program – Joseph Herkert, Arizona State University – Michael Loui, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – Carl Mitcham, Colorado School of Mines – Steven Nichols, UT Austin – Karen Samuelsen, University of Georgia – Daniel Vallero, Duke University – Caroline Whitbeck, founder of Onlineethics.org – Sara Wilson, University of Kansas

Current Progress: “The Bad News” Submitted a grant proposal in response to NSF-EESE 2007 solicitation…although the proposal was rated as “competitive”, funding was declined. Several of the modules are behind schedule (waiting for the authors to send them to me).

“The Good News” Approximately 7 of the 14 modules are currently being reviewed (internally) and should be returned by early November. Gathering together many ethics case studies specific to engineering.

Other Related News 21st Century Competitiveness Act of 2007: seems to require RCR training for all student researchers participating as part of an NSF funded project. Possibility of resubmitting to NSF-EESE solicitation in the future.

Next Steps Continue to “encourage” authors to submit their modules for review. Finish internal review of modules (ideally before end of the year). Seek out individuals for an external review.