STSS 4967: Professional Development II (Tech Issues and Solutions)

2 credits

Course Instructor: Dan Lyles, Ph.D

Office: JEC 5006
Office Hours:
Tuesday 10:00 am – 11:30 am
Wednesday 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm
e-mail: Lylesd2@rpi.edu

Course TAs:

Course Meetings:
Sec 01 (55522) WED 2:00pm – 3:50pm Carnegie 101
Sec 04 (55525) TUE 8:00am – 9:50pm Carnegie 106
Sec 05 (55526) FRI 8:00am – 9:50am Carnegie 106
Sec 09 (55512) TUE 2:00pm – 3:50pm Carnegie 206
Sec 10 (55513) FRI 2:00pm – 3:50pm Carnegie 206

Course Description:
Energy, transport, agriculture, information, and communication: this is but just an extremely minor
list of the many domains in which engineering knowledges and practices have shaped modern
society and living in profound ways. While engineers often recognize the prominent impact that they
stand to have on society, they are often not equipped with tools—of social, cultural, and ethical
analysis, for example—by which to gain an in-depth understanding of how engineering shapes, and
in turn is shaped by, society. This course develops an understanding of how contextual factors—
historical, cultural, social, political, economic, and environmental, for example—shape particular
knowledge-practices in various engineering disciplines. It also develops an understanding of the
ethical, political, communicative etc. challenges that engineering often poses in contemporary
societies. Students will thus learn to recognize that technologies work because they are embedded
in larger socio-technical systems. The overall goal of the course is to help students in various
engineering disciplines develop a more holistic understanding of their professional knowledge and
practice.

This course has two main components:

1. Weekly readings and discussions: The schedule of weekly readings follows below in the syllabus.
Students will class come to come having read and prepared to discuss the assigned reading
materials. They will also submit a brief reading response based on the weekly readings, due
before class on the course LMS. A template with questions that students will answer based on the
weekly readings is provided in the syllabus below.

2. A semester-long team-based research project: Early on in the semester (starting week 2),
students will start working on a group project. They will identify a technology of interest to them,
and develop a portfolio with memos that draw out different aspects of the socio-technical system
that they have chosen to study. Templates for memos will be available on the course LMS to
facilitate student research. Memos for each week correspond to course discussions during that
week. We will dedicate significant time of our course meetings to project-work: most weeks,
students will start working on the memos during the course meeting itself, and continue working

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 on developing them as homework. Weekly project memos are due before start of class the
following week.

Learning Outcomes:
Students completing this course successfully will develop:
 An understanding of technology from a systems perspective, i.e. students will be able to
understand how social, political, cultural, ethical, environmental etc. factors shape the
content and practice of engineering.
 An awareness of technology in global contexts by reading and discussing various case studies
focused on a broad range of issues in Engineering & Society.
 An understanding of key concepts and contemporary issues in Engineering & Society.
 Critical thinking and analysis skills that support research in Engineering & Society.
 Argumentation, writing, and peer reviewing skills as practiced in the social sciences.

Among others, this course responds to the following student outcomes identified by the ABET:
 An ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic
constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety,
manufacturability, and sustainability.
 An ability to function on multidisciplinary teams.
 An understanding of professional and ethical responsibility.
 An ability to communicate effectively.
 The broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a
global, economic, environmental, and societal context.
 A recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in life-long learning.
 A knowledge of contemporary issues.

Grading Structure:
Grades for this course will be assigned according to the following rubric:

Attendance and Participation: 30%

 Attendance: 10%

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 o Attendance for the course meeting is mandatory. Moreover, norms of professional behavior
demand that students must show up on time to class meetings. You will lose attendance
credit if you are habitually late in arriving to
class. Excused absences must be followed up Weekly Reading Response Template
by appropriate documentation, and must be
reported to the instructor and the course TA 1. What is the main argument in this
in a timely fashion. Under certain unforeseen week’s reading? Explain using one
example.
circumstances, if you cannot be present for
the course meeting, unexcused absences can 2. What concepts are used to make the
be made up by submitting an additional argument?
assignment (annotating an article).
Arrangements for these should be made 3. How do you evaluate the argument? Is it
convincing? Why/not? What are possible
individually with the instructor. limitations of the argument?

 Weekly Reading Responses: 20% 4. How can you apply this week’s argument
o There are 11 weekly reading responses (from and/or concepts in your own research?
Be as specific as you can (provide
week 2 through week 12) to be submitted in examples of how the argument/ concept
all. Reading responses are due on the course helps you understand certain aspects of
LMS before the class meeting. If you submit your own research).
the response after the deadline but within 24
5. Identify two questions/issues that you
hours of the course meeting, you can still get
think deserve further discussion based
partial credit for the assignment (50% max). on this week’s readings.
Note that all weekly reading responses are
mandatory; at the end of the semester, we will drop the lowest score on the weekly reading
responses. A template that outlines questions that you should answer in your weekly
readings is included on the previous page.

Portfolio and Presentation: 50%

The overarching goals of this course are for students to develop an understanding of technology
from a systems perspective as well as the research and analytical skills necessary for understanding
technology in that fashion. To this end, students will organize themselves in groups of 3-4 members
at the start of the semester and choose a technology that they are interested in understanding.
Templates for analyzing technology from a societal point of view will be made available on the
course LMS. Student teams will work on developing these memos in relation to their chosen
technology: most weeks, we will dedicate significant amount course time to working on these group
projects. Weekly memos will correspond to the focus of discussion during that particular week. At
the end of the semester, each student team will have created a portfolio of memos that provides a
holistic perspective on the technology of their choosing. On the basis of this research, they will
present their work in class during week 13 or 14.

 Weekly research memos: 10%

o Most weeks, we will dedicate a significant portion of the course meeting to work on
developing analytical memos for student projects. You will probably not finish the memos in
class: you are expected to continue working in your respective groups outside of class
towards finishing these memos. Note, also, that periodically we will engage in classroom
activities such as debates that will make it difficult to allocate any time for working on group-
projects in class. In these instances, also, student groups should plan on spending few hours
outside of class to work on these memos. Weekly memos are due on the course LMS before
the start of the class the following week.
 Final Portfolio: 20%

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 o In week 13 or 14, you will compile all the memos as one portfolio. Feel free to revise your
earlier memos as you continue with your research. While weekly memos during the semester
will be evaluated primarily for timeliness (i.e. your grade comes from your ability to
demonstrate that you have been dedicating some time and thought to work on the project),
your portfolio will be evaluated for content. Your portfolio should demonstrate an in-depth
understanding of the technology that you have chosen to analyze.
 In class presentation: 20%
o In week 13 or 14, each group will present the results of their research to their class. The
emphasis of this presentation will be two-fold: 1. Providing insights into the socio-technical
system that each group has chosen to analyze, and 2. Identifying concepts/ideas/insights in
Engineering & Society that become apparent from their research. Further guidelines for the
presentation will be provided on the course LMS.

Final Paper: 20%

 Students are expected to author individual papers based on their research during the
semester (~1500-2000 words). Note that we will have practiced understanding
argumentation, writing, and reviewing skills during weeks 6 and 7, you will thus have
acquired some practice towards writing your final paper already. Themes for the final paper
can be identified as part of the in-class presentations that students will make. Further
guidelines for the final paper will be made available on the course LMS.

Final grades will be assigned according to the following scale: A: 93-100; A-: 90-92; B+: 86-89; B: 83-
85; B-: 80-82; C+: 76-79; C: 73-75; C-: 70-72; D+: 66-69; D: 60-65; F: 59 and below

Academic Honesty:
Students are expected to exhibit academic integrity of the highest order. Students may not reuse
work that they did for another course, although they are free to build on it. The course is
intentionally designed to encourage collaboration and collegial interaction among students. Even for
individual assignments, group work is permissible and encouraged, as long as students ensure that
all submitted work is their own (and in their own words).

All referenced work, whether directly quoted or paraphrased, should be properly cited. We will be
using APA citation style for this course. Please familiarize yourself accordingly. APA citation guide can
be accessed via RPI libraries: http://library.rpi.edu/update.do?artcenterkey=344.

Please refer to the Student Handbook for complete guidelines on academic honesty. See
also: http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/plagiarism/, for a complete explanation of what
constitutes academic plagiarism and how to avoid it. If the instructor is able to confirm plagiarism, it
will result in no credit for the particular assignment, and likely failure in the course overall.

Course Calendar:

Please refer to the table below for your course calendar. Note that weekly schedules vary slightly by
section, because of RPI’s holiday schedule.

Week T (Sec 04 & 09) W (Sec 01) F (Sec 05 & 10)

1 Jan 16 Jan 17 Jan 19
2 Jan 23 Jan 24 Jan 26
3 Jan 30 Jan 31 Feb 2
4 Feb 6 Feb 7 Feb 9
5 Feb 13 Feb 14 Feb 16

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 6 Feb 27 Feb 21 Feb 23
7 Mar 6 Feb 28 Feb 30
8 Mar 20 Mar 7 Mar 9
9 Mar 27 Mar 21 Mar 23
10 Apr 3 Mar 28 Mar 30
11 Apr 10 Apr 11 Apr 6
12 Apr 17 Apr 18 Apr 13
13 Apr 24 Apr 25 Apr 20
14 May 1 May 2 Apr 27
15 Final Exams: Individual Research Papers due

Course Schedule:
A tentative schedule for weekly course readings and discussions, as well as group work for student
projects follows below. Note that the schedule might be modified during the semester, students will
be informed of any changes in a timely fashion via the course LMS.

Week Core ideas Study Materials Portfolio Work

1  Introductions No pre-assigned reading materials.
 Studying engineering
from a societal
standpoint
 Concepts and
Conceptual Analysis
2 The Contexts of Hughes, Thomas P. (1991). “From Group Identification
Engineering Deterministic Dynamos to
Seamless-Web Systems.” In Research Memo:
(What is technology? Sladovich, Hedy (ed.) Engineering Initial memo
Who are technologists? as a Social Enterprise. Washington identifying a
What is the nature of the DC: National Academies Press. pp. technology
relationship between 7-25
technology and society?)
Bijker, Wiebe E. (2007).
“American and Dutch Coastal
Engineering: Differences in Risk
Conception and Differences in
Technological Culture,” Social
Studies of Science, 37: 143–152.

3 Understanding Socio- Woodhouse, Edward and Jason Setup Zotero

Technical Change Patton (2004). “Introduction: Bibliographic
Design by Society: Science and Software/ Library
Developing an Technology Studies and the Social
understanding of socio- Shaping of Design.” Design Issues Research Memo:
technical change between 20 (3): 1-12 Background info +
two extremes of Literature Review

5
 Technological
Determinism and
Technological Neutrality
4 Technology embodies/
materializes social power.
5 Diversity makes for more
robust design.
 Participatory
approaches to
engineering design
make for better
societal outcomes.
6 Argumentation +
7 Research 101 + Peer
Review
8 We live in contexts of
high (technologically
mediated) complexity.
 Risks and
uncertainties are a
defining characteristic
of such complex
systems.
 Existing modes of
accounting for risk
are inadequate.
9 We live in contexts of
high (technologically
mediated) complexity.
 Continued
Themes from
Previous week
 Risk and
responsibility
Read pages: 1-9
Vox, Color Film Research Memo:
Annotating a
Winner, Langdon, “Do Artifacts technology
have Politics?” Daedalus 109 (1):
129-136.
Introduction to Participatory Research Memo:
Design from University of Understanding
Edinburgh Living Lab (17min) Users/ Stakeholders
Macey et al. (2014). “Air
concentrations of volatile
compounds near oil and gas
production: a community-based
exploratory study.” Environmental
Health 13:82. Available here.
Gwen Ottinger, Commentary on
the significance of the Macey et al.
study
Perrow, Charles (1999). Normal Research Memo:
Accidents: Living with High Risk Synthesis
Technologies. Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press.
 Introduction
 Chapter 1: Three Mile Island
 Chapter 9: Living with High Risk
Systems
Read also this report released by
the National Business Aviation
Association. What inferences can
you draw about aviation safety
after having read Perrow’s analysis
of complex technological systems?
Perrow, Charles (1999). Normal Research memo:
Accidents: Living with High Risk Evaluating Complex
Technologies. Princeton, NJ: Situations
Princeton University Press.
 Chapter 9 (Continued)
Celine Kermisch (2012) – Risk and
Responsibility: A Complex and
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 Evolving Relationship. Science and
engineering ethics, 18:91-102
10 Complexity demands Briggle, Adam (2015). Research Memo:
(re)articulation of the “Introduction.” A Field Ethical Dilemmas
ethics of engineering Philosopher’s guide to Fracking:
(design) How One Texas Town Stood Up to
Big Oil and Gas. New York &
London: Liveright Publishing
Company. pp. 1-18.

di Norcia, Vincent (2002).

“Technological complexity and
ethical control.” IEEE Technology
and Society Magazine, 21(1): 33-
39.

11 Communication Wynne, Brian (1996). “May the Research Memo:

Sheep Safely Graze? A Reflexive Literature Review
View of the Expert-Lay Knowledge Part 2
Divide.” in Lash, Scott, Bronislaw
Szerszynski, and Brian Wynne
(eds.) Risk, Environment and
Modernity. Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage Publications. pp. 44-83

12 Engineering education Downey, Gary (2005). Research Memo:

must be retooled to “Engineering as Problem Definition Imagining Change
better respond to and Solving.” Chemical
contemporary challenges. Engineering Research and Design
83(A6): 583-595.

Mitcham, Carl. The True Grand

Challenge for Engineering

ABET criteria for engineering

education.

13 In class presentations/ Discussions

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15 Final paper due