Best Ethics Essay
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Best Ethics Essay
The Department places a strong emphasis on educating future engineers on ethics and professionalism. In the required fall course CE 315 - The Civil and Environmental Engineering Profession, the primary assignment is an ethics essay paper. The topic is provided by the American Society for Civil Engineers (ASCE) national organization for the annual Daniel W. Mead Contest, which was established and endowed in 1939 by past Society president Daniel W. Mead, Hon.M.ASCE. From all essays submitted in the course, the CEE Department selects the best paper from the class to submit to ASCE in the spring.
We recognize the following students who have been selected as the best essay for the year in which they took the course. PSU CEE has been very successful in the national contest, and the awards are noted.
| Year | Best Essay Author | Title | ASCE Award |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-2021 | Lauren Shepard | An Argument Against the Status Quo | N/A Not ASCE Mead |
| 2019-2020No | Evan Snow | A Healthy Professional Engineering Community is the Best Defense Against Corruption | |
| 2018-2019 | Zac Foster | The Value of Diversity | |
| 2017-2018 | Katherine Keeling | Leveraging Social Media for Public Service: An Ethical Imperative for Engineers | 1st Place, PNW Regional |
| 2016-2017 | Lucina Selva | To License or Not to License | |
| 2015-2016 | Corina Overman | The Ethics of an Engineer Abroad | |
| 2014-2015 | Robert Kosowski | Pointing the Finger: Who is Liable for Injury on a Construction Site? | |
| 2013-2014 | Tyler Williams | Worst-Case Scenario: the Civil Engineer's Ethical Responsibility to Prepare for Natural Disasters | 4th Place, National |
| 2012-2013 | James Parker | A Global Code | |
| 2010-2011 | Chad Norvell | Too Close for Comfort? the Report Card for America's Infrastructure in the Context of the Code of Ethics | 4th Place, National |
| 2005-2006 | Benjamin Wiley | Risk and Implementing Innovative Research Solutions | 1st Place, National |
| 2004-2005 | Gita Dombrowski | Ethical Considerations of Computer Modeling and Analysis in the Education of Structural Engineers | 1st Place, Zone IV |