Why do scientists keep changing their minds?
One reason vaccine holdouts give for not trusting authorities such as the Centers for Disease Control is that these scientists are constantly changing their minds. At first they recommended that […]
Engineering education
Objectivity in technical writing
Part of professional engineering practice is objective communication. In fact, it’s so important that the Engineers’ Code of Ethics calls it out specifically. How do we achieve objectivity in technical […]
The Responsible Minerals Initiative promotes ethical sourcing
For their senior design projects, engineering students at the University of St. Thomas analyze the ethical factors in accordance with the ABET criteria for student outcomes. These include “an ability to […]
Lies, damned lies and statistics
Statistics were part of our everyday lives long before anyone had heard of COVID-19. Pick up a newspaper any day of the week and see how many stories you find […]
Who is an author?
In technical writing the question of who is an author is more important than you might realize. Although the obvious answer is that it’s the person who wrote the report, […]
What is a pooled sample?
The engineers’ code of ethics requires us to “hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public“. Here’s one way public health officials use statistics to do just that. […]
Death by PowerPoint
One of the most memorable presentations I ever attended was at once both a highly engaging talk about archeometry and a parody of bad presentations. (In case you didn’t know, […]
Poems for the Sons of Martha
This is the time of year for graduations. Unfortunately, there won’t be the usual ceremonies and other gatherings to mark the occasion this year. Instead, we offer some classic poems–and […]
Public health, safety, and welfare
For the 2019-2020 school year, the ABET criteria for student outcomes include “an ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, […]
The ethics of technical writing
While looking for something else, I happened on the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) Rules of Practice regarding engineering communications. Here’s what they say about the ethics of technical […]