Doing the Right Thing: Ethics in Engineering

As a future engineer, I know that I will be continually tasked with solving problems for others, after all that is the nature of the profession. In this world however, solving problems always comes with costs; whether economic, social or environmental there is always a cost.  As an engineer you are tasked with balancing risk and reward, cost and benefit continually, I believe that to make those decisions you really have to maintain a strong ethical foundation, something to lean on, rely on and reference when you find yourself in one of those "gray" areas.

I am clearly not the first to feel this way, the organization the Order of the Engineer founded in 1970 that does just that.  Every engineer to join the order must take an oath, and wear a ring, so they don't forget. That oath goes as follows:

An engineer receiving his ring at a
ceremony at Wayne State University

"I am an engineer, in my profession I take deep pride.
To it I owe solemn obligations.
Since the stone age, human progress has been spurred by the engineering genius.
Engineers have made usable nature's vast resources of material and energy for humanity's benefit.
Engineers have vitalized and turned to practical use the principles of science and the means of technology.
Were it not for this heritage of accumulated experience, my efforts would be feeble.
As an engineer, I pledge to practice integrity and fair dealing, tolerance, and respect, and to uphold devotion to the standards and the dignity of my profession, conscious always that my skill carries with it the obligation to serve humanity by making the best use of Earth's precious wealth.
As an engineer, I shall participate in none but honest enterprises.
When needed, my skill and knowledge shall be given without reservation for the public good.
In the performance of duty and in fidelity to my profession, I shall give the utmost."

These are powerful words, they cut to the core of duty and it helps to define the line between right and wrong, black and white that can become so muddled.

I look forward to taking this oath,  being part of the community of responsible engineers, and a good steward of the faith others put in my work.  As a civil engineer I will be faced with the unique position of in many ways reshaping the environment people are in, most likely, as it is my focus via the structures they inhabit.  Reading this oath, and remembering its tenants are what I hope will always keep that line between right and wrong clearly defined for me.