Amy McLaren, a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), came to Bradley to provide students with an introduction to ethical decision making for engineers on Nov. 10.
McLaren, who works for the Peoria County Highway Department, opened with a brief background about her education before segueing into several aspects of civil engineering. As a civil engineer, she explained that one would most likely work on publicly viewed projects such as water and wastewater treatment plants, roads and buildings.
Some projects require public funding, and requests for such funds are made available to citizens via the Illinois’ Open Meetings Act. Since these plans can often be scrutinized by the public, she stressed the importance of professionalism in civil engineering.
“Don’t do anything you wouldn’t want in the news or on the front page of a newspaper,” McLaren said.
While she provided a PowerPoint to highlight key points within her 30-minute presentation, it remained conversational as she presented personal experiences and referenced a quote from “Harry Potter” to demonstrate the importance of doing the right thing.
In line with the advice she provided to students, McLaren outlined a series of steps engineers could follow in order to decide if a project was worth pursuing. Beginning with identifying the issues and stakeholders, one could then analyze alternative courses of action and acquire different perspectives before acting on their decision.
With a recent example of an initiative she chose not to support, McLaren demonstrated her own process of decision-making. A community wanted to allow golf carts in their subdivision, so they reached out to the local road commissioner about it. The community, along with law enforcement, signed off on it, while she voiced her reservations due to safety concerns for the children living in the subdivision.
“I’m thinking about stakeholders; I’m thinking about little kids,” McLaren said. “They [could be] going around, doing their thing, and all of a sudden someone’s drunk, and they hit them and hurt them … I feel like maybe it [wouldn’t be] one hundred percent on me, but I [would’ve] had a hand in that. I don’t want any part of that.”
Several other aspects she discussed included the possibility that civil engineers might encounter legal consequences for taking part in a particular project. If an accident were to occur and someone decided to sue, engineers could be called on as expert witnesses and required to attend court.
As the presentation came to a close, McLaren distributed a packet detailing the ASCE’s code of ethics to those in attendance, a code which emphasizes integrity and professionalism. Students expressed their gratitude for the range of information she provided.
“I learned a lot about the ethics and political part of [civil] engineering,” Oyinda Igun, freshman civil engineering major, said. “Although we are learning about them in class, I was able to learn more [through] in-depth situations that happened to [McLaren].”
To wrap up, she expressed to students the ease of entering the workforce post-graduation.
“Many of you will never have to worry about where your job is because there’s more job opportunities than there are [engineers],” McLaren said. “So, you can pretty much call the shots when you get out of [college].”
