Engineering innovation demands more than technical skill—it requires ethical foresight, humility, and character. At BEETL, we are advancing a model of engineering education that prepares students to meet the ethical challenges of emerging technologies such as gene therapy, artificial intelligence, and automation.
Our work emphasizes the integration of ethics and character education across laboratory, design, and problem-based learning environments. Through research and curriculum development, we aim to elevate ethical inquiry from a theoretical add-on to a core component of engineering identity.
Fostering Intellectual Humility and Curiosity in BME
In biomedical engineering education, we are investigating how cultivating intellectual humility and a sense of epistemic curiosity empowers students to responsibly engage with complex, high-stakes technologies. These traits are foundational for ethical decision-making in uncertain and rapidly evolving contexts. We are exploring how these character traits are fostered and changed through a lens of mathematical modeling in BME.
Leadership Ethics and Team Formation
Our educational models incorporate leadership development and team-based learning to prepare students for collaborative engineering practice. By embedding ethical reflection into team formation and project leadership, we support the emergence of engineers who lead with empathy, clarity, and accountability. We are understanding how these skills and traits are formed in engineers and identifying best practices for teaching "teaming" and enhanced leadership practices.
Curricular Integration through the “Ethics Everywhere” Program
Through our signature Ethics Everywhere initiative, we weave ethical reflection into the fabric of engineering education—across courses, labs, and co-curricular experiences. This program ensures that students confront real-world ethical dilemmas alongside their technical training, equipping them to lead in a socially responsible and globally conscious manner.
By cultivating character, inquiry, and principled leadership, BEETL is helping shape an engineering workforce capable of designing not just innovative solutions—but ethical futures.