Engineering Courage: Ethics and Professionalism in a Complicated World

About this symposium (scroll down to see the schedule and connect!)

The purpose of the Allan J. McDonald symposium is to examine how professionals understand their obligation to speak up and stand their ground when they have knowledge and experience that gives them special insight into ethical matters. While a typical citizen may have no way of understanding every aspect of the underlying technology that pervades and enables modern society, science and engineering professionals do have that intricate knowledge, and the McDonald symposium will consider how professionals develop the courage to sidestep political pressure, conflicts of interest, and threats to one’s career, when faced with ethical matters in a professional role.

The public expects practitioners in science, engineering, healthcare, and other professional disciplines, to adhere to the principles of ethical conduct and ethical decision-making. However, the public typically has very little insight into how professionals define the principles of ethics, how ethics education takes place, and how complicated and multidimensional ethical decision-making tends to be.

The various presentations and panel discussions comprising the symposium will lead to a better understanding of how professionals in science and engineering can develop the obligation—and the professional courage—to use their specialized knowledge and experience to assist decision-making by those who might not have the same level of knowledge and experience.

About Allan J. McDonald

Allan J. McDonald (1937-2021) graduated with a degree in Chemical Engineering from Montana State College in 1959, and went to work for Morton Thiokol in Brigham City, Utah, developing solid rocket propulsion technology. McDonald became known for his important role in the fateful decision to launch the space shuttle Challenger in January 1986. At that time, he was the manager of the solid rocket motor program for Morton Thiokol, and he refused to sign the launch order the night before the accident because of the concerns expressed by his engineering team about the effect of cold weather on the performance of the joints connecting segments of the solid rocket motors. Sadly, his refusal to sign the launch order made NASA’s managers mad, but McDonald stood his ground. NASA then went over McDonald’s head to Thiokol senior management, and eventually got one of the VPs to sign the launch order on behalf of the manufacturer.

After the tragedy, Allan McDonald was one of the few people involved with the courage to step forward to set the record straight about the circumstances leading up to the accident, as well as the shortcomings of the solid rocket motor design. McDonald received an honorary doctorate in engineering from Montana State University in 1986, and retired from Thiokol in 2001. In 2009, he wrote the book “Truth, Lies, and O-Rings,” with the help of historian James R. Hansen (our symposium keynote speaker).

Mr. McDonald passed away at his home in Utah on March 6, 2021.

SCHEDULE:

Thursday, October 14, 2021:

12 - 3 pm - Engineering Courage Symposium Opening Talks

Montana State University Alumni Foundation, Great Room (Corner of 11th Ave. and W. Lincoln St.) AND LIVE STREAMED ON WEBEX

Join the event here

password: courage

How can professionals develop thecourage to sidesteppoliticalpressure,conflicts of interest, and threats to one’s careerwhen faced with ethical matters inaprofessional role? A panel of experts will examine how professionals in science and engineering can develop the obligation—and the professional courage—to use their specialized knowledge and experience to assist decision-making by those who might not have the same level of knowledge and experience.

Please join us for all or some of the following talks:

12:00pm: Rob Maher (Electrical Engineering),  “Courage, Responsibilities, and Obligations: Teaching and Learning Ethics in Engineering Education”

12:30pm: Paul Lachapelle (Political Science), “On Responding to University Censorship; Do Faculty have an Obligation to Notify the Public?”

12:50pm: William Schell (Mechanical & Industrial Engineering), “Supporting Engineers’ Decision Making” 

1:10pm: Laura Black (Business), “A Technical Problem Is Never Only Technical: Managing the Social Lives of Technical Problems”

1:35pm: Joseph Menicucci (Chemical & Biological Engineering)  “A Matter of Life and Death: Teaching Engineering Ethics at a Western-Style University in Kazakhstan”

2:00pm: Paul Gannon (Chemical & Biological Engineering), “Sustainability and Engineering Ethics”

2:20pm: Doug Cairns (Mechanical & Industrial Engineering), “Engineering and Engineering Ethics: A Case Study”

7 pm - Science Matters Lecture by Dr. James R. Hansen

Join here on Webex

password: launch

Dr. James R. Hansen

In his lecture Dr. Hansen will discuss “Truth, Lies, and O-Rings: Inside the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster,” a powerful and award-winning book that he co-authored with Montana State University engineering graduate (Class of 1959) and aerospace industry legend Allan J. McDonald in 2009. At the center of Hansen’s analysis of the Challenger tragedy is McDonald himself, a skilled engineer and executive, who did his best, first, to oppose the controversial launch from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center of Space Shuttle Challenger on the cold, heartless morning of January 28, 1986, and then, for the next 35 years, until Al’s death in March 2021, fought to draw attention to the real reasons behind the disaster. Hansen’s story is not one of a mere whistle-blower but of a meticulously rigorous engineer who committed himself to addressing all of the factors—technical and non-technical—that led to the Challenger accident, some of which were never included in NASA's Failure Team report submitted to the Presidential Commission. Along the way of telling the tragic story of Challenger, Hansen will explore more generally the critical importance of failure analysis in all fields of engineering, design, construction, operation, and management of complex technological systems.

Friday, October 15:

2 - 3 pm - Virtual Panel Discussion on Engineering Ethics with Dr. Hansen and MSU Faculty

Join the panel here on Webex

password: ethics