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Title: Wireless Body Sensor Network for Tracking Human Mobility using Long Short-Term Memory Neural Network for Classification
Creator: Gupta, Saumya
Date: 2019
Description: A large number of sensors are used without justification of the number chosen or placement choice. Many papers about body sensor networks...
Show moreA large number of sensors are used without justification of the number chosen or placement choice. Many papers about body sensor networks explore how to capture a type or types of motion, but all their sensors are placed in different locations; making their algorithms very specific to that movement. In this research, we explore the enhancement of human activity classification algorithm using long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network and wearable sensor network. There are five identical nodes used in the body sensor network to collect data. Each node incorporates an ESP8266 Microcontroller with Wi-Fi which is connected to an inertial measurement unit consisting of triple axis accelerometer and gyroscope sensor board. An analysis on the accuracy that each sensor node provides separately and in different combinations has been conducted to allow future research to focus their positioning in optimal positions. A Robot Operating System (ROS) central node is used to illustrate the in-built multi-threading capability. For demonstration, the positions chosen are waist, ankles and wrists. The raw sensor data can be observed on screen while it is being labelled live to create fitting dataset for developing an artificial neural network. Expectation is that increasing the number of sensors should raise the overall accuracy of the output but that isn’t the case observed, positioning of the sensor is pertinent to improvement. These platforms can be further extended to understand different motions and different sensor positions, also expanded to include other sensors.
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Title: Mathematics of Civil Infrastructure Network Optimization
Creator: Rumpf, Adam Andrew
Date: 2020
Description: We consider a selection of problems from civil infrastructure network design that are of great importance in modern urban planning but have,...
Show moreWe consider a selection of problems from civil infrastructure network design that are of great importance in modern urban planning but have, until relatively recently, gone largely ignored in mathematical literature. Each of these problems is approached from the perspective of network optimization-based modeling, with a major focus placed on the development of efficient solution algorithms.We begin with a study of the phenomenon of interdependent civil infrastructure networks, wherein the functionality of one network (such as a telecommunications system) requires the input of resources from another network (such as the electrical power grid). We first consider a linear relaxation of an established binary interdependence minimum-cost network flows model, including its unique modeling applications and its use as part of a randomized rounding approximation algorithm for the mixed integer model. We also develop a generalized network simplex algorithm for the efficient solution of this generalized minimum-cost network flows problem. We then move on to consider a trilevel network interdiction game for use in planning the fortification of interdependent networks subject to targeted attacks. A variety of solution algorithms are developed for both the binary and the linear interdependence models, and the linear interdependence model is used to develop an approximation algorithm for the more computationally expensive binary model.We then develop a public transit network design model which incorporates a social access objective in addition to traditional operator cost and user cost objectives. The model is meant for use in planning minor modifications to a public transit network capable of improving equity of access to important services while guaranteeing that service levels remain within a specified tolerance of their initial values. A hybrid tabu search/simulated annealing algorithm is developed to solve this model, which is then applied to a test case based on the Chicago public transit network with the objective of improving equity of primary health care access across the city.
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Title: A Risk-Based Approach in Selecting Design Natural Hazard Loads for Temporary Structures
Creator: Saleh, Eman
Date: 2020
Description: Temporary structures are systems that are used for short period applications such as in maintenance and retrofit applications or for staged...
Show moreTemporary structures are systems that are used for short period applications such as in maintenance and retrofit applications or for staged performances. Examples of its applications are tents, scaffoldings, and other facilities that have a short service life. Structures under construction and structures under serviceability conditions also fall under this category of structures; because their service time period is only limited to the duration of the construction, which is much shorter than the lifetime of the finished structure. One of the main characteristics of these types of structures is their high vulnerability to stability. Most specifications rarely cover temporary structures. Designing these structures to appropriate levels of the dead and live load does not impose an issue, in which using the same load factors as in permanent structures is considered a reasonable choice. However, an issue is raised when choosing the appropriate wind, seismic and snow load levels, where using the same exposure levels as in permanent structures may not be a desirable economic decision. Thus, for temporary structures, it makes sense to reduce the extreme event design loads proportional to the intended design life. In this manner, it is imperative to have specific rules or guidelines that would address the design aspects and reliability of these structures especially against lateral loads such as wind and earthquakes. This study aims at establishing several decision-making processes that could help contractors, designers, and erectors of temporary works to decide upon safety factors and/or return periods for environmental loads, with emphasis on the wind load. This decision-making process can be used in temporary projects (e.g., bridge erecting) to establish a design criterion based on the nature of the project. The study shows that the optimal decision-making process depends on the willingness to take advantage of wind locality characteristics (e.g., seasonality factor) in certain construction period or region, type of information available for the decision-maker (i.e., precise or imprecise), the risk associated with the constructed facility or the temporary structure itself, a potential for recourse actions, and the decision-maker’s attitude toward the trade-off between losses and gains with respect to uncertainty. The suggested decision-making process proposed is Bayesian decision process, the fuzzy decision process; (3) a two-stage stochastic programming solution; and (4) case-based decision theory. Several practical examples are presented in this thesis to show how different situations may require varying decision-making processes in order to reach the optimal decision. The design of temporary structures can be altered in response to a forecasted hurricane; thus, we propose a three-stage stochastic programming solution to decide upon their optimal wind design load. In addition, we extend the hurricane catastrophe models for application in temporary structures. This enables contractors to forecast the hurricane losses as a basis for estimating the adequate catastrophe cover such as insurance premiums and reinsurance for temporary structures. This scheme is then illustrated in an example for deciding the required temporary bracings for a steel frame under construction during the hurricane season.To prevent temporary structures from collapse, it is important to investigate the performance quality of previous projects and remove any causes for potential mishaps. This can be done by continuous monitoring of different projects and an investigation of accidents, if any, to help prevent future failures. In this study, we use an audit evidence scheme based on commonly available evidence theories used in the construction industry. In one such theory, the evidence is represented via a tree structure, in which the propagation is toward the variables that represent the project as a whole and separate work packages within a project. For simplicity, we only consider the binary case of variables i.e. whether or not a project conforms to the quality standards. The formulation of the auditing tool relates belief functions to the assertion of the quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) measures and provides formulas for human error risk. These formulas provide plausibilities of human error in a belief-function format. An auditor may use the belief values to assess the degree of quality performance and to identify the sources of the problem in temporary work. We further illustrate the method in a practical application to evaluate the shoring/reshoring operations for estimating the construction risk in a multistory concrete structure. This evaluation may be used to decide on an appropriate time for formwork removal, shoring/reshoring schedule, casting cycles, post-tensioning sequence, and the required number of reshoring levels given the available evidence. To reduce the computational burden, we describe the shoring/reshoring system as a multi-state system (MSS) where the universal generating function (UGF) was used to estimate the reliability of the system.
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Title: CULTURALLY SENSITIVE HELP-SEEKING AMONG ASIAN INTERNATIONAL AND ASIAN AMERICAN COLLEGE STUDENTS
Creator: Tsen, Jonathan Yee-jon
Date: 2020
Description: Asian populations are rapidly rising, representing the fastest growing racial group of immigrants in the U.S. with many seeking higher...
Show moreAsian populations are rapidly rising, representing the fastest growing racial group of immigrants in the U.S. with many seeking higher education. While many face risk for poor mental health outcomes and high suicidal ideation, Asian college students report lower rates seeking mental health services than White Americans. The purpose of this study was to test a culturally sensitive help-seeking model for Asian international and Asian American college students, and to capture relevant psychological and cultural factors that influence help-seeking. This study used an observational design to build on the current research and evaluated the effects of acculturation, enculturation, public stigma of help-seeking, self-stigma of help-seeking, and attitudes on willingness to seek psychological services. Four hundred and fifty-eight students (Age M = 23.93, SD = 4.36) represented by 265 Asian International Students and 193 Asian American Students. Using a path analysis, results demonstrated a poorly fitted model, suggesting that acculturation, enculturation, public stigma, self-stigma, attitudes, and willingness do not relate significantly to each other when viewed altogether in a model. This remained true even when modifications to the model were made, and when observing the model within only Asian American student sample or Asian international student sample. However, significant direct effects were observed between enculturation and public stigma in the total sample, as well as separately in Asian American or Asian international samples. These findings highlight the importance of exploring with different methodological approaches to gain insight on other important psychological and cultural factors that impact help-seeking among Asian international and Asian American college students.
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Title: Incorporating Real-Time Estimates of Physiological States in Artificial Pancreas Systems
Creator: Sevil, Mert
Date: 2020
Description: Type-1 diabetes is a chronic disease that has a negative impact on the life of a person with diabetes causing other chronic diseases, reducing...
Show moreType-1 diabetes is a chronic disease that has a negative impact on the life of a person with diabetes causing other chronic diseases, reducing the quality of life, and the possibility of causing dangerous reductions in blood glucose levels that may lead to coma or death. More than 100 million U.S. adults are now living with diabetes or pre-diabetes. Diabetes is one of the most expensive public health problems in the U.S. at $327 billion in 2017. Thus, alternative solutions or novel proposals are crucial to more effective treatments and cure. Artificial pancreas systems are one of the common treatment techniques of Type-1 Diabetes, which reduce the risk of diabetes-related complications and make diabetics' lives easier and make it convenient. Artificial pancreas systems aim to maintain blood glucose concentrations in a tighter target blood glucose range, which is a challenging problem. Several factors affect blood glucose concentrations including intensity of exercise, type of exercise, acute psychological stress and the physical state of a person with diabetes. These factors are unknown disturbances for artificial pancreas control systems. In this project, a single non-invasive wrist-worn device is used to obtain different biosignals in-real time. Biosignals are utilized with the development energy expenditure estimation model, psychological stress detection and physical state classification models. Several machine learning methods are tested and validated until the best classification and estimation accuracy is achieved for each estimate. Obtained models are incorporated with the current artificial pancreas design to improve its glycemic control performance. The controller is aware of such measurable disturbances with the proposed method, which allows for providing accurate and timely control action. Additional estimates are utilized to improve blood glucose concentration prediction model accuracy. Clinical trials are used to test and validate the proposed work. In summary, the presented work illustrates different machine learning techniques and algorithms that can enhance automated insulin delivery by a multivariable artificial pancreas system and enhance the quality of life of people with Type 1 diabetes.
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Title: Integrated Design Framework For Electric Motor Drive Systems
Creator: Salameh, Mohamad
Date: 2020
Description: This thesis aims to develop a flexible and time-efficient framework for machine design optimization that considers driving cycles,...
Show moreThis thesis aims to develop a flexible and time-efficient framework for machine design optimization that considers driving cycles, multiphysics domains and current design. The proposed development of the framework is based on the enhancement of three key aspects in the machine design process. A data mining algorithm – the X-means – is employed in the driving cycle analysis, to establish a trade-off between the optimization objectives and the computational intensity. A novel vibration surrogate model is proposed to evaluate the vibroacoustic behavior of the machine in an accurate and time-efficient way. In the identification process, the time effectiveness of the model is attained with a minimized number of finite element simulations. Furthermore, the principle of simultaneous coupled optimization is considered in the framework, where current design variables are included in the optimization environment to allow identifying design candidates with improved performance.
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Title: IDENTIFICATION OF BAX∆2 FRAMESHIFTING REGION VIA DUAL LUCIFERASE ANALYSIS
Creator: Reiner, Katherine
Date: 2020
Description: The antitumor protein Bax is susceptible to microsatellite instability (MSI) mutations that alter its open reading frame by changing Baxs’...
Show moreThe antitumor protein Bax is susceptible to microsatellite instability (MSI) mutations that alter its open reading frame by changing Baxs’ microsatellite of eight guanines (G8) to seven guanines (G7). This mutation results in a frameshift that is corrected by alternative splicing, making Bax∆2. Evidence shows that non-MSI mutated full length Bax∆2 (Bax∆2 G8) can be found in tissue. However, the extra guanine in Bax∆2 should result in premature termination of protein synthesis. Therefore, we believe that Bax∆2 is capable of +1 frameshifting to correct the out of frame sequence caused by splicing. The dual luciferase assay system is a useful tool for measuring frameshifting and in this study, we cloned full length Bax∆2 G8 into a dual luciferase vector to analyze frameshifting. Using this method, we found that the full length Bax∆2 G8 sequence has 3.5% frameshifting activity. To further determine whether the frameshifting occurs in or near the G8 microsatellite, we focused on several truncated constructs containing the first three exons. The results from dual luciferase assay showed that frameshifting activity was high in the constructs containing the G8 microsatellite but diminished when the G8 microsatellite region was removed. Surprisingly, constructs containing exon 4 and 5, which are away from the predicted frameshifting region, also showed frameshifting activity. One possibility to explain these results is that mRNA structures, which are critical to frameshifting, could be altered by construct truncation and consequently lead to artificial frameshifting. Thus, using truncated constructs may not be a viable option for testing frameshifting activity. To maintain mRNA integrity, point mutations within the full sequence, could be a better option to identify the frameshifting site.
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Title: MULTIYEAR AUTOMATED ANALYSIS OF AURORAL IMAGES TO CATEGORIZE IONOSPHERE IRREGULARITY LAYER
Creator: Stuart, David Jacques
Date: 2020
Description: This thesis presents a method of automated analysis of auroral all-sky images (ASIs) to determine the ionospheric layer of plasma...
Show moreThis thesis presents a method of automated analysis of auroral all-sky images (ASIs) to determine the ionospheric layer of plasma irregularities. These irregularities can perturb radio signals in an effect called scintillation, degrading and at worst preventing signal reception. One key question about scintillation-causing irregularities is whether they occur in the E or F layer of the ionosphere, whose dynamics differ.Previous studies have shown Global Positioning System (GPS) scintillation to be correlated with aurorae. The Scintillation Auroral GPS Array (SAGA) at Poker Flat Research Range, Alaska, was used to detect thousands of GPS L1 and L2C scintillation events over 2014-2015. Collocated auroral images of emissions are recorded nightly by both a keogram spectrograph (measuring intensity along a single longitude vs time) and an ASI filtered at 630.0 nm (red), 557.7 nm (green), and 427.8 nm (blue) wavelengths.In this work scattering layers are hypothesized based on optical measurements, through automated filtering of keograms followed by spectral analysis of aurorae, which tend to occur with these irregularities. A cloud detection method using the North-South keogram is implemented, where a time-averaged, intensity-corrected characteristic snapshot of cloudy times was built as a baseline response, and used as the gain in a flat field correction-like step to normalize the cloudy sky appearance. The coefficient of variation Cv is used as the test statistic to determine cloudy times. Cloud-free ASIs have the location of scintillating PRNs identified, and the ratio of red oxygen 630 nm to blue nitrogen 428 nm emissions in that direction. With an auroral model of characteristic energy, ratios above 0.5 are categorized E-Layer and ratios below F-Layer.Multiyear ASI irregularity layer determinations are used to categorize 364 of the initial 4174 SAGA scintillation events. A 77% majority of the events are hypothesized to be F-Layer based on ASI spectral classification. This disagrees with prior PFISR categorizations, which found scintillation events to be majority E-layer. This presents an outstanding question as to the possible reasons for the difference.
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Title: Scale and Scope Economies Drive Asymmetric Competition in Tech Industries
Creator: Ryali, Balajirao
Date: 2020
Description: This research is motivated by my industry experience of working with small manufacturers in the high technology industry market space and ...
Show moreThis research is motivated by my industry experience of working with small manufacturers in the high technology industry market space and large manufacturers in the telecom and healthcare industry market spaces. In these industries, small manufacturers thrive on specialization and focus on breakthrough innovation to maintain product differentiation and premium positioning and to sustain competition. In contrast, large manufacturers enjoy the benefits of economies of scale that provide cost efficiencies and use price as major differentiating factor. This research work endeavors to model asymmetric competition that emerges endogenously in industries where scale and scope economies interact to force firms to adopt specialized strategies and address the below research questions:1. How does the cost structure shaped by scope and scale economies in engineering, sales and service drive asymmetric product line choices?2. What channel coordination problems arise in this context?3. How can manufacturers redesign their operating mechanism and sales force to optimize the channel?
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Title: ANALYSIS AND OPTIMIZATION OF VIBRATION AND ACOUSTIC NOISE IN SWITCHED RELUCTANCE MACHINES
Creator: Yaman, Selin
Date: 2019
Description: One of the main drawbacks of switched reluctance machines (SRM) is the vibration and high acoustic noise compared to other electrical motors....
Show moreOne of the main drawbacks of switched reluctance machines (SRM) is the vibration and high acoustic noise compared to other electrical motors. The root cause of the high level of acoustic noise is radial forces with high harmonic content. These harmonics may trigger resonant modes in the stator and cause the machine to create high vibration and acoustic noise. To better understand the factors influencing vibration and acoustic noise in an SRM, this dissertation first develops a multi-physics model in ANSYS Workbench environment and carries out a comprehensive analysis of multiple variations in stator and rotor geometries. Based on this understanding, this dissertation identifies distinct factors affecting noise in the machine, which are affected by electromagnetic design and power electronic control. From the electromagnetic perspective, geometrical optimizations in the stator and rotor structures are evaluated to understand the impact on NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) performance. This background is used to develop a fast geometry-sensitive analytical approach to reduce acoustic noise in the machine. While optimizing the geometry for a silent machine design, different design of experiments (DoE) methods and response surface (RS) optimization methods are also compared and presented. Furthermore, material analysis is included in structural design, where high flux material effect on vibration and acoustic noise is observed. The second topic of the NVH analysis is power electronic and switching solutions. In this study, multiple basic and advanced switching techniques have been considered and optimized to reduce acoustic noise under a preset efficiency constraint. Further, a time efficient model of SRM is introduced with vibro-acoustic noise perspective by developing a computationally cost effective SRM modeling. By using this analytical time-efficient NVH model, a current shape optimization is implemented, and results are discussed. Finally, experimental validations are provided for NVH and psychoacoustics analysis for different operating conditions and current control methods.
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Title: COMMUNICATION-BASED DISTRIBUTED CONTROL IN MICROGRIDS AND NETWORKED MICROGRIDS
Creator: Zhou, Quan
Date: 2019
Description: Microgrids representing localized small-scale power systems are capable of operating as self-controlled entities, which cluster and manage...
Show moreMicrogrids representing localized small-scale power systems are capable of operating as self-controlled entities, which cluster and manage distributed energy resources (DERs) and other smart devices within a defined electrical boundary. By utilizing locally available resources, microgrids reduce their dependencies on the utility grid, which provide more reliable, resilient, and economic power services to local customers. Geographically close microgrids can be connected for forming a networked microgrid system, which provides additional operational flexibility and further enhances the system reliability and resilience by sharing available DERs.Considering variable and controllable characteristics of DERs, locally available DERs need to be appropriately coordinated and controlled to respond to changing loads. The proliferation of microgrids will make it inevitable to rely on communication systems among microgrids for realizing the coordinated control of participating DERs in networked microgrid systems. The networked microgrid system is considered as a cyber-physical system (CPS) which requires sophisticated network technologies to cope with the massive adaption of communication, computation and control devices. Conventionally, a networked system has been managed by a centralized master controller, which processes the data collected from participating DERs and sends operational set points to each participant.Compared with the centralized control strategies, distributed control is more advantageous for connecting participating DERs. The connectivity of distributed control system (i.e., meshed network) is higher than that of a centralized structure (i.e., star network), in particular when critical circumstances are encountered in which some of the network connections are lost. Also, the distributed control system enables parallel data processing and control, which speeds up the networked system response to variable DERs and loads and promote economic merits. The communication-based distributed control strategies have proven to demonstrate higher reliability, resilience, and scalability while possessing lower implementation costs as compared with centralized control strategies.We have proposed several communication-based distributed control strategies for realizing the coordinated operation of participating microgrids and DERs, which can be applied to achieve various operational objectives, including proportional active power sharing, DER plug-and-play capability, seamless microgrid islanding, and resynchronization operations, and optimal economic operations. The benefits and challenges of communication-based distributed control strategies in networked microgrid systems are discussed and addressed in our work. Extensive case studies have been conducted in this thesis to validate the effectiveness of the proposed communication-based distributed controller design.
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Title: Novel Chelating Agents for Positron Emission Tomography Imaging and Theranostic Applications
Creator: Zhang, Shuyuan
Date: 2022
Description: Positron emission tomography (PET) is a molecular imaging technology that can be used to detect various diseases including cancer. Zirconium...
Show morePositron emission tomography (PET) is a molecular imaging technology that can be used to detect various diseases including cancer. Zirconium-89 (t1/2 = 78.4 h) is one of the positron-emitting radionuclides that has been widely explored for PET imaging because its half-life matches the long biological half-life of antibody. Research efforts have been devoted to the development of chelation chemistry for 89Zr, a bone-seeking radionuclide. Deferoxamine (DFO) is the most frequently used chelator for 89Zr in both clinical and preclinical trials. DFO can rapidly sequester 89Zr to form 89Zr-DFO complex. However, DFO is not an ideal ligand for 89Zr because 89Zr-labeled DFO-antibody conjugate showed high bone uptake in mice. We wanted to develop novel small molecule donors and novel chelators for 89Zr. We discovered N-methyl-N-(pyridin-2-yl)hydroxylamine (Py-HA) and 2,6-bis(N-methylhydroxylamino)pyridine (Py-BHA) as small molecule donors for 89Zr. Based on the new small molecule donors (Py-HA and Py-BHA), we have designed and synthesized a series of novel macrocyclic chelators containing TACN (1,4,7-triazacyclononane), CYCLEN (1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane), and a diaza-crown ether backbone for 89Zr-based PET imaging applications. Moreover, bifunctional chelators (BFCs) structured on TACN and diaza-18-crown-6 were synthesized for conjugation to antibody. Theranostics contains a diagnostic agent and a therapeutic drug that can be used for simultaneous therapy and imaging of diseases. Radiotheranostics includes radiometal complexes for both therapy and imaging. 177Lu is a promising radiotheranostic metal because it can emit gamma radiation for single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging and emit β radiation for radiotherapy. A radioisotope pair with complementary emission such as 64Cu/67Cu and 86Y/90Y, can be used for PET imaging and radiotherapy. In this study, we synthesized nonfunctional TACN and diaza crown ether-backboned chelators containing different donor groups for 177Lu, 64Cu/67Cu, and 86Y/90Y. Finally, two bifunctional chelators were synthesized for coupling with hydroxamic acid-based small molecule as a potential histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor to generate a small molecule ligand-chelator conjugate (SMLC) for theranostic applications.
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Title: World Languages and Cultures Club
Creator: Muhammad, Ahmad, Petkov, Kamen, Converse, Christopher, Youssef, Nikhil, Honda, Julia, Watatani, Allen, Brown, Jacob
Date: 2022
Description: Presentation describing a Pillar project completed as part of the Camras Scholars Program at Illinois Tech. Camras scholars are expected to...
Show morePresentation describing a Pillar project completed as part of the Camras Scholars Program at Illinois Tech. Camras scholars are expected to make meaningful contributions to the campus and the Illinois Tech community in three focus areas known as the Camras Pillars: leadership, research, and service. The Camras Scholars Program (CSP) is a student-led organization that oversees and runs the program for current Camras scholarship recipients and alumni.
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Title: Analysis on the Persisting Effects of Redlining in Chicago Neighborhoods as it relates to Green Infrastructure
Creator: Meyer, Joel, Brizzolara, Gemma
Date: 2022
Description: Presentation describing a Pillar project completed as part of the Camras Scholars Program at Illinois Tech. Camras scholars are expected to...
Show morePresentation describing a Pillar project completed as part of the Camras Scholars Program at Illinois Tech. Camras scholars are expected to make meaningful contributions to the campus and the Illinois Tech community in three focus areas known as the Camras Pillars: leadership, research, and service. The Camras Scholars Program (CSP) is a student-led organization that oversees and runs the program for current Camras scholarship recipients and alumni.
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Title: Camras Scholars Website
Creator: Wong, Jocelyn, Melchor, Jovany, Zainedin, Hazim, Robbins, Hayley, Wrobel, Katherine, Patel, Pooja
Date: 2022
Description: Presentation describing a Pillar project completed as part of the Camras Scholars Program at Illinois Tech. Camras scholars are expected to...
Show morePresentation describing a Pillar project completed as part of the Camras Scholars Program at Illinois Tech. Camras scholars are expected to make meaningful contributions to the campus and the Illinois Tech community in three focus areas known as the Camras Pillars: leadership, research, and service. The Camras Scholars Program (CSP) is a student-led organization that oversees and runs the program for current Camras scholarship recipients and alumni.
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Title: Beyond the Sole: Where Human Performance Meets Data Analytics
Creator: Muhammad, Ahmad
Date: 2022
Description: Presentation describing a Pillar project completed as part of the Camras Scholars Program at Illinois Tech. Camras scholars are expected to...
Show morePresentation describing a Pillar project completed as part of the Camras Scholars Program at Illinois Tech. Camras scholars are expected to make meaningful contributions to the campus and the Illinois Tech community in three focus areas known as the Camras Pillars: leadership, research, and service. The Camras Scholars Program (CSP) is a student-led organization that oversees and runs the program for current Camras scholarship recipients and alumni.
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Title: Conflicts of Interest in Engineering
Creator: Davis, Michael, Wells, Paula, Jones, Hardy
Date: 2009, 1986
Publisher: Kendalll/Hunt Publishing Company
Description: This module begins by examining the Hydrolevel case, and uses this as a way to highlight relevant principles regarding conflict of interest in...
Show moreThis module begins by examining the Hydrolevel case, and uses this as a way to highlight relevant principles regarding conflict of interest in engineering, and to discuss the importance of these principles for engineers as professionals and moral agents. The module then considers four applications of these principles drawn from the “Opinions” of the Board of Ethical Review of the National Society of Professional Engineers. The module also includes ten short cases to be used in classroom discussion. It also includes professional codes from the National Society of Professional Engineers and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Sponsorship: Exxon Education Foundation
The Module Series in Applied Ethics was produced by the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions in under a grant from the Exxon Education Foundation. This series is intended for use in a wide range of undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education programs in such areas as science and/or technology public policy, and professional ethics courses in engineering, business, and computer science.
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Title: Assessing Graduate Student Progress in Engineering Ethics
Creator: Davis, Michael, Feinerman, Alan
Date: 2010-11-10, 2011
Publisher: Springer
Description: Under a grant from the National Science Foundation, the authors (and others) undertook to integrate ethics into graduate engineering classes...
Show moreUnder a grant from the National Science Foundation, the authors (and others) undertook to integrate ethics into graduate engineering classes at three universities—and to assess success in a way allowing comparison across classes (and institutions). This paper describes the attempt to carry out that assessment. Standard methods of assessment turned out to demand too much class time. Under pressure from instructors, the authors developed an alternative method that is both specific in content to individual classes and allows comparison across classes. Results are statistically significant for ethical sensitivity and knowledge. They show measurable improvement in a single semester.
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Title: 'Ain't No One Here But Us Social Forces' : Constructing the Social Responsibility of Engineers.
Creator: Davis, Michael
Date: 2011-04, 2011-06
Publisher: Springer
Description: There are many ways to avoid responsibility, for example, explaining what happens as the work of the gods, fate, society, or the system. For...
Show moreThere are many ways to avoid responsibility, for example, explaining what happens as the work of the gods, fate, society, or the system. For engineers, “technology” or “the organization” will serve this purpose quite well. We may distinguish at least nine (related) senses of “responsibility”, the most important of which are: (a) responsibility-as-causation (the storm is responsible for flooding), (b) responsibility-as-liability (he is the person responsible and will have to pay), (c) responsibility-as-competency (he’s a responsible person, that is, he’s rational), (d) responsibility-as-office (he’s the responsible person, that is, the person in charge), and (e) a responsibility-as-domain-of-tasks (these are her responsibilities, that is, the things she is supposed to do). For all but the causal sense of responsibility, responsibility may be taken (in a relatively straightforward sense)—and generally is. Why then would anyone want to claim that certain technologies make it impossible to attribute responsibility to engineers (or anyone else)? In this paper, I identify seven arguments for that claim and explain why each is fallacious. The most important are: (1) the argument from “many hands”, (2) the argument from individual ignorance, and (3) the argument from blind forces. Each of these arguments makes the same fundamental mistake, the assumption that a certain factual situation, being fixed, settles responsibility, that is, that individuals, either individually or by some group decision, cannot take responsibility. I conclude by pointing out the sort of decisions (and consequences) engineers have explicitly taken responsibility for and why taking responsibility for them is rational, all things considered. There is no technological bar to such responsibility.
Science and Engineering Ethics.
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Title: Ethics and Biotechnology - Identifying Issues in the Face of Uncertainities
Creator: Weil, Vivian
Date: 2009, 1995
Publisher: Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions, IIT
Description: The aim of this paper is to delineate ethical issues raised by applications of recombinant DNA technology in agriculture.

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