Qin Zhu

• PhD
• Professor (Assistant) at Colorado School of Mines

This paper describes the motivations and some directions for bringing insights and methods from moral and cultural psychology to bear on how engineering ethics is conceived, taught, and assessed. Therefore, the audience for this paper is not only engineering ethics educators and researchers but also administrators and organizations concerned with e...

This paper describes the motivations and some directions for bringing insights and methods from moral and cultural psychology to bear on how engineering ethics is conceived, taught, and assessed. Therefore, the audience for this paper is not only engineering ethics educators and researchers but also administrators and organizations concerned with e...

Background: Ethical knowledge and reasoning have been adopted as the goals of engineering ethics education, and measures of ethical reasoning have been developed by researchers and with participants in mostly the US. But US participants are global outliers on various psychological and social characteristics, and engineering is increasingly global....

Research in engineering ethics has assessed the ethical reasoning of students in mostly the US. However, it is not clear that ethical judgments are primarily the result of ethical reasoning, or that conclusions based on US samples would be true of global populations. China now graduates and employs more STEM (science technology engineering and math...

In the last forty years, China has developed more and more quickly than any other country, society, and (some would even claim) civilization in the history of the world (Kissinger, On China, Penguin Books, 2012).

The current work explored to what extent a robot could persuade people to participate in charitable giving by offering moral advice grounded in different ethical theories. In a laboratory, participants, who are students at a university, first performed a task to acquire lottery tickets and then received from a robot information about a charity even...

The article argues that mainstream value-sensitive approaches to design have been based on narrow understandings of personhood and social dynamics, which are biased toward Western Educated Industrialized Rich and Democratic cultures and contradicted by empirical evidence. To respond to this weakness, the article suggests that design may benefit fro...

Ethics is crucial to engineering, although disagreement exists concerning the form engineering ethics education should take. In part, this results from disagreements about the goal of this education, which inhibit the development of and progress in cohesive research agendas and practices. In this regard, engineering ethics faces challenges like oth...

To enable robots to exert positive moral influence, we need to understand the impacts of robots’ moral communications, the ways robots can phrase their moral language to be most clear and persuasive, and the ways that these factors interact. Previous work has suggested, for example, that for certain types of robot moral interventions to be successf...

Establishing when, how, and why robots should be considered moral agents is key for advancing human-robot interaction (HRI). Robotic moral agency has significant implications for how people should and do hold robots morally responsible, ascribe blame to them, develop trust in their actions, and determine when these robots wield moral influence. In...

The use of AI in weapons systems raises numerous ethical issues. To date, work on weaponized AI has tended to be theoretical and normative in nature, consisting in critical policy analyses and ethical considerations, carried out by philosophers, legal scholars, and political scientists. However, adequately addressing the cultural and social dimensi...

To enable robots to exert positive moral influence, we need to understand the impacts of robots' moral communications, the ways robots can phrase their moral language to be most clear and persuasive , and the ways that these factors interact. Previous work has suggested , for example, that for certain types of robot moral interventions to be succes...

The article argues that mainstream value-sensitive approaches to design have been based on narrow understandings of personhood and social dynamics, which are biased towards Western Educated Industrialized Rich and Democratic cultures and contradicted by empirical evidence. To respond to this weakness, the article suggests that design may benefit fr...

Because robots are perceived as moral agents, they must behave in accordance with human systems of morality. This responsibility is especially acute for language-capable robots because moral communication is a method for building moral ecosystems. Language capable robots must not only make sure that what they say adheres to moral norms; they must a...

Because robots are perceived as moral agents, they must behave in accordance with human systems of morality. This responsibility is especially acute for language-capable robots because moral communication is a method for building moral ecosystems. Language capable robots must not only make sure that what they say adheres to moral norms; they must a...

The purpose of this paper is to discuss problems related to value-sensitive design frameworks, especially in cross-cultural and international environments, and why “norm-sensitive design” would be a better alternative. To do so, this paper is divided into three parts. First, it begins by discussing the nature of value-sensitive design and why it mi...

Three social images or forces have been shaping the construction of ethical guidelines for responsible nano research and development in China: technocracy, public optimism, and national progress. Efforts to assess the ethical implications of nanotechnology and integrate ethical considerations into national research and development policy have been...

Even though engineering programs, accreditation bodies, and multinational corporations have become increasingly interested in introducing global dimensions into professional engineering practice, little work in the existing literature provides an overview of questions fundamental to global engineering ethics, such as what global engineering ethics...

The idea of technocracy has been widely criticized in Western literature in the philosophy and sociology of technology. A common critique of technocracy is that it represents an “antidemocratic” and “dehumanizing” ideology. This paper invites Western scholars to reconsider their oppositions to technocracy by drawing on resources from Confucian ethi...

Any consideration of relationships between technology and ethics is likely at some point to encounter the concept of technocracy, as a proposal to incorporate scientific and engineering expertise into the political process.

We examined whether a robot that proactively offers moral advice promoting the norm of honesty can discourage people from cheating. Participants were presented with an opportunity to cheat in a die-rolling game. Prior to playing the game, participants received from either a NAO robot or a human, a piece of moral advice grounded in either deontologi...

Dominant approaches to designing morally capable robots have been mainly based on rule-based ethical frameworks such as deontology and consequentialism. These approaches have encountered both philosophical and computational limitations. They often struggle to accommodate remarkably diverse, unstable, and complex contexts of human-robot interaction....

Engineering ethics calls the attention of engineers to professional codes of ethical responsibility and personal values, but the practice of ethics in corporate settings can be more complex than either of these. Corporations too have cultures that often include corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices and policies, but few discussions of eng...

During the past decade, governmental agencies, universities and programs, policymakers, and educators in China have been striving for reforming and “globalizing” the engineering ethics curriculum. Chinese scholars have proposed strategies for improving the teaching effectiveness of engineering ethics that integrate “global forms” derived from the “...

We examined how robots can successfully serve as moral advi-sors for humans. We evaluated the effectiveness of moral advice grounded in deontological, virtue, and Confucian role ethics frameworks in encouraging humans to make honest decisions. Participants were introduced to a tempting situation where extra monetary gain could be earned by choosing...

Because robots are perceived as moral agents, they hold significant persuasive power over humans. It is thus crucial for robots to behave in accordance with human systems of morality and to use effective strategies for human-robot moral communication. In this work, we evaluate two moral communication strategies: a norm-based strategy grounded in de...

This paper considers the cultivation of ethical identities among future engineers and computer scientists, particularly those whose professional practice will extensively intersect with emerging technologies enabled by artificial intelligence (AI). Many current engineering and computer science students will go on to participate in the development a...

While the ultimate goal of natural-language based Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) may be free-form, mixed-initiative dialogue, social robots deployed in the near future will likely primarily engage in wakeword-driven interaction, in which users’ commands are prefaced by a wakeword such as “Hey, Robot”. This style of interaction helps to allay user pr...

This essay provides a very brief overview of Confucian ethics that focuses on the role-based morality. It compares Confucian ethics with two dominant schools of thought in Western ethics deontology and consequentialism. This essay then discusses how Confucian ethics provides a unique way to think about social and political issues such as how the po...

Empirical studies have suggested that language-capable robots have the persuasive power to shape the shared moral norms based on how they respond to human norm violations. This persuasive power presents cause for concern, but also the opportunity to persuade humans to cultivate their own moral development. We argue that a truly socially integrated...

Engineers and other technical professionals are increasingly challenged by the impacts of globalization. Further, engineering educators, technical managers, and human resources staff have demonstrated great interest in selecting and training engineers who are capable of working competently, professionally, and ethically in global context. However,...

Engineering programs in the United States have been experimenting with diverse pedagogical approaches to educate future professional engineers. However, a crucial dimension of ethics education that focuses on the values, personal commitments, and meaning of engineers has been missing in many of these pedagogical approaches. We argue that a value-ba...

Liu Zeyuan (1940–2020) was a contributing founder to the Northeastern School in Chinese philosophy of technology. As such, he undertook to develop a theory that built on Marxism as the official ideology of the People's Republic of China. Following an overview of Liu's life and work, this article introduces the Marxist socioeconomic theory that serv...

It is critical for designers of language-capable robots to enable some degree of moral competence in those robots. This is especially critical at this point in history due to the current research climate, in which much natural language generation research fo-cuses on language modeling techniques whose general approach may be categorized as "fabrica...

It is crucial for robots not only to reason ethically, but also to accurately communicate their ethical intentions; a robot that erroneously communicates willingness to violate moral norms risks losing both trust and esteem, and may risk negatively impacting the moral ecosystem of its human teammates. Previous approaches to enabling moral competenc...

We propose an experimental ethics-based curricular module for an undergraduate course on Robot Ethics. The proposed module aims to teach students how human subjects research methods can be used to investigate potential ethical concerns arising in human-robot interaction, by engaging those students in real experimental ethics research. In this paper...

Ethical leadership skills are crucial for professionally competent engineers working in a global context. This article explores the possibility of integrating a non-Western ethical tradition of Confucian ethics into the teaching of ethical leadership in engineering ethics. First comes a brief discussion of the historical origins of Confucianism and...

This chapter contains case studies from Engineering. Case study authors discuss Vygotsky’s influence on their choice to use audio, visual, and print materials to scaffold instruction. Concepts from ADDIE and the Successive Approximation Model are also used to guide the development of content and selection of materials. The case studies emphasize th...

This chapter serves to introduce the reader to the purpose and background of Philosophy and Engineering: Exploring Boundaries, Expanding Connections, and to the chapters that make up this work. Section 1.1 describes why, rather than being divided into parts, the book was deliberately organized to be a fluid whole. Section 1.2 addresses how fluidity...

This paper begins by reviewing dominant themes in current teaching of professional ethics in engineering education. In contrast to more traditional approaches that simulate ethical practice by using ethical theories to reason through micro-level ethical dilemmas, this paper proposes a pragmatic approach to ethics that places more emphasis on the pr...

This volume, the result of an ongoing bridge building effort among engineers and humanists, addresses a variety of philosophical, ethical, and policy issues emanating from engineering and technology. Interwoven through its chapters are two themes, often held in tension with one another: “Exploring Boundaries” and “Expanding Connections.” “Expanding...

Although engineering education has played important roles in China's growing power and influence on the world stage, engineering education policy since the Reform and Opening-up in the late 1970s has not been well documented in current English-language scholarship. Informed by historical and sociological studies of education, engineering and engine...

Sensitivity to cross-cultural and cross-national differences in engineering education and practice is essential for globally competent engineers. Those who fail to pay close attention to the historical-cultural contexts of engineering do so at their own peril, increasing the likelihood that their gaps in knowledge and misconceptions will lead to fa...

In engineering ethics, the traditional approach views engineers as individual moral agents who are capable of making autonomous decisions. However, the broader context in which engineers work and make their ethical decisions is often overlooked. In teaching engineering students, institutional climates help define how educational programs, curricula...

The motivation of the special session was to allow engineering educators and researchers to explore different cultural perspectives of engineering ethics, and understand how that would affect both individual and team ethical decision-making. This will inform how we teach and assess engineering ethics, especially in diverse project teams, and equip...

Engineering is becoming an increasingly global profession, requiring interaction with diverse sets of people from different countries, cultures, and traditions. This diversity introduces more social and ethical complexity to the profession and highlights the importance of enabling engineers to work collaboratively and develop strong ethical decisio...

Facilitating the development of ethical reasoning in engineering students is an important part of engineering education and the accreditation criteria of ABET. Project-based design has become a prominent pedagogy within current engineering education and offers opportunities where ethical considerations concerning technology, society, people, and th...

Engineering as a profession is increasingly a team-based and multidisciplinary endeavor, requiring not only technical skills but also the ability to work well with diverse groups of people. In engineering education, students often participate in project teams in which the members must make and execute decisions, relying increasingly on their own re...

The development of ethical awareness and ethical reasoning is a critical part of engineering education. Appropriate assessments are needed to determine if educational interventions are effective in developing these skills, especially within a team context. Although there are measures to assess general individual moral reasoning, such as the DIT21 ,...

In creating policies that support educating future engineers to meet both domestic needs and enable global mobility, a major strategy used by Chinese policymakers is “policy borrowing.” Yet one major challenge with this approach is that Chinese policymakers have not deeply reflected on the cultural differences between China and the countries from w...

The emergence and evolution of engineering education in China during the formative period 1902-1922 involved three historical stages. From 1902 to 1911, engineering was established as an independent discipline, but crucial links were retained with other fields and bodies of knowledge, and particularly Confucian traditions. The period 1912 to 1916 w...

The authors employ a discursive psychological approach to analyze interviews with students from four different institutions working on multidisciplinary project design teams. Using this approach, we investigate the way students negotiate their specific design tasks, as well as what issues they seem to find most salient about design in their respect...

Multidisciplinary project teams in engineering education allow students to gain experience with engineering on a professional and practical level, while still maintaining a supportive learning environment. This context reflects the team-based and multidisciplinary nature of much professional engineering work. In an increasingly complex environment...

There remain many opportunities to enhance how the ethical dimensions of science and engineering are taught and assessed. In fact, current trends suggest growing demand for STEM professionals who can deftly navigate the wide range of moral and ethical issues that might be faced during their careers, whether in the private, academic, government, and...

Engineering graduates encounter worlds of professional practice that are increasingly global in character. This new reality poses challenges for engineering educators and employers, who are faced with the formidable task of preparing engineers to be more effective in diverse national and cultural contexts. In response, many commentators have propos...

This case study explores an expansive adaptation of the ethics education component of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). As one of its contributions to this cross-cutting federal program, the National Science Foundation established the Nanotechnology Undergraduate Education (NUE) Program “to integrate nanoscale science, engineering, and...

Whether working on multi-national project teams, navigating geographically dispersed supply chains, or engaging customers and clients abroad, engineering graduates encounter worlds of professional practice that are increasingly global in character. This new reality poses challenges for engineering educators and employers, who are faced with the for...

In premodern China, the traditional Chinese thinking pattern had a strong influence on the practice of engineering and on social development. This thinking pattern is still both influential and valuable today. In this chapter, we characterize the traditional thinking pattern from four perspectives: (1) at the ontological level, it presents itself a...

This paper maps approaches to engineering ethics in the People's Republic of China. It is addressed primarily to English-language scholars interested in learning more about one aspect of the complex historical and cultural context of technological education in a nation that now graduates more engineers than any other in the world. Although the basi...