GREENVILLE, S.C. (April 5, 2016) – Bob Jones University engineering students Sam Koenke and Brian Hand placed first in the engineering ethics competition sponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) at the SoutheastCon Engineering Conference in Norfolk, Virginia. They competed against 24 student teams from universities around the Southeast.
In this competition, students are given a real-life scenario from the engineering workplace in which ethical issues are important. In the first round, students write an essay and then give an oral presentation in the second round, discussing the ethical issues involved in each case and making recommendations. This year’s cases involved e-waste and hacking. Other finalists in the ethics competition included The Citadel, University of Alabama at Birmingham, University of Florida and the University of Georgia.
“We plan to visit SoutheastCon every year and participate in the various engineering competitions,” said Dr. Bill Lovegrove, BJU engineering professor. “Our success this year in the ethics competition is confirmation that the Christian liberal arts education here at BJU equips our students for the ethical challenges of the engineering world.”
Koenke, a senior from Greer, South Carolina, and Hand, a junior from Farmington, Maine, received a $400 cash prize for their first place finish. This year’s competition was BJU’s second visit to SoutheastCon but the first time BJU students have participated in the ethics competition.
