Mission

Mission Statement:

The Centre for Engineering in Society is part of the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science, and shares its commitment to educating engineers and computer scientists who exhibit the highest standards of professionalism and social responsibility in their practice. The Centre’s distinct contribution within the Faculty is teaching and research in technology from humanistic, social scientific, and interdisciplinary perspectives, broadening the scope of graduate and undergraduate education, and preparing students to take their place as citizens, researchers, innovators, and stewards of the public good.  

Vision Statement:

The Centre for Engineering in Society (CES) within the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science is committed to providing engineers with the skills to appreciate technology as an object of study, reflection and analysis within public life. The primary objective of CES is to develop undergraduate and graduate students’ communication skills, their moral imaginations, and understanding of the social foundations and impacts of technology.  In pursuit of this objective, CES teaches courses from humanistic and social scientific traditions in order to prepare students for professional practice and to broaden the scope of their education as both citizens and researchers.  In addition, CES takes an interdisciplinary approach to research in technology analysis, collaborating with faculty across the engineering disciplines on problems with significant policy and social dimensions, and pursues research projects with emphases on rhetoric, philosophy of science, economics, risk analysis, cultural studies of technology, global engineering and engineering public policy.  The goal of CES is to produce and reflect upon the engineer as citizen, entrepreneur, and rhetorician.  As citizens, engineers are part of a larger public, and thus their work implicates issues in the crafting of public policy, the development of nascent democracies, and the health and well being of communities. As entrepreneurs, engineers develop new ideas, propose and pursue innovation, plan and manage large-scale projects, and promote sustainable economic development. As rhetoricians, engineers employ communicative practices to shape public perceptions, to negotiate knowledge-claims, to explain the risks associated with technological development, and to be ethically accountable to society.