STS 2600

Engineering Ethics is honestly a pretty boring class in terms of its subject matter. The most interesting parts of it are when real-life engineering ethical scenarios arise, and we are able to have discussions about the course content and its applications to real life. However, most of the course content is just terminology and applications of different ethical schools of thought. Professor Pappas, while he can be a bit of an eccentric rambler, is extremely kind and flexible when it comes to course assignments and deadlines. He gives many opportunities for extra credit throughout the semester, and depending on your final grade the final exam can become optional. In terms of the course assignments, there are twice-weekly discussion posts and multiple writing assignments throughout the semester. There are also multiple group presentation projects throughout the semester. Overall, the course can be enjoyable if you make the most of it.

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Let me first emphasize that I went into this class hoping for an easy A ~ That is not the case for STS 2600. STS 2600 is a very project-oriented, teamwork, and thoughtful, reflection-heavy course that will require significantly more hours to work on as compared to other courses. Overall, the course content was unfortunately pretty unmemorable; however, the soft skills you develop throughout the class are extremely beneficial to future professional endeavors. Also, the case studies offer great chances for deeper dives into how engineers play a significant role in project responsibility and safety.

As for the professor, while the professor was very nice and engaging, he is also A) a bit of a rambler and B) a rather harsh grader. DO NOT EXPECT TO GET a 100 on any major assignment - that's not his philosophy. His idea of ethics, as a course, is that nobody can ever be perfect in ethics, and it is a continuous growth process. However, this philosophy may have some of you panicking about your grade early on and in the middle of the semester. He offers bonus points and allows you to skip the final (for the lowest points he can offer on the final); little caveat to this, though, you really can't skip the final if you want an A without those bonus points, so take the max amount of opportunities if you want a chance of skipping with an A.

The hardest assignments were typically the presentations, not because of the content, but rather trying to figure out how harshly he is grading parts of his rubric, as well as how your group dynamic is. Overall, this class is not impossible, but do not go into it thinking you will get an easy A. It may be an A, but you will fight tooth and nail for it, and either sprint or trudge through psychological and sociological aspects that, quite frankly, most engineers don't understand very well.

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