Engineering Communication
The following book is intended to help lower-division undergraduate engineering students write and present technical information.
For engineering graduate students, I have co-developed (with Professor Desmond Lawler) a guide to the writing of theses and dissertations:
The Profession of Technical Commuication
I am also interested in developing new models and metaphors to describe the actual practice of technical communication today. Technical communicators are doing a lot more than writing -- they are designing information, participating in strategic and business processes, and often organizing and directing the web of communication internally and externally. Engineering communicators must also be strategic in thier thinking, writing, and presenting. Here is an article describing the first stage of a qualitative study of technical communicators.
Engineering Research Ethics
I am currently a co-PI (with Christy Moore and Steven Nichols) on a NSF project to develop teaching modules on research ethics for graduate engineering courses. The project will begin formally in January 2007. These modules will be based on the undergraduate modules the team has developed. The process of developing these module,s and their pedagofical intent, are described in the following recent publications:
Moore, C., Hart, H., Randall, D., and Nichols, S. (2006) “PRiME: Integrating Professional Responsibility into the Engineering Curriculum,” Science and Engineering Ethics. Volume 12, no. 2, pp. 273-289.
Hart, H. and Randall, D. 2005. “Designing Challenge-Based Ethics Instruction for Undergraduate Engineers,” Proceedings of the IPCC Conference (CD-ROM), Limerick, Ireland, July.
Formerly, I was co-PI on a p roject called Professional Responsibility Modules in Engineering (PRiME). Funded by the UT Chair for Free Enterprise and the College of Engineering, this project seeks to assess the need for and then develop web-based instructional materials and instructor guides on engineering ethics' topics. The goal is to create materials that are easily usable in almost any engineering course, no matter what is the background or available time of the instructor. In the spring of 2005, six lessons on various topics were piloted and assesssed at the university of Texas at Austin. The results of that assessment are described in the following report:
The lessons were then revised in fall 2005 and offered to other engineering faculty. New undergraduate modules are being developed, including one on standards.
The need for the ethics modules under development was determined originally by a summer 2004 needs assessment. This preliminary assessment of UT and peer institutions is described in the following report:
For more information on the PRiME project, see this Powerpoint presentation.
Environmental Risk Communication
Environmental Communication develops strategies (rhetorical and otherwise) to ensure productive, interactive communication on environmental issues among engineers, regulators, industry, and the public. This field draws on research from Public Policy, Law, and Health Communication, as well as those areas listed above. Sponsored research projects include:
Hart, H., Risk-Communication Research Report: Executive Summary
