Using artificial intelligence to help students learn about socially engaged design
While nuclear power can reap enormous benefits, it also comes with some risks.
This is a brief excerpt from The Conversation article, Engineering students explore how to ethically design and locate nuclear facilities in this college course, written by assistant professor of nuclear engineering and radiological sciences Aditi Verma and Katie Snyder, lecturer III in technical communications.
Title of course:
Socially Engaged Design of Nuclear Energy Technologies
What prompted the idea for the course?
The two of us had some experience with participatory design coming into this course, and we had a shared interest in bringing virtual reality into a first-year design class at the University of Michigan.
It seemed like a good fit to help students learn about nuclear technologies, given that hands-on experience can be difficult to provide in that context. We both wanted to teach students about the social and environmental implications of engineering work, too.
Aditi is a nuclear engineer and had been using participatory design in her research, and Katie had been teaching ethics and design to engineering students for many years.
What does the course explore?
Broadly, the course explores engineering design. We introduce our students to the principles of nuclear engineering and energy systems design, and we go through ethical concerns. They also learn communication strategies – like writing for different audiences.
Read the full article from The Conversation.