EE Colloquium: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Abstract: It was about twelve years ago now that the National Science Foundation began to require recipients of its funding to implement ethical training programs. Penn State's response to this new NSF requirement was implementation of its Scholarship and Research Integrity (SARI) Program. In response to the Penn State SARI Program, the Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science developed the course "METEO 591: Development and Ethics in the Atmospheric Sciences." Topics coverered in METEO 591 range from plagiarism to authorship to advisor-student relationships to collaborative research. An issue or two from each of these categories that are relevant to Electrical Engineering will be introduced and discussed with seminar participants. One startling "lack of integrity" statistic will also be introduced, illustrating new challenges that are present in this budding information age.

Biography: Eugene Clothiaux is a professor in the Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science at Penn State. He was in charge of the Graduate Program in Meteorology and Atmospheric Science from 2005 through 2008, and served for one year as the Associate Head of the Graduate Program when the position was formally established fall 2008. In the 2008-2009 academic year, he began the development of "METEO 591: Development and Ethics in the Atmospheric Sciences" in response to National Science Foundation requirements for ethics training. More recently, he served for two years as the chair of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences Promotion and Tenure committee, as well as the chair of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences Academic Integrity Committee. His research interests are related to atmospheric radiation, including ground- and satellite-based remote sensing and atmospheric radiative transfer.