2008 NATIONAL DANIEL W. MEAD STUDENT CONTEST

Established in 1939 in honor of the 67th President of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the contest provides an opportunity for alert young civil engineers to further their professional development and gain national attention.

AWARD: Up to five winners will receive cash prizes (1st place $1000, 2nd place $800, 3rd place $600, 4th place $400, 5th place $200).

TOPIC: "Ethical Issues Surrounding Infrastructure Privatization"                      mead
The following can be used to stimulate, but should in no way limit, the discussion:      

   

Many cities and states in the United States are experiencing financial difficulties.  A potential solution is to privatize their infrastructure including sale of water utilities, transportation facilities, and energy production.  Infrastructure privatization is also a global discussion with most of the focus on water supply and sanitation needs.  Engineers work in both the private and public sectors and may be involved in all aspects of infrastructure privatization.  Some questions to consider:

  1. What are potential ethical issues of a privatization decision based primarily on financial need?
  2. How much does location of the infrastructure impact the ethical priorities of a privatization decision?
  3. What ethical issues do engineers in the public sector face with supporting a privatization decision?  What about their role after privatization?
  4. What ethical issues do engineers in the private sector face with supporting a privatization decision?  What about their role after privatization?
  5. There are many different forms or strategies of privatization (e.g., working with U.S. firms or international firms) – do some create more ethical considerations than others?

RULES: Papers are not to exceed 2,000 words in length, must be written by only one person, and should not have appeared in any publications other than in school or chapter publications. Reference citations of the papers should conform to the official ASCE Authors' Guide to Journals and Practice Periodicals, which can be found on the ASCE Publications website http://www.pubs.asce.org/authors/index.html. Entries for the contest shall be limited to one paper from each Student Chapter and must be submitted through the Faculty Advisor. Authors must be undergraduate students and both ASCE Student Chapter members and ASCE national student members in good standing at the time of submission to be considered. Entries should include a cover letter from the Faculty Advisor of the Chapter, stating the name, ASCE ID number, mailing address, phone, and e-mail of the paper's author. Send entries to: ASCE Student Services, Student Mead Paper Contest, 1801 Alexander Bell Drive, Reston, VA 20191-4400. Entries must be received by April 1, 2008.

SELECTION: Selection will be made by the ASCE National Committee on Student Activities and winners will be announced May 2008. If insufficient qualified essays are received, fewer than five awards may be presented.

Questions should be directed to Student Services at student@asce.org.

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