Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Hotspots in Electrical Engineering


Component Assignments:

  1. Communication and Persuasion in My Field 
  2. Communication is essential for electrical engineers who work in both technical positions and business positions. Several tools, such as email, phone, conferences, and messaging are used to communicate and persuade across different customs and cultures in today's global economy.
  3. Storytelling in My Field 
  4. An engineer uses the story of the Nixon scandal to persuade his coworkers into doing the right thing. Scandals are common, and strong emotional appeals through stories can be an effective tool in preventing them.
  5. My field within the history of civilization 
  6. While major developments of electrical engineering have mainly taken place within the last 200 years, society has always been interested in electricity and its implications. Electrical engineering has driven society to a higher standard of living and motivated discovery and exploration throughout the ages.
  7. Institutional Authority and Communication 
  8. Professional organizations such as IEEE help regulate engineers to both protect their ideas and improve productivity. They publish magazines, hold conferences, and create committees that update the field on new developments and commit everyone to a code of ethics.

Hot Spots:
  • Hotspot #1 (in the field): Engineering isn't always black and white; sometimes unethical decisions are made that can harm many people. Effective communication can persuade engineers to make ethical choices.  
  • Hotspot #2 (historical): The greatest developments in Electrical Engineering have occurred during times of war and destruction. Ironically, the need to be destructive has fueled today's dependance on technology and production.
  • Hotspot #3 (personal): The story of me building a robot arm. I realized that engineering was more about working constructively with others than actually developing a product.

2 comments:

  1. Hotspot #2 seems like a really interesting development. I am very curious to see how destruction can relate to and inspire the building of new things. The fact that these two so clearly contrast I think would make for a great way to tie it all together. The historical aspect of something like engineering that is now vital to making our world turn is a very promising hotspot.

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  2. ^^ I agree with Chloe... I'd like to also know what kind of ethical decisions are made all around in times of great distress and destruction... tying the rest of the hotspots in also.

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