The Ethos Center
The Ethos Center connects the passion and technical knowledge and skillset of engineering students, faculty, staff, and alumni with our community partner’s needs, assets, and aspirations. Through collaboration with our community partners, we provide transformative sociotechnical experiences and transdisciplinary curricula that integrates human rights and social justice frameworks. Faculty, staff and students engage in applied research projects to design and develop just and sustainable technologies through international, domestic and local immersions as well as hands-on classroom projects that advance engineering for the common good.
The Ethos Center maintains as its educational objectives to challenge students to be culturally responsive, think and act comprehensively about the impact of engineering on human and Earth systems and vice versa, design creatively and interdependently, communicate effectively with diverse others, and develop an ethic of care and social responsibility as they explore their engineering vocation. In light of The Ethos Center’s educational mission, we also oversee the “Human Rights in Engineering” minor for School of Engineering students. This minor requires 15 credit hours, including an immersive experience such as an Ethos immersion, a human rights practicum, and/or
taking a 1 credit hour Ethos course in combination with an engineering internship, research program, and/or senior design capstone project.
For undergraduate and graduate students, the Ethos Center’s experiential learning opportunities include our Ethos immersion programs (Dayton, Domestic, and
International), Ethos R&D (team-based, just and sustainable technologies research and development, year-long, part-time), Breakouts, Student Engagement Leaders, and Community Partner Liaisons for EGR 103. Students earn academic credit through these experiences by taking either EGR 331, EGR 332, EGR 430, or EGR 398
(depending on program). These count as technical electives for most engineering disciplines and count for various CAP categories. All immersion programs (full-time and
part-time) will also earn experiential learning credit through EXP 212. The Ethos Center also offers a community engaged learning course, EGR 330, which immerses students with local community partners to address community challenges in Dayton.