John Fagan is Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Oklahoma. He received his doctorate at the University of Texas at Arlington in 1976.

Dr. Fagan has worked for Mobile Oil Field Research where he was responsible for development of high power pulse Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy equipment. He later worked for Texas Instruments Equipment Division, where he was responsible for design of the azimuth range indicator for the P3-C aircraft and later for the system integration of the APS-115 radar system aboard the Navy's P3-C antisubmarine aircraft. Following this work he was drafted and served as a Captain in the United States Air Force. In the USAF he served as a design and flight test engineer for the Air Force's C5A program. He was responsible for the testing and design of a floated ball inertial navigation system aboard the C5A. Additionally he designed and developed computer controlled test equipment for a wide variety of inertial navigation systems, both aircraft and missile.

Dr. Fagan has done research in the area of electrical power system dynamics, the development of computer models for the prediction of the behavior of transmission structures in adverse meteorology. Included was a field experiment for the determination of the nature of hurricane force winds on electric transmission structures. Dr. Fagan has developed a number of computer-based models for the prediction of the behavior of the electrical elements of the power system, the most recent of which is a Distribution Analysis Workstation for Networks (DAWN). Dr. Fagan has served as a consultant to such firms as General Electric, RCA, FMC Link Belt Crane, Burford Corporation, Oklahoma Gas and Electric, Woods Petroleum, and The Electric Power Systems Research Institute (EPRI). These firms have allowed him to remain current in the state of the component art and design practice.

Dr. Fagan is active in many aspects of the IEEE and has served on the IEEE OKC executive committee since 1978. Dr. Fagan's hobbies include tennis, model cars and airplanes, and gardening.

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ENGINEERING ETHICS / PRODUCT LIABILITY

Job ethics determine the quality of the workplace.

The topic of engineering ethics is introduced to the audience by a discussion of the possible roots or origins of the ethics concept. A discussion continues as to why have ethics...what good are they, and where do they come from? Various job descriptions are brought out and an examination of the job is made with emphasis on what is the job trust. Professions such as TV preachers, US presidents, and corporation leaders are examined, and the job descriptions are matched against the public trust. From this a single line definition of engineering Job Ethics is formed...this definition is consistent with job ethics descriptions of other professions. The results of various engineering ethics compromises are then discussed, such as the Ford Pinto, the shuttle "O" rings, and Audi 5000; and the consequences of these compromises are discussed. The speaker will use several examples from his own career in the military and industrial arena. He will discuss actual engineering case dilemmas and their real outcomes, then pose the results to the audience. The discussion ends with the simple statement, "Keep the trust." The talk is delivered with a humorous tongue-in-cheek attitude toward the preacher failures, but using their failures to bring home the seriousness of engineering breaches of the trust.

The implications of poor engineering job ethics are examined in the fact of product liability action, i.e., examples such as the famous Ford Pinto, the shuttle "O" rings, etc., are used to illustrate the effects on society, the consuming public, of bad engineering ethics decisions. The potential damage to the person's company and job future and the other implications of poor ethical decisions are examined.

The talk is fast paced and is delivered with the aide of 35mm color slides. The speaker should be equipped with a wireless microphone or be allowed to be mobile in the front of the room. The talk takes about 45 to 50 minutes; audience participation always is included.

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