Momentum - The Magazine for Virginia Tech Mechanical Engineering Vol. 3 No. 1 Spring 2018 | Page 11

STORY BY LINDA HAZELWOOD
ENGINEERING EDUCATION
ME undergraduates win first
Lockheed Martin Ethics Competition
Two undergraduate
students took first
place in the first 2018
Lockheed Martin Ethics
in Engineering Case
Competition Feb. 16-17.
Neddie Byron, a senior
from Fairfax, Virginia
and Alexandra Ringer,
a junior from Mechan-
icsville, Virginia, both
of mechanical engineer-
ing, were advised by
Wm. Michael Butler,
associate professor of
practice in the department of
engineering education which
sponsored the team.
io ahead of time and had
to respond to a case with
engineering, ethical, and
business implications. In the
first round teams prepared a
“Alexandra and Neddie
were great representatives of 90-second ‘elevator pitch’ for
Virginia Tech and the College the judges summarizing their
solution. The second round,
of Engineering,” said Butler.
“Throughout the process they in which all teams partici-
pated, featured a 20-minute
exhibited great enthusiasm,
technical prowess and interest presentation followed by
five minutes of judges ques-
in learning about the subject
tions. The top three teams
matter of the case. Their
proceeded to round three
hard work made them well
prepared for the competition where teams presented for 25
minutes to the judges and all
and the team received a
participants, amidst interrup-
number of compliments on
tions for questions during the
their preparation during the
presentation.
competition.”
Twelve schools participated
The contest was completed
in the competition with the
in three rounds and teams
University of Arizona and the
were given the case scenar-
Virginia Military Institute
MOMENTUM
SPRING 2018
taking second and third place
respectively. In addition to
the competition, participating
students toured the F-35 Joint
Strike Fighter production
line and learned about Lock-
heed Martin and its efforts
to maintain and promote
an ethics culture across the
corporation.
The competition, which
aims to prepare undergrad-
uate students in technical
disciplines to face the ethical
challenges of the 21st century,
was organized by Lockheed
Martin in partnership with
the Center for Professional
Responsibility in Business
and Society in the Gies
College of Business at the
University of Illinois.
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