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Prereq: --
Units: 3-0-9

Explores communication about technological subjects in the context of colossal engineering failures including Three Mile Island, Bhopal, the Columbia Shuttle, 9/11, and Katrina. Examines the basic engineering principles and the social context of several such failures in case studies from various engineering disciplines. Students see how problematic communications, sometimes subtly unrecognizable at the time, significantly contributed to the final failures. Students collaborate to produce a final written and oral research report that anticipates a potential failure and makes recommendations for avoiding it. Multiple sections, each limited to 18 students.

T. Eagar, W. Haas, A. Kadak, P. Lagace, O. Buyukozturk