The leaders of the ESENCe beta site project organized

a national workshop, “Ethics in Science and Engineering:

Redefining Tools and Resources,” that was held on

October 22-23, 2009 at UMass Amherst. The workshop

objectives, broadly speaking, were twofold: first, to

explore the potential for leveraging the university’s role

as a locus of education and mentoring for ethics and

RCR in science and engineering and, second, to explore

the potential and limitations of digital tools, including

social media, for supporting such growth. The workshop

initiated a dialogue between university faculty involved in

ethics research and education and library and information

scientists. Discussions centered on the potential use ofcyberinfrastructure and digital tools to advance ethics

education and RCR.

Workshop discussions were focused on the following

questions:

1. What feasible courses of action might be crafted for

institutions that will be required to certify themselves

in ethics and responsible conduct of research?

2. To what extent might the new NSF requirements

be used to encourage broader approaches in

ethics training and socially responsible conduct of

research?

3. What do we know about how researchers and others

are actually using digital tools to promote knowledge

sharing in ethics and RCR?

4. What empirical studies might provide guidance

in this domain? What types of studies should be

undertaken?

5. Among the wide range of tools and applications

that come under the web 2.0 heading, which have

the greatest potential to promote learning and

knowledge sharing in the domain of ethics in science

and engineering?

6. In what way should we broaden the definitions of

ethics in science and engineering to encompass

greater need for diversity, social justice, globalization,

and recognition of changes in the organization and

conduct of research?

This report captures central themes from the workshop

and is intended to contribute to development of the

research agenda for ethics education and RCR.