The Liberal Education Division of the American Society for Engineering Education is pleased to present the 2001 Sterling Olmsted Award to Deborah G. Johnson, Ann Shirley Carter Olsson Chair in Applied Ethics at the University of Virginia. This award is made in recognition of the many contributions Professor Johnson has made to the education of engineering students as an educator and lecturer, as a contributor to the literature, as a servant to many professional organizations, and as researcher on the cutting edge of engineering education.
Professor Johnson was educated at Monteith College, Wayne State University, and the University of Kansas, where she received her Ph.D. in 1976. After a short stay at Old Dominion University, she spent most of her career at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where she served as Chair of the Department of Science and Technology Studies, Associate dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Professor of Philosophy and Science, Technology, and Society. In 1998 she moved to the Georgia Institute of Technology as Professor in the School of Public Policy, Director of the Master's Program in Public Policy, and Director of the Program in Philosophy, Science, and Technology, before accepting her present position this year. She has also been a Visiting Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering and Operations at Princeton and a William Morton Distinguished Senior Fellow in Humanities at Dartmouth College.
Professor Johnson's contributions to engineering education are vast and of enduring significance. They include publication of five textbooks, including the widely used Ethical Issues in Engineering and Computer Ethics, as well as thirteen book chapters and numerous other publications relevant to engineering education. She has been awarded more than a dozen National Science Foundation grants, mainly for expanding and disseminating her groundbreaking work in computer ethics. She has been or is an editor of The Business and Professional Ethics Journal, Ethics and Information Technology, Philosophy in Context, and The International Journal of Applied Philosophy. Among her other contributions to her profession are having served on the Board of Govenors of the National Institute for Engineering Ethics of the NSPE, chairing the American Philosophical Association Sub-committee on Computer Use in Philosophy, serving on the Research Advisory Board of the Internet Policy Institute, and, currently, being President of the Society for Philosophy and Technology.
Dr. Johnson serves as a model of an individual who enhances the role of the liberal education in engineering education. For her lifelong contributions to bridging the gap between the liberal arts and the professions, the Liberal Education Division is honored to celebrate her as the 2001 recipient of its highest honor, the Sterling Olmsted Award.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathryn Neeley
LED Chair, 1999-2001
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