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, has collaborated on three annual Ethics in Engineering Case Competitions. The events take place at the Lockheed Martin Headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, and feature a tour of their state of the art Global Vision Center in Arlington, Virginia.

Learn More>>

The competition aims to prepare undergraduate students from technical disciplines to face the ethical challenges of the 21st century. To this end, Lockheed Martin will prepare a case with engineering, ethical, and business implications. Each team will receive a brief summary of the case before the competition and be asked to analyze it from a variety of different perspectives and present their recommendations during the competition.

Each of the invited schools can bring one team of two undergraduate students and a faculty advisor. Because the case will address an engineering issue, we recommend that at least one of the students be studying engineering. Students of all nationalities are welcome.

“Through Lockheed Martin’s Ethics in Engineering Case Competition, undergraduate students studying engineering and business explore ethical dilemmas in the workplace. They are introduced to a wide variety of situations that could arise in the complex world of technology, and they learn the importance of voicing their values. We developed the program with support from the Center for Professional Responsibility, Gies College of Business and the University of Illinois; institutions that brought strong expertise on how to set up the competition.” (Mackay, Industry Week 2020).

“Ethical leadership is critical to Lockheed Martin’s ability to sustain a culture of innovation and accountability, which in turn impacts profitability, talent recruitment, and our reputation with multiple stakeholders. The decisions we make every day have the potential to affect our customers, our communities, our country, and the world.” (Mackay, Industry Week 2020).

“We hope by sharing this commitment to high ethical standards with the next generation of engineering and business talent that they will put integrity at the forefront of their professional endeavors.” (Mackay, Industry Week 2020).

Most recently, teams from over 21 colleges and universities visited Lockheed’s corporate headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland to partake in the third annual competition. This year’s ethical topic centered around artificial intelligence. Congratulations to Brigham Young University, this year's winning team at the competition!