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Fall Issue of The Bridge on Social Sciences and Engineering Practice

  Articles In This Issue  

Articles

  • [Periodical Article]

    How Social Science Informs Engineering Practice

    If one stepped back and viewed the state of technological development in the United States since the end of World War II (although the demarcation is hardly precise), it would appear dramatically different from that of earlier years. Technological capacity, driven by scientific research and ... Read More

    Author: Daniel Metlay

    Fall Issue of The Bridge on Social Sciences and Engineering Practice

    Release date: Fall 2012

    Volume: 42

    Number: 3

  • [Periodical Article]

    Lessons from the Macondo Well Blowout in the Gulf of Mexico

    Since the Macondo well blowout, improvements have been made in management and safety systems and in regulatory regimes. Commercial deep-water drilling involves highly complex and highly risky operations. Companies must coordinate the operation of sophisticated equipment to construct wells in ... Read More

    Author: Raymond Wassel

    Fall Issue of The Bridge on Social Sciences and Engineering Practice

    Release date: Fall 2012

    Volume: 42

    Number: 3

  • [Periodical Article]

    The Value of the Social Sciences for Maximizing the Public Benefits of Engineering

    Three recent projects illustrate the benefits of bringing a social sciences perspective to engineering innovation. Since the early 1900s, engineering professional societies have established codes of ethics to ensure that their members maintain a high level of professionalism (Pfatteicher, ... Read More

    Author: Jameson M. Wetmore

    Fall Issue of The Bridge on Social Sciences and Engineering Practice

    Release date: Fall 2012

    Volume: 42

    Number: 3

  • [Periodical Article]

    Designing a Process for Consent-Based Siting of Used Nuclear Fuel Facilities: Analysis of Public Support

    Public responses to the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future are generally positive. U.S. policies for long-term management of used nuclear fuel (UNF 1 ) have been placed on hold in the wake of the Obama administration’s decision to withdraw ... Read More

    Author: Hank C. Jenkins-Smith, Carol L. Silva, Kerry G. Herron, Evaristo “Tito” Bonano, and Rob P. Rechard

    Fall Issue of The Bridge on Social Sciences and Engineering Practice

    Release date: Fall 2012

    Volume: 42

    Number: 3

  • [Periodical Article]

    A Perspective on the Social Amplifications of Risk

    Risk perception and communication are important factors in decisions about managing risk events and their impacts. One of the most perplexing problems in risk analysis is why some relatively minor risks or risk events (as assessed by technical experts) elicit strong public concerns and result ... Read More

    Author: Roger E. Kasperson

    Fall Issue of The Bridge on Social Sciences and Engineering Practice

    Release date: Fall 2012

    Volume: 42

    Number: 3

  • [Periodical Article]

    Complex Organizational Failures: Culture, High Reliability, and the Lessons from Fukushima

    The principal causes of the Fukushima disaster were organizational culture and system complexity. Most academics and practitioners in engineering quite rightly focus their attention on the science and performance of physical structures and systems, but delivering and operating engineered ... Read More

    Author: Nick Pidgeon

    Fall Issue of The Bridge on Social Sciences and Engineering Practice

    Release date: Fall 2012

    Volume: 42

    Number: 3

  • [Periodical Article]

    Decision Strategies for Addressing Complex, "Messy" Problems

    Getting the politics of a messy situation right may make it easier to get the science right, too.  More than a half-century ago, two social scientists, James D. Thompson and Arthur Tuden, advanced what has come to be called the “contingency theory” of decision making ... Read More

    Author: Daniel Metlay and Daniel Sarewitz

    Fall Issue of The Bridge on Social Sciences and Engineering Practice

    Release date: Fall 2012

    Volume: 42

    Number: 3