In this episode of the Viterbi Conversations in Ethics podcast, co-hosts Sandra Al Hames and Deep Shah from USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering sit down with guest Maria Elena Minaya Astola, a senior in Industrial and Systems Engineering. Together, they delve into the core values that define ethical engineering—trust, transparency, accountability, and the social impact of engineering decisions.

Maria shares personal insights from growing up around a manufacturing business and reflects on real-life ethical failures, like a tragic infrastructure collapse in Peru, to illustrate the weight of engineering decisions. The discussion spans the responsibilities engineers face—not just as professionals, but as humans working within complex systems, often under pressure from deadlines, corporations, and limited worldviews.

Together, they explore powerful questions:

• Can a brilliant engineer still be a bad one without ethics?
• Is innovation worth it if it harms society or the planet?
• How do engineers uphold safety and truth in the face of pressure?

The conversation is deep, thoughtful, and refreshingly honest—a must-listen for anyone interested in the ethical fabric behind the tech shaping our world.