PHIL 210B

Case Studies

Dr. Koperski

You may choose from the following cases for your presentations.  You may also research and present your own studies, in which case you may do your presentation alone if you wish.  Some of the material is in Adobe pdf format.  You may download the Adobe Acrobat Reader for free at Acrobat Reader.  For my sample PowerPoint presentation, see Vspace under resources. 

Note that some of the following case studies are on Vspace and contain copyrighted material.  These are provided for you under the Fair Use copyright provision for universities and course material.  Please note that copying, displaying and distributing these works may infringe the owner's copyright.  The lawyers want me to tell you that any use of computer or duplicating facilities by students for infringing use of copyrighted works is subject to appropriate disciplinary action as well as those civil remedies and criminal penalties provided by federal law.

The following cases may be presented by one person.

  1. The Quebec Bridge
  2. Antenna Collapse
  3. Lakewood "Hi-Stak"
  4. Hyatt Regency Walkway
  5. Air Force A7 Brake Problem
  6. Teton Dam: [Vspace]
  7. Hughes Aircraft
  8. Army Corps of Engineers: [Vspace]
  9. BP Texas: link 1, link 2, link 3.
  10. Millstone Nuclear Power Station: [Vspace]
  11. The Pinto: See link 1, link 2, and link 3.  Also see [Vspace]

 The following cases must be presented by a team of two students.  For each of these, more information may be available on the Internet.

  1. Love Canal Disaster: see link 1 and [Vspace].  Check the Internet for more information
  2. Asbestos and the W.R. Grace Company: Latest, Court, and a few articles at NY Times. You will need to subscribe to online access to the New York Times to follow these links.  It’s free!
  3. The MV-22 Osprey: This is an ongoing story.  You should check some of the online news services for recent updates.  [Vspace]
  4. Union Carbide and Bhopal: see link 1, link 2, link 3, and [Vspace]
  5. Three Mile Island: see link and check the Internet for more information
  6. Anniston, AL and Monsanto: [Vspace]
  7. The Columbia Shuttle Accident: You must also find the periodical The Atlantic Monthly in the library.  See the Nov 2003 issue.  It is your primary source for this case.
  8. New Orleans Levees: see link 1 and [Vspace], then look for more information through the news databases in the library.
  9. Willow Creek: link 1, link 2, link 3.
  10. Southwest Airlines: [Vspace]
  11. Ford and Firestone: link 1, link 2, link 3, link 4, link 5, link 6.
  12. BP Gulf Spill: Start with the article on Vspace and search the web for more. [Vspace]

 

If you discover a broken link, please go to www.findsomeonewhocares.net.  (Okay, not really.  Please e-mail me and I’ll fix it.)