Engineering with Character: Olin Wins $400K Grant to Advance Moral Action
Olin College of Engineering has received a three-year, $399,355 Institutional Impact Grant from the Educating Character Initiative (ECI), a project of the Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University, to make character development a more ubiquitous part of the Olin experience.
Olin’s project—“Engineers of Moral Action: Building a Pervasive Culture of Character Development through Storytelling”—explores a concept that has long been fundamental to Olin’s idea of engineering education: that being a good engineer extends beyond technical skills.
Professor Erhardt Graeff, principal investigator (PI) for Olin's Educating Character Initiative project, sits on the Norden Auditorium stage to talk to students.
“Olin has always understood engineering as a human endeavor as much as a technical one,” says Erhardt Graeff, associate professor of social and computer science and principal investigator (PI) for the project. “This grant lets us make character development a regular part of how our students learn and work here—so they graduate able to carry virtues like humility, care, and courage into their contributions as engineers, citizens, and people.”
Olin has always understood engineering as a human endeavor as much as a technical one.
This grant lets us make character development a regular part of how our students learn and work here—so they graduate able to carry virtues like humility, care, and courage into their contributions as engineers, citizens, and people.”
Erhardt Graeff
Associate Professor of Social and Computer Science
Co-principal investigators on “Engineers of Moral Action” include Zachary del Rosario ’14, assistant professor of engineering and applied statistics; Benjamin Linder, professor of design and mechanical engineering; Jonathan M. Adler, professor of psychology; Gillian Epstein, associate professor of English; and Sam Michalka, interim dean of Academic Programs and associate professor of computational neuroscience and engineering.
Building on Previous ECI Grant
“Engineers of Moral Action” grows out of a Capacity-Building Grant from the ECI that was awarded in 2025 to Graeff and Andrea Cuadra ’13, assistant professor of computer science. That effort engaged approximately one-quarter of Olin’s full-time faculty through workshops and meetups focused on virtue and character education.
The new project has three interconnected goals: to foster a pervasive culture of character development across campus; to give students opportunities to practice moral action; and to contribute to a fuller definition of what engineers should be. Through this work, Olin will engage students as moral agents throughout their four years here, working with them collaboratively to develop the shared vocabulary, structures, and practices needed to make thoughtful decisions and act on their values.
For alumnus and co-PI del Rosario, that includes recognizing that technical expertise itself depends on a particular kind of character.