Florida Tech students Sloan Hatter and Ryan Fox competed in Lockheed Martin’s 8th annual Ethics in Engineering Competition with their advisor, professor of philosophy Moti Mizrahi. The February competition in Bethesda, Md., challenged participants to find solutions to complex engineering, business and ethics challenges.
This was Mizrahi’s third year bringing a team to the competition.
Student teams took on a business ethics case centered around firefighting intelligence; they needed to find how advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence, can enhance the accuracy of decision-making in wildfire management. Teams came up with a joint firefighting intelligence solution that met customer needs by balancing technology use with human input on critical decisions.
Florida Tech was eliminated by the University of Tennessee. However, Hatter and Fox were thrilled to gain experience and grow their networks throughout the event; they got to meet with both Lockheed Martin engineers and peers from other universities.
“Attending Lockheed Martin’s headquarters and participating in their 2025 Ethics in Engineering Competition was nothing short of incredible,” Hatter said. “Though our team got knocked out early on, we were still able to gain valuable experience and learn a lot about how to create a detailed solution to a given problem.”
Hatter, a junior majoring in computer science, said she even found a mentor in one of Lockheed Martin’s engineers.
Fox, a sophomore majoring in aerospace engineering, highlighted just how exciting the gathering is for undergraduates like him.
“My experience at the ethics in engineering competition was nothing short of amazing,” Fox said. “I had a great time with the competition itself, but also with getting to meet other students at technical universities across the U.S.”
While on-site, students got to tour facilities such as the Udvar-Hazy Smithsonian Air & Space Museum and Lockheed Martin’s Global Vision Center. They also got to participate in a live video call with astronaut and Florida Tech alum Suni Williams ’95 while she was aboard the International Space Station.
The Ethics in Engineering Competition emphasizes the importance of business ethics in the fast-paced world of technology. By participating in case competitions, college students develop ethical decision-making and prepare for challenges they may face in their future careers.
