You chose engineering with the hope of being able to address the need for energy sources that do not pollute the environment or contribute to climate change. Your interests have brought you to a project that addresses the fundamental drawback to solar energy: the lack of a cheap and efficient way to store that energy. Your R&D group has been looking to the photosynthesis of plants for a model of how this is accomplished. The group is making good progress on developing a process to use the sun's energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. These gases could later be recombined in a fuel cell to create electrical energy for a variety of uses including powering an automobile.

You have the technical work well in hand and you are confident that you are doing work that is likely to benefit society. However, you are wondering what it means that you are a professional and what the implications of being a professional are for the way you and other team members handle the rewards for making this breakthrough. (For example, what you owe to the company for which you previously worked and at which you first worked on a similar problem; what you should expect in the way of credit to you personally for the contribution you have made to this project.) Where do you begin finding out what you need to know about your rights and responsibilities as a professional?