Guide to Graduate Education in Science, Engineering and Public Policy
Guide to Graduate Education in Science, Engineering and Public Policy
http://www.aaas.org//spp/sepp/sepcmu-eppnew.shtml
Carnegie Mellon University
Department of Engineering and Public Policy
| Carnegie Mellon University Department of Engineering and Public Policy Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Link to program page: http://www.epp.cmu.edu |
 |
Professor M. Granger Morgan, Professor Mitchell Small
|
Background
Carnegie Mellon's program in Engineering and Public Policy (EPP) was founded in 1970 at the undergraduate level to provide engineering students with the skills to understand and deal with problems in technology and policy.
At the undergraduate level the department offers a double major for students in engineering and computer science and a minor in technology and policy for students in other fields. At the graduate level, the department offers a research-oriented PhD.
The first undergraduate EPP degree was conferred in 1973; EPP became a department in 1976 and was authorized to award Ph.D. degrees beginning in 1977. Since then, the department has granted over 600 double-major B.S. degrees, approximately 120 Ph.D. degrees, and approximately 25 terminal M.S. degrees.
Research in the department focuses on problems in energy and environmental systems (including electric power, global change, green design, clean energy, regional pollution, improving regulation); information technology policy (including computer security, telephone over the internet, wireless, software policy and industry structure); risk analysis and regulation; R&D and management of innovation; and technology and economic development (focusing in particular on India, China, and Brazil); and domestic security aspects of engineered systems. It frequently undertakes the development of new software tools for the support of policy analysis and research.
Graduate Degrees Offered
M.S. -- EPP and one of five engineering departments (joint degree)
M.S. -- Engineering and Public Policy
Ph.D. -- Engineering and Public Policy
The EPP graduate program is designed for candidates interested in pursuing a research-oriented Ph.D. Students are encouraged to seek the M.S. degree only if they plan to continue to the Ph.D. level. Full-time master's students take approximately two years to complete the program; doctoral students usually require a minimum of four years.
Admissions Requirements
All graduate students must have completed an undergraduate or M.S. degree in engineering, a physical or mathematical science, or its equivalent. Good preparation in basic economics and probability and statistics is expected, as well as computer skills.
Most years, the program receives around 100-110 applications, admits around 20, and enrolls 8-12 students.
Degree Requirements
Students are expected to take at least 132 units beyond the B.S. degree to fulfill the requirements for a Ph.D. in EPP. This includes a minimum of 42 units in core research courses; 54 units in engineering, the sciences and applied mathematics, including a required course in probability and statistics; and 36 units in the social sciences and policy analysis, including a graduate level course in microeconomics.
The principal components of the EPP core curriculum are a four-course sequence on perspectives and tools for policy analysis and a teaching practicum. Course 19-701 is a lecture and discussion course that reviews and critically examines a set of problems, assumptions and analytical techniques that are common to research and policy analysis in technology and public policy. Course 19-702 provides a broad introduction to analytical and computational methods commonly used to address technical policy issues. 19-704 is a half-semester mini course that covers several statistical procedures; and 19-705, run in workshop-mode, provides instruction in structuring messy, unstructured problems. The teaching practicum involves one of two options: management of an interdisciplinary project course; or, conducting recitation sessions for the department's freshmen course "Introduction to Engineering and Public Policy".
To qualify for the Ph.D. degree, students must prepare and defend a paper on an original research problem in technology and public policy by the middle of their second year and successfully complete a take-home exam on an unstructured problem in applied policy analysis. Within six months after successfully qualifying, the student must prepare a thesis proposal, usually on a topic within or related to one of the following research areas of the department:
• energy and environmental systems;
• information and technology policy;
• risk analysis and regulation;
• R&D and management of innovation;
• technology and economic development;
• technology and international peace and security;
• quantitative tools for decision support and policy analysis.
Student Information
About 35 percent students come with undergraduate degrees in mathematics and the physical sciences; the remaining students have degrees in engineering.
Approximately 21 percent of enrolled students came directly after receiving their undergraduate degrees, 35 percent following other graduate study and the balance following one to five (and in a few cases more than five) years of work experience.
Faculty Information
The faculty in EPP have engineering and social science backgrounds. In the 2009-10 academic year there are 45 faculty. CMU offers a unique environment in which interdisciplinary research is encouraged and joint appointments work. The affiliated and adjunct faculty include professors from the following disciplines: business administration, engineering and applied sciences, and the social sciences. Current faculty research is focused on policy problems in energy and environmental systems; information and technology policy; risk analysis and regulation; R&D and management of innovation; technology and economic development (focusing in particular on India, China and Brazil); technology and international peace and security; and quantitative tools for decision support and policy analysis.
Positions for Graduates
Most B.S. graduates from EPP pursue conventional engineering careers or go on to graduate school. Doctoral graduates are prepared for policy-oriented research careers in: research organizations, consulting firms,"think tanks" (~ 20 percent); government (~20 percent); industry (~20 percent); and academia (~40 percent.)
Financial Information
The vast majority (over 90%) of full-time graduate students enrolled in 2003-04 are fully supported. The others are either partially supported by the department or self-supported.
Other Information
In addition to EEP’s other research areas, they are looking for doctoral students to work in the areas of Environmental Risk Assessment for Nanotechnology ; Product Development; and Privacy and Security .
EPP also offers Technological Change & Entrepreneurship PhD programs.
Students who are interested in EPP networked infrastructures may be interested in the dual PhD degree between EPP and Instituto Superior Tecnico in Portugal, developed under the scope of the CMU-Portugal partnership
Students who are interested in EPP and innovation management may be interested in the professional master's program offered by E&TIM.
