Primary Affiliation
Program in Computation, Organizations, and Society (COS)
Inst. for Software Research (ISR)
School of Computer Science (SCS)
Carnegie Mellon University

Additional Academic/Research Affiliations

1. Research Engineer Dept. of Engineering & Public Policy (EPP) Carnegie Mellon University
2. Assoc. Director TechBridgeWorld Carnegie Mellon University
3. Senior Fellow Center for Study of Science, Technology, and Policy (CSTEP) Bangalore, India

Infrastructure in emerging economies: technology, pricing, regulation, and security.

B.S. with honors (Electrical Engineering) 1995, Brown University
Ph.D. (Engineering & Public Policy) 1998, Carnegie Mellon University.

Carnegie Mellon 1998 -

Interests

• Infrastructure – Analysis, Development, and Planning [especially for developing communities]
• Information and Communications Technology (ICT) for Sustainable Development
• Telecommunications technology and policies (especially access technologies)
• Digital divide issues and telecom leapfrogging
• Telecom, Power and Information sectors finance, restructuring, and (de)regulation
• IT for power sector management, control, and demand response (e.g., Smart Metering)
• Energy technologies, pricing, and evaluation
• Energy security and cooperation
• Information security, privacy, and education
• Disaster Response
• Issues of Technology Transfer and Implementation

Dr. Tongia is interested in issues of infrastructure in emerging economies, especially the role of technology choices for improving deployment and penetration.  Using quantitative policy and decision analysis, he has focused on the energy and telecom domains.  In addition to engineering-economic analyses, his work also deals with broader policy issues such as security, international collaboration (especially US-India), and technology and analysis transfer.

Much of this is driven by the question as to whether developing countries can (or should) follow in the same steps as developed countries.  Part of his research involves developing models for identifying current technology and policy environments, and examining the role of public and private intervention.  A portion of his work involves collaboration with the School of Computer Science, looking at technology options for leap-frogging in telecom infrastructure.

Representative Publications/Projects

• Leapfrogging Designs
• FiberAfrica: How to give affordable broadband (~$1/person) across Africa (discussion note)
• ICT for Sustainable Development
• Information and Communications Technology for Sustainable Development: Defining a Global Research Agend (book)
• The digital power grid
• Smart Metering (Working Paper)
• Digital Divide Studies
• Connectivity and the Digital Divide ? Technology, Policy, and Design tradeoffs for Developing Regions (TRPC 2006)
• Connectivity in Emerging Regions: Need for Improved Technology and Business Models (IEEE Communications Magazine, January 2007)