EPP Research Overview Continued

Engineering and Public Policy (EPP) is a unique department in the College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University which addresses important problems in technology and policy. The department offers a research-oriented Ph.D. program and double-major undergraduate B.S. programs with each of the five traditional engineering departments and Computer Science.

Research in the department focuses on problems in:

• energy and environmental systems;
• information and communication technology policy;
• risk analysis and communication; and,
• technology policy and management (including technological innovation and R&D policy).

Across these four focal areas, the department also addresses issues in technology and organizations and technology and economic development, focusing in particular on India and China. We frequently undertake the development of new software tools for the support of policy analysis and research. And, we sometimes study issues in arms control and defense policy.

The graduate program in Engineering and Public Policy educates technically skilled men and women at the doctoral level to be leaders in policy-focused research. We work on policy problems in which the technology matters - - problems in which technology cannot be treated as a black box.

Policy-focused research differs from policy analysis in three important ways: it takes a longer term perspective; it takes a more fundamental perspective; and it may focus on the development of theory and of analytical tools and techniques as well as on solving specific problems.

Perhaps the quickest way to understand what EPP's graduate program is all about is to look at a few of the more recent titles among the more than 100 Ph.D.s the department has now awarded:

• Profit and the academic ethos: The activity and performance of university-industry research centers in the United States. (1995)
• A framework for improving the cost-effectiveness of demand-side management program evaluations. (1995)
• Privacy and reliability in internet commerce. (1996)
• A methodology for evaluating the usefulness of global-change information for long-term decision making: A case study of fisheries management in the Pacific Northwest. (1996)
• Regional integrated municipal solid waste management in the Northeastern United States. (1996)
• Outcomes-based evaluations for educational programs in engineering: A focus on the construction industry (1996)
• Electricity utility conservation programs: Empirical studies of impacts and cost-effectiveness. (1996)
• An application of statistical methods for modeling impacts of climate change on the terrestrial distribution of vegetation. (1996)
• An analysis of security incidents on the internet. (1997)
• Evaluating the cost-effectiveness of the title IV acid rain provisions of the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments. (1997)
• Economies of scale in information dissemination over the internet. (1998)
• Life-cycle models of conventional and alternative-fueled automobiles. (1998)
• Economic and sulfur removal models for optimization of a pressurized fluid bed combustion (PFBC) power generation system. (1998)
• Technological changes and pollution control: An adaptive agent-based analysis. (1998)
• Pricing of integrated-services networks. (1998)
• Studies in natural and human system response relevant to global environmental change. (1998)
• Designing wireless local loops using low tier technology: An approach to providing basic telecommunications service in less developed countries. (1998)
• Economic and sulfur removal models for optimization of a pressurized fluid bed combustion (PFBC) power generation system. (1998)
• An assessment of air pollution and environmental impacts from international maritime transportation. (1999)
• Development and evaluation of a risk-ranking method. (1999)

The risk of accidents and spills at offshore production platforms: A statistical analysis of risk factors and the development of predictive models. (1999)

The graduate program in Engineering and Public Policy is having impacts on the world of policy analysis and decision making in several ways. First and most important, many of our outstanding graduates have become key players in that world with positions in industry, government, and academia. Second, through our research we are improving the practice of policy analysis and decision making. While this research frequently contributes to the solution of specific problems, our motivation in selecting the topics we address is often more general. Through our doctoral studies we develop improved basic understanding, better analytical tools, and generalizable insights which support future improvements in policy research and analysis. Research performed in EPP contributes to an increase in knowledge and the standards of practice among policy experts. As a result, arguments that were state-of-the-art the last time an issue was on the policy agenda, fall out of date and must be revised and strengthened on the next iteration. Weaknesses in analytic methods, which were acceptable the last time around, become recognized, and improvements are demanded. This gradual process of diffusion is having substantial impacts in the policy community. Through the Department's many involvements with key decision makers and organizations, and through the EPP office in Washington D.C. (located just six blocks from the White House), students have opportunities for direct involvement in the policy process.

All graduate students in EPP have a technical background. As part of the Ph.D., students take additional engineering and science courses, courses in quantitative methods, and courses in social science and social analysis from departments and colleges all over the University. In addition, EPP offers a sequence of graduate core courses in quantitative methods and policy analysis. For details see the Graduate Studies section under "Academics" on the EPP web page at http://www.epp.cmu.edu. Joint Ph.D. programs with traditional engineering departments and with other academic units are available.

As part of the process of preparing for the Ph.D., the opportunity exists to do a M.S. in EPP or jointly between EPP and one of the five traditional engineering departments. Except in special circumstances, students are not admitted just for an M.S. degree. As of the spring of 2000, EPP had graduated just over 100 Ph.D.s.

At the undergraduate level, Engineering and Public Policy is committed to educating students-with-a-difference, for careers in conventional engineering. To accomplish this, joint degree programs are offered with all five of the University's traditional engineering departments and with Computer Science. These programs allow undergraduates to complete all the conventional requirements for an engineering degree, while also developing important skills in economics, social analysis, history, and policy analysis. The result is that, in addition to being first-rate engineers, EPP B.S. graduates are able to deal effectively with the variety of societal and policy problems that are increasingly a part of modern engineering practice. A Technology and Policy minor is available for students not in engineering or computer science. A five-year B.S./M.S. program is available to Carnegie Mellon undergraduates. The EPP undergraduate program began in 1970. As of the spring of 2000, we had graduated approximately 550 double-major undergraduates.

After completing research with Professor Benoit Morel, former research associate Steven Black served as a member of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) to supervise Chemical Weapon destruction in Iraq.

The faculty in Engineering and Public Policy are a mixture of engineers and social scientists. Because of Carnegie Mellon's unique institutional environment, which supports and encourages interdisciplinary research, most EPP faculty hold joint appointments with traditional disciplinary departments. Many are active in their traditional fields, as well as in EPP. Jointly appointed EPP faculty regularly involve their more traditional disciplinary colleagues in EPP research. As a result of such collaboration, in research as well as in undergraduate teaching programs, the department is an integral part of the broad fabric of engineering and social analysis research and teaching at Carnegie Mellon.