Engineering and Public Policy

Carnegie Mellon’s Department of Engineering and Public Policy (EPP) works to solve problems at the intersection of science, technology, and society by informing and helping to craft effective policy in a wide array of domains such as climate change, misinformation, national security, artificial intelligence, natural disaster response, privacy, and critical infrastructures.

Inspire solutions

Programs

Undergraduate

Master’s

Ph.D.

Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering and Public Policy

Engineering and Public Policy Research

EPP graduates go on to...

Work at companies like:

Boston Consulting
Deloitte
Intel
KeyLogic
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Procter and Gamble
RAND Corporation
Stantec
Thermo Fisher Scientific

Pursue graduate degrees or careers in academia at universities like:

Carnegie Mellon University
Columbia University
Harvard University
Hong Kong University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Princeton University
University of Colorado
University of Michigan
University of Oxford

Research areas

Energy systems

Climate and environment

Risk analysis

Information and communication technology

Technology innovation policy

News

Feb 15

Energy & Environment

Shifting gears in the transition to electric vehicles

Electric vehicle emissions costs are anticpated to continue to decline through 2025, after which they will be affected by key factors such as the evolution of the power grid, battery technology, and public policy.

Faculty from Carnegie Mellon University will collaborate with West Virginia University and University of Pittsburgh on a National Science Foundation Regional Innovation Engines program.

CMU partners to reimagine energy in the region

Dec 18

Energy & Environment

Quantifying barriers to establishing sequestration wells

Recent work from CMU researchers estimates the time required to develop, approve, and implement a carbon capture and sequestration site and provides insights into how this timeframe could be reduced.

Research paper

Oct 24

News & Events

Moonshot grant launches faculty to new heights

The National Network for Critical Technology Assessment (NNCTA), directed by Erica Fuchs, shares their findings in their report, Securing America’s Future: A Framework for Critical Technology Assessment.

Oct 3

Energy & Environment

CMU team wins Best Presentation Award at NASA competition

A group of Engineering and Public Policy graduate students took home the award for Best Presentation on behalf of the NASA’s Gateways to Blue Skies: Clean Aviation Energy Competition.

Sep 29

Energy & Environment

Understanding energy behaviors for a more equitable future

By studying energy-limiting behavior related to both heating and cooling in vulnerable households, policies can be modified and developed to address inequities.

Sep 20

Energy & Environment

Albert Presto named director of CAPS

Albert Presto has been named the director of the Center for Atmospheric Particle Studies (CAPS) at Carnegie Mellon University.

Recent study reviews challenges associated with electricity-system planning and suggests how systems could balance eliminating carbon emissions, affordability, and system reliability.

Modeling energy storage for a decarbonized future

Jun 27

Energy & Environment

How sustainable is online grocery delivery?

Researchers investigated the impacts of online grocery delivery on energy use, emissions, and traffic congestion.

Jun 12

Energy & Environment

Decarbonization: Climate change is personal now

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says carbon capture deployment is lagging if we want to meet global mitigation targets. With the stakes so high, why is this the case?

May 31

Energy & Environment

Tech advances will drive the transition to electric vehicles

Researchers found that advances in EV technology will likely bring significant growth to the market, relative to gasoline powered automobiles.

May 22

Energy & Environment

Karplus publishes review on the politics of environmental policy

Valerie Karplus has co-authored a review in Nature Sustainability on political strategies for achieving environmental policy goals.

Not every undergraduate research stint leads to a major scientific journal publication, an internship with a federal agency, and a prestigious scholarship, but it did for Lauren Janicke.

Reducing air pollution boosts undergrad’s success

Apr 27

Health & Biomedicine

Fischhoff co-authors report on lessons from COVID

Baruch Fischhoff co-authored The COVID War, a book evaluating the effectiveness of the government’s COVID response efforts.

Apr 25

Energy & Environment

U.S. natural gas pipelines vulnerable to electric outages

Interdependencies between the natural gas and electric grids could cause cascading outages during hazardous events, particularly in California, the Midwest, the Gulf Coast, and the Eastern US.

Mar 14

Energy & Environment

Improving air quality in Africa

CMU-Africa, CMU-Pittsburgh, and global collaborators create an air quality testing center in Ghana with new funding from the Clean Air Fund.

Research paper

Feb 7

Energy & Environment

Increasing transmission efficiency would cut air pollution

Researchers identify investment in electricity transmission and distribution systems as significant opportunity for reducing air pollution.

Feb 2

News & Events

Akinci, Cagan, and VanBriesen named 2022 AAAS Fellows

Burcu Akinci, Jonathan Cagan, and Jeanne VanBriesen, senior faculty members in the College of Engineering, have been named 2022 AAAS Fellows.