Technology, Management, and Policy
The Technology, Management, and Policy Program (TMP) is an interdisciplinary Ph.D. program directed at producing world-class researchers striving to improve methods used in defining and implementing policies for the intelligent use of technology. The program was established in 1992 and became a part of the Engineering Systems Division in 1998. The students within the program are motivated by their recognition of specific problems at the boundaries between technological development and social and industrial policy. The goals of the TMP program are to supply an academically rigorous environment within which these students, under the guidance of MIT faculty, work to extend the nature and purview of the tools needed to understand and address these issues.
The common vision of the program participants is that a dual competency in a technical area and in management and policy is the basis for the effective design of large-scale systems. The research efforts within the program are leading to the development of a new paradigm for the planning and design of engineering systems-a paradigm that blends technical expertise with competence in economics, management, and policy to achieve a better adaptation of technology to societal goals.
Students are not directly admitted to the program; rather, they are first admitted to the Master's program in Technology and Policy. Upon their arrival at MIT, these potential TMP students then prepare a case for admission to the TMP program, which requires that they: construct an appropriate research question; assemble a cadre of MIT faculty committed to that effort; and develop a proposed curriculum that will assure that the student will be equipped to address this question in a manner consistent with the highest academic standards of the fields represented. This admission case is then reviewed by the TMP admissions committee, composed of faculty drawn from the MIT Schools of Engineering; Management; and Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences.
Although the majority of the students in the program initially came to MIT solely for the S.M. in Technology and Policy Program (TPP), there has been an upsurge in applicants who have specifically targeted admission to TMP over the past three years. The program currently admits about five students each year, and students take approximately five years to complete their degrees. There currently are 20 students enrolled in the TMP program, and five new students were admitted. Seven TMP Ph.D.s were awarded this year and these graduates have joined their colleagues in careers in industry, academia and the government.
A new TMP program statement was constructed by the TMP Faculty Committee, chaired by Professor Daniel Hastings. This document sharpens the definition of the TMP degree, as well as establishing a set of formal requirements and procedures for the program. In addition to modifying the admissions process, the intellectual context for the degree is outlined, and the associated educational requirements are summarized.
More information about the Technology, Management, and Policy Program can be found online at http://mit.edu/tpp/www/.