TPP Mission

As a major educational and research program hosted by ESD, the mission of TPP is:

Educate engineers and scientists in responsible leadership of technology development by implementing policies for the benefit of humanity.

The span of issues of concern to the program is global. TPP provides a dual professional excellence oriented around both policy and MIT’s strategic strength in engineering and science analysis and development. The program focuses on providing a high impact, high quality education to the most qualified graduate students who have demonstrated interest and promise in a wide range of technology and policy areas. Effective leadership and communication skills for managing the policy process are central to the program. TPP graduates have the knowledge and flexibility to manage conflicting interests and values at all stages of the policy process.

TPP emphasizes leadership in the development and implementation of intelligent, responsible strategies & policies that address the use and control of technology for the benefit of our communities -- local, national and international. It fills a basic gap in traditional university structures, which normally develop skill in technology quite separate from any in-depth understanding of the disciplines -- such as economics, law and politics -- necessary to develop effective practical strategies. It acknowledges that the leadership skills necessary for effective implementation of technology tie into engineering systems. First, and most importantly, for systems problems the problem-solving (design) process itself can have a very significant impact not only on the solution that is arrived at but also on its implementation. This is because the ability and willingness of those involved to implement can be a function of their roles in arriving at the solution. Managing a participation-intensive problem-solving process can be a major leadership task in its own right. Therefore, the sort of leadership which can successfully engage the parties necessary to effecting a solution can significantly enhance the ultimate social impact of the system. Second, engineering systems leadership sometimes requires a distinctive style of intellectual leadership -- very integrative and with the skills necessary to untangle ill-defined problems. This is the kind of leader that TPP aims to produce.

The associated TMP doctoral degree program (Technology, Management & Policy Program) is focused on educating individuals who will produce scholarship integrating some area of technology with applied social science, with a particular emphasis on strategy and policy. Each student's tailored program focuses simultaneously on a technology discipline and an applied social science such as economics, management or political science.