Statistics/Engineering and Public Policy Joint Ph.D. Degree
The joint Ph.D. in Statistics & Engineering and Public Policy (EPP) at 一本道无码 prepares students to tackle policy issues with advanced statistical techniques.
Students focus on energy, environment, risk, innovation, and technology policy. The program combines core Statistics Ph.D. requirements with EPP courses like Policy Analysis, Quantitative Methods, and Applied Policy Workshops. Students must complete a teaching experience, social science courses, and pass the EPP Qualifying Exam. Research culminates in a thesis supervised by faculty from both departments.
Fundamental Program Requirements
- Complete a teaching experience by either teaching a Statistics course, the EPP Teaching Practicum (19-753), or the EPP Project Management course (19-752).
- Take at least two approved Social Science/Policy courses (24 units), including Applied Microeconomics (90-908 or equivalent).
- Pass the EPP Part A Qualifying Exam, which involves writing a research paper supervised by advisors from both departments, followed by a 20-minute presentation and Q&A, after the third semester.
- The thesis committee must include at least two faculty members from EPP and two from Statistics.
Course Requirements
Typically, students enroll in 3-4 courses per term during their first year and aim to complete all coursework by the end of their third year.
Course requirements are personalized to accommodate individual backgrounds and educational objectives.
Course Descriptions
Engineering and Public Policy Core
19-701: Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Policy Analysis
This course reviews and critically examines a set of problems, assumptions and analytical techniques that are common to research and policy analysis in technology and public policy. Topics covered include the difference between science, trans-science and policy analysis, policy problems formulated in terms of utility maximization, issues in the valuation of intangibles, uncertainty in policy analysis, selected topics in risk analysis, limitations and alternatives to the paradigm of utility maximization, issues in behavioral decision theory, issues related to organizations and multiple agents, and selected topics in policy advice and policy analysis for the federal government. The objective is to look critically at the strengths, limitations and underlying assumptions of key policy research and analysis tools and problem framing and sensitize students to some of the critical issues of taste, professional responsibility, ethics, and values that are associated with policy analysis and research.
19-702: Quantitative Methods for Policy Analysis
Economic framework for identifying and analyzing investment and operation options facing agencies and firms, (both in theory and in practice); economic efficiency, utilization, pricing, and investment; and multi-objective evaluation.
19-705: Workshop in Applied Policy Analysis
This workshop course is about learning how to structure messy un-structured policy problems. It is designed to provide experience in setting up, analyzing, and writing about policy problems of the type that are used in the EPP Part B qualifying exam. Over the course of the semester, the class works through six or seven policy case problems. Much of the work is done in small groups. The principal focus is on integrating the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the problems and on identifying and practicing general problem-solving strategies.