The capstone experience for EPP undergraduates consists of problem-solving project courses to synthesize technology-policy issues with social science analysis. In the EPP Projects course, students work on unstructured, real-world problems that, for proper treatment, require teamwork and contributions from diverse disciplines.

A common lament from recruiters of undergraduates is a lack of general team-oriented, multi-faceted, problem-solving skills, along with poor written and oral communication skills to a broad audience. The EPP Projects courses provide all of those skills to students and are the course most often identified by our alumni as the essential course of their undergraduate careers. Offered each semester, the courses involve faculty and students from EPP, the Department of Social and Decision Sciences Opens in new window, and the Heinz College Opens in new window at Carnegie Mellon. EPP doctoral students serve as project managers. Problem areas are abstracted from local, state, and national situations and involve the interaction of technology and public policy.

Description

In each project course, students work in multidisciplinary teams (engineers, computer science students, humanities and social science students, public policy and management graduate students) on a “cutting edge” project topic with very little in the way of “pre-digested” analysis or solutions. Project faculty attempt to choose topics with both technical and social dimensions, requiring multi-dimensional analysis. Students are given a general goal and are expected to discover existing knowledge on the topic, research existing policies relevant to the topic, and analyze alternatives that make society better off. Using this background research and their technical and social analysis education as appropriate, the students then create new knowledge on the subject. This knowledge is communicated to an external advisory panel, selected from experts and constituencies of importance to the issue. Students give interim reports during the semester, after which the advisory panel may make suggestions on the direction and scope of the work. A final oral report and a written report are presented to the panel at the end of the semester. (12 units)

Objectives

By the end of the course, students should gain skills in the following areas:

  1. Decomposing, structuring, and formulating solutions to unstructured problems
  2. Assessing what can be done and delivering a product on time
  3. Interdisciplinary problem solving: Data collection, analysis, and synthesis, formulation, and evaluation of policy recommendations
  4. Developing professional oral and written communication skills through participation in oral presentations and preparation of the final written project document
  5. Developing the ability to function in multidisciplinary teams

These course objectives are independent of the content and topic or what specific activities and responsibilities a particular student takes on.

Project course archive

Spring 2024: Energy Transitions - Cost and Sustainability of Trade-offs


Fall 2023: Mitigating Flood Risks and Impacts in Pittsburgh’s Four Mile Run


Spring 2023: Infrastructure Bill and Inflations Reduction Act Impacts on the Clean Energy Transition


Fall 2022: Electric Vehicle Charging for Urban Dwellers - The Case of Allegheny County


Spring 2022: Planning for Public Transit in a Post-Pandemic Remote Work World


Fall 2021: Enhancing the Regulation of Industrial Air Pollution


Spring 2021: Implications of Vehicle Electrification for Geopolitical Supply Chain Risks, Trade, Security, Economic Prosperity, and Social Welfare (Jobs, Environment, Equity)


Fall 2020 Decarbonizing Residential Energy Use in Allegheny County


Spring 2020: The Success and Public Impacts of Technology Development Zones: The Case of Neighborhood 91