Why LPE?

"Society’s pressing-problems such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the NAE Grand Challenges for Engineering require be examined from an innovative, systemic, comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach such as the LPE platform; where policy and law inform and are informed by engineering, science, and technology." – Sandra Allain

"Innovation of strategies to address society’s grand challenges is greatly enhanced through strategic partnerships across law, policy, and engineering (LPE) disciplines. Particularly in the realm of sustainability, collaboration between public stakeholders and leaders in LPE is essential to achieving effective implementation and lasting, positive impact." – Rachel Brennan

"As research becomes more cross-disciplinary it is important to revisit and revise educational policies. With more interaction between human and machine new policies and laws must evolve. With increased connectivity and data-driven society data security and privacy policy and laws are critical." - Saptarshi Das

"The LPE initiative is a way to bring together collaborations on important topics at the interface of science, technology, policy, and law. As someone who previously worked in government (State Department, Department of Energy, and Congress), I know that decisions and innovations can have substantial ripple effects throughout society. Building greater understandings around these interconnections will allow Penn State to be at the forefront of critical work solving complicated problems for today and into the future." – Caitlin Grady

"As an interdisciplinary researcher joint between the School of International Affairs and College of Engineering, I strongly believe in the vision of LPE that the solutions to major societal challenges lie at the interface between engineering, law, and policy. I very much look forward to contributing to LPE’s educational and research goals." – Wei Peng

"This program is at the forefront of how the engineering community will interact with external communities to promote and integrate technology in a sustainable regulatory environment." – Salvatore Marsico

"The LPE degree brings together technical and policy areas that are key to advancing careers serving the nexus of government, industry, and public interests.  As such, programs like this will provide a means to train the next generation of leaders to guide the adoption of new technology while preserving our rights and public safety." – Patrick McDaniel

"The LPE is a convening platform for researchers to engage with stakeholders in policy and practice. From a Built Environment perspective, it will broaden the ways through which we can examine the linkages between building codes and market-based solutions." – Esther Obonyo

"Interdisciplinary education and research for nuclear and radiological security with combine efforts of engineering, law and policy are critical to meeting societal needs."  – Kenan Unlu

"Interdisciplinarity is central to the modern practice and study of law. No lawyer or policymaker can operate in most fields today without some ability to engage with research in cognate fields, and this LPE program helps build these connections for our students." – Daniel Walters

 

 
 

About

The Law, Policy, and Engineering (LPE) initiative is an interdisciplinary academic and research initiative between Penn State's College of Engineering, Penn State Law, and Penn State's School of International Affairs. The initiative will provide a transformative educational experience for students by actively integrating components of all three disciplines into the curriculum to prepare students for the competitive, interdisciplinary, global workplaces of the future. 

Law, Policy, and Engineering Initiative

The Pennsylvania State University

Engineering Design and Innovation Building

University Park, PA 16802