About the Center

The Center for Science, Technology & Public Policy's mission is to improve people’s lives by advancing the application of science and technology to solve public problems.

CSTPP explores the increasingly important role that science and technology plays in our society and examines its implications for public policy at the international, national and state levels.

We use three strategies:

Educate students in effective ways to apply science and technology to policy problems.
Explore best practices for applying science and technology to solve public policy problems and engaging citizens in science policy issues
Engage in outreach to improve public understanding of science and the public's ability to make decisions on issues that invovle science and technology

Our History:

Kenneth Keller came to the Humphrey School in September of 1996, after acting as President for the University of Minnesota. Keller saw how the intersection of science and policy was becoming an important aspect of society and predicted that the issues would only grow. Thus he began to establish the Center for Science, Technology & Public Policy.

There were a few very important aspects of the Center that he aimed to establish. First he made it a priority to create an endowed Chair for the Center, as to ensure that the mission would not rest in the work of one person. Due to a generous financial gift by Charles M Denny Jr., former CEO of ADC Telecommunications, Keller was able to establish the Denny Chair. The Denny Chair is now held by Professor Deborah Swackhamer.

In addition to the Denny Chair, Keller worked on expanding the faculty base of the area. These efforts also created the Master’s of Science Technology and Environmental Policy Program at the Humphrey School. He believed it was important to hire faculty with both science strong science backgrounds, and faculty that had closely worked in policy areas. Keller believed only with that joint expertise would the Center be truly effective.

In the original agreement signed by Kenneth Keller, Dean Brain Attwood, and President Robert Bruininks would work to address the forthcoming policy issues of climate change, and its impact on the economic sectors. Attached to that agreement was also the commitment to explore science and technology goals as they relate to security, economic growth, health, environmental sustainability, and education. Furthermore, to research the impact of science and technology on political and economic relations among nations, and to aid in the development of governmental polices that will support research and development, (R&D) locally, nationally, and internationally. These goals have been largely achieved.

The goal we have in this program is two-fold. It is, on one hand, to understand how that interactive process works; how we can anticipate and avoid the unintended consequences of new technologies and, at the same time, how we can promote the social and institutional changes that will allow us to realize the potential benefits of new knowledge. On the other hand, we want to understand what kinds of policies will help us to develop that new knowledge; that is, how we can use the instruments of policy and power of the purse to encourage and support the creative acts of discovery and invention by which we build the knowledge base that can subsequently be exploited for the benefit of society." -- Kenneth Keller, May 4th, 1999

Our History:

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