In 1981, when the first IBM PC was released, there were fewer than 300 computers on the Internet. Since that time, dramatic improvements in the power and usefulness of information technology have earned it a central place in our lives. We rely on it to reach new levels of economic productivity, keep in touch with each other, interact with government, optimize our medical care, learn about world events, and even to vote. Major changes in each of these areas, brought about by information technology, are forcing leaders in government, industry, and the academy to adapt old rules to a new environment. The stakes are high: wise leadership could permit dramatic improvements in almost every area of life, and poor choices could threaten not only innovation and wealth but also privacy, safety, and trust in government.

The Center for Information Technology Policy uses Princeton’s unique strengths to promote an informed public discussion of digital technologies. Combining faculty expertise in technology and engineering, public policy, and the social sciences with a strong University tradition of service, the Center’s research, teaching, and public programs address digital technologies as they interact with policy, markets and society.

Center participants come from Princeton departments including Computer Science, Economics, Electrical Engineering, Operations Research and Financial Engineering, and Sociology, and the University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

The Center sponsors events such as a lecture series, workshops, conferences, and informal lunchtime discussions.

Director: Edward W. Felten,
Professor of Computer Science and Public Affairs

Associate Director: David Robinson

Executive Committee:

• Edward W. Felten, Professor of Computer Science and Public Affairs
• Andrew W. Appel, Professor of Computer Science
• Paul DiMaggio, Professor of Sociology
• Margaret Martonosi, Professor of Electrical Engineering
• Michael Oppenheimer, Professor of Geosciences and Public Affairs

Associated Faculty:

• David Blei, Assistant Professor of Computer Science
• Michael J. Freedman, Assistant Professor of Computer Science 
• Stan Katz, Lecturer with Rank of Professor, Woodrow Wilson School
• Brian Kernighan, Professor of Computer Science
• Larry Peterson, Professor and Department Chair of Computer Science
• Markus Prior, Assistant Professor of Politics and Public Affairs
• Jennifer Rexford, Professor of Computer Science
• Matt Salganik, Assistant Professor of Sociology
• Paul E. Starr, Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, and Stuart Professor of Communications and Public Affairs
• Ed Zschau, Visiting Lecturer with Rank of Professor, Electrical Engineering and Operation Research and Financial Engineering

The Center is sponsored by the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.