Technology continues to impact society across all industry sectors and aspects of daily life. Sanford’s focus on technology policy prepares students to address issues of government support for innovation and actions to mitigate the negative impacts that technology can make on individuals’ lives.
Careers
You will be prepared to assume positions in public service, the private sector and nonprofits dealing with public policy issues associated with tech innovation: legislative staff, executive agency analyst, national security and law enforcement, company government affairs manager, consultant and civil society advocates.
Knowledge
The concentration equips you to understand the different roles that organizations play in the development of tech public policy, including legislatures, regulatory agencies, international organizations, standards setting bodies, civil society organizations, private sector technology companies, telecommunications companies and lobbying consultants.
Focus
Focus on tech policy implications in national security, healthcare, media and gender violence prevention. The overlapping issues of ethics, privacy, cybersecurity, free expression and the impact on historically disenfranchised populations cut across all aspects of the curriculum.
Students can benefit from
Students enjoy interdisciplinary ties to other Duke schools and academic programs including:
- Duke Pratt School of Engineering – Master’s in Cybersecurity Engineering Program
- Duke Law Center for Innovation Policy
- Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke
- Duke Science & Society
- Deep Tech at Duke
- DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy
- Duke Law: Center for Law and Technology
- Duke AI Health
- Center for Innovation Policy
- Triangle Privacy Research Hub
- Duke Cyber Policy Club
- Duke Tech Policy Club
- Duke Tech for Change Club
- Democracy Lab
- Duke Center for Computational Thinking
- Duke Center for American Grand Strategy
Faculty members have an outstanding combination of academic and practical credentials in the world of technology policy, including professors of the practice with years of relevant government, non-profit and private sector experience.
Each semester is packed with campus visits and speeches by current technology policy leaders. The brilliant tech policy speakers who come through Duke Sanford each year are truly remarkable. Dr. Joy Buolamwini, founder of the Algorithmic Justice League, has dedicated her life to exposing the biases embedded in artificial intelligence (AI) and advocating for more equitable technology. Students reflect on her visit:
Knowledge and skills you can acquire
- A global view of technology policy
- Understanding of the roles different organizations play in technology policy
- Knowledge of the impact public policy has in fostering innovation
- A perspective on privacy and cybersecurity risks created by new technologies
- The ability to participate in practical research
- Knowledge of the implementation of artificial intelligence across many domains
- Connections to internships and capstone projects with tech policy leaders
Policy Concentration Advisor
Kenneth S. Rogerson
Professor of the Practice in the Sanford School of Public Policy
Kenneth S. Rogerson is Professor of the Practice at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy, and former Research Director of the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy. He is currently the University's faculty advisor for the BN Duke Scholars. He has served as chair of the American Political Science Association’s Information Technology and Politics Section and the International Studies Association's International Communication Section.
Rogerson earned a PhD in Political Science at the University of South Carolina, where his research focused on international relations, international communications and media policy issues. In his dissertation, he examined the evolution of U.S. foreign information policy. He has a Masters of Arts degree in International Relations and a BA in Journalism and European Studies from Brigham Young University.
Rogerson runs research projects on digital equity through Sanford School’s Tech Policy Lab, including work on technology in education, equitable device distribution, and digital divide issues. He serves on the board of the US national organization Digitunity, which works to provide technology to underserved populations.
Student Story
A cyber crisis is unfolding: ports are stalled, software has failed, and America’s food security hangs in the balance. That was the challenge facing a dozen teams in a competition that places participants from across campus in the heart of a fast-moving national security crisis. Judge Joanne Kim, Director of Business Operations at Vega Health said the growth of the Cyber Cup is a testament to "...Sanford’s commitment to inspiring and preparing the next generation of policy leaders."
Pictured: Graduate Division Champions (502 Bad Gateway) Belen Luengo-Palomino, Delaney McLaughlin, Moonwon Seo, Michael Saju.