Center for Business, Technology
and the Environment
The Center for Business, Technology, and the Environment was founded in 1993 to foster interdisciplinary research in areas of economic development. The Center provides historical perspectives on critical issues facing our society. It builds upon the strong belief-reflected in both the graduate and undergraduate programs in History and Policy-that history greatly enriches our understanding of current societal problems. The Center draws upon departmental strengths in the history of technology, business history, and environmental history and brings focus to the work of its faculty and graduate students in these areas. In addition, the Center draws upon the resources of Carnegie Mellon in such related departments and professional schools as engineering, public policy, architecture, and business administration.
The Center seeks out domains and projects in which the application of historical research can help in diagnosing problems and solving them. Examples of such work include demonstrating how the development of transportation infrastructure influenced regional economic growth; examining the relative successes and failures of past public and private policy initiatives in such areas as economic development and land use planning; exploring the history of particular sites to appraise them for environmental risks (such as soil and subsoil contamination); assessing the impacts of new technology on business, society, and the environment; and developing long-term trends in various environmental quality measures to provide benchmarks for current environmental policy. The Center thus highlights the relevance of historical studies to understanding present-day concerns and formulating sound policies related to business, technology, and the environment. Initial projects have addressed the economic impact of the railroad in western Pennsylvania; science and technology in the Cold War; the history of urban revitalization efforts in Pittsburgh; the history of the RAND Corporation; environmental problems stemming from the abandonment of industrial sites; the growth, decline, and realignment of industrial R&D in the Pittsburgh region; and the creation of environmental indicators for the Pittsburgh region. Financial support has come from the Sloan Foundation, the U.S. National Park Service, the National Science Foundation, the Heinz Foundation, and Duquesne Light and Power.
For more extended information on the Center for Business, Technology and the Environment, please contact the Director, Joel A. Tarr at jt03@andrew.cmu.edu or Associate Director, David A. Hounshell at hounshell@andrew.cmu.edu.