TPRC54 Panel Sessions

We're pleased to announce an outstanding lineup of panel sessions for TPRC54! Panelists are currently being confirmed and will be added to the program as their participation is finalized.

Friday, September 25, 2026 2:15pm Panel Sessions

"Whither Telecommunications Policy? Future Directions for a Maturing Research Field"

Organized by Erik Bohlin, Ivey Business School and Journal of Telecommunications Policy

This panel addresses both the need for renewal in the telecommunications policy discourse, as a scientific field, together with its longstanding traditions. Notably, three important outlets such as TPRC, PTC, and the Journal of Telecommunications Policy have been around for more than 50 years, while new conference outlets have emerged and new journals arrived. This panel seeks to take stock of important trends, remaining legacies and new topics.

"Measuring AI Beyond Compute: The Economic and Legal Microfoundations of Governance"

Organized by Christos Makridis, Arizona State University and Gallup

Public discussion of AI policy often treats compute, model capability, and data access as the main objects of governance. This panel shifts attention to the downstream institutional settings where AI is actually deployed: firms, agencies, platforms, and regulated sectors. It examines how AI should be measured beyond technical inputs, including adoption intensity, workflow redesign, workforce adjustment, managerial practices, cybersecurity controls, and complementary investments in software, data infrastructure, and intangible capital. The panel also considers how governance problems arise inside organizations, especially when AI systems depend on proprietary data, third-party platforms, integrated software stacks, automated decision processes, and uneven internal accountability. These measurement and implementation questions have direct implications for intellectual property, competition policy, communications regulation, cybersecurity oversight, and administrative capacity. By focusing on the organizational and legal mechanisms through which AI creates value, reallocates control, introduces risk, and changes market structure, the panel offers a more practical basis for evaluating AI’s economic effects and designing effective technology policy.

"Governing the Space Communications Ecosystem: Telecommunications Policy, LEO Mega-Constellations and Orbital Sustainability"

Organized by Lee McKnight, Syracuse University

Telecommunications policy has entered a new phase as satellite constellations in low Earth orbit (LEO) become a critical communications infrastructure layer. Large-scale LEO systems including Starlink and Amazon LEO are reshaping broadband access, spectrum management, and international telecommunications governance. Firms are exploring even more ambitious concepts—including orbital computing AI data centers to leverage continuous solar power - while space-inclusive network architectures already reach smartphones today.

Saturday, September 26, 2026 3:45pm Panel Sessions 

"Mind the Gap: Overcoming Structural Challenges in Policy-Relevant Internet Measurement"

Organized by Cecilia Testart, Georgia Institute of Technology

As the Internet becomes essential societal infrastructure, policymakers require empirical data to ensure its security and equitable access. However, the NSF-sponsored workshops on Policy-Relevant Internet Measurements and Experimentation (PRIME) identified persistent structural hurdles that prevent technical research from effectively informing policy. This panel explores the "translation gap" and proposes methods to move from one-off studies to a continuous practice of policy-relevant measurement.

"Preemption and the Changing Relationship between Federal and State Regulation"

Organized by Gus Hurwitz and Christopher Yoo, University of Pennsylvania

Preemption debates have become a recurrent and increasingly central feature of telecommunications policy in recent years. Long characterized by a "cooperative federalism" in which federal and state regulators work together jointly, from Net Neutrality to the current copper retirement debate federal regulators have more recently asserted greater primacy of federal regulation in telecommunications. In the copper context, for example, the FCC’s interpretation of § 214 discontinuance authority suggests that state COLR obligations and related requirements may be preempted where they effectively require continued provision of legacy services. This move is not merely about telecom policy: the federal government is not just regulating entry into new technologies, but asserting control over exit from old ones. Similar preemption conflicts are emerging across adjacent, technology-intensive domains. Ongoing debates over the effect Section 230 on state laws, the Trump administration's efforts to preempt state AI regulation, disputes over the role of states in privacy and vehicle emissions standards, and conflicts surrounding the modernization of energy infrastructure to support both AI deployment and environmental concerns all reflect a broader pattern. Across these areas, federal actors are increasingly invoking preemption not merely to resolve regulatory overlap, but to shape the pace and direction of technological change in nationally integrated systems. This panel will explore whether these developments reflect a necessary adaptation to interstate markets and networked technologies, or a more fundamental shift away from cooperative federalism toward a centralized model of governance in technology policy. 

"Why are communities resisting AI data centers?"

Organized by Nicol Turner Lee, The Brookings Institution

U.S. data centers undergird the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) by storing and processing data, text, images, code, and other information sources. Increasingly, communities are reacting to the accelerated design and deployment of data centers with some outrightly rejecting them based on extractive environmental, energy, and water consumption. While some AI companies have vowed to cover their share of these costs or implement clean energy programs, it has not quelled the growing concerns of communities who do not want data centers in their backyard. Further, the promise of jobs is not necessarily compelling for communities to accept the prospects of data centers. In fact, new research suggests that data centers will not create new jobs after construction and will require much fewer workers than expected when the facility is fully operational. Policymakers are split on what can be done to ensure that data centers balance economic development with the increasing need for greater compute infrastructure. On the one hand, some policymakers are seeking to relieve the burdens of extensive permitting and sound environmental remediations. On the other hand, states like California are seeking stronger safeguards to ensure that communities are not left mitigating such harms, or with stranded assets of large vacant facilities. On this panel, experts who have published research on the future of data centers will discuss the ramifications of expansive data center development, the policy conundrum, and how communities across the U.S. and across the globe are addressing the consequences of such growth. In particular, panelists, Darrell West and Nicol Turner Lee, have published research papers that are examining the future of data centers, and exploring the use of community benefit agreements to ensure reciprocity among communities and AI developers. Tech expert, Lili Gangas, has published new research on data center growth in California, and how communities are responding to it. For years, researcher Mark Muro has focused his research on the jobs created as a part of the innovation economy with his recent paper on the role of data centers in job creation and growth; to which he argues may be questionable in developing new opportunities for local communities. Together, these experts will shed light on the growing community and policy concerns around data centers, while engaging the audience on solutions that ensure that communities that desire to engage in this economy will have the needed resources and information to make more informed decisions related to the future of data center growth in their communities.