Dr. Phil Laplante is Professor of Software and Systems Engineering at Penn State and a visiting computer scientist at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).  He received his B.S., M.Eng., and Ph.D. from Stevens Institute of Technology and an MBA from the University of Colorado. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and SPIE and has won international awards for his teaching, research and service. From 2010-2016 he led the effort to develop the national licensing exam for software engineers.

He has worked in avionics, CAD, and software testing systems and he has published 37 books and more than 300 scholarly papers. He is a licensed professional engineer in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and a Certified Software Development Professional. He is also a frequent technology advisor to senior executives, investors, entrepreneurs and attorneys.
His research interests include the Internet of Things and related areas, safety critical systems, requirements engineering and complex systems project management.
Prior to his appointment at Penn State he was a software development professional, technology executive, college president and entrepreneur.