CAMBRIDGE, MA—The Center for International Studies at MIT announces today that Shivshankar Menon, a former national security advisor of India, has been named a Robert E. Wilhelm fellow. The Indian diplomat will be at CIS for one month beginning February 3, 2015.

Menon's career with the Indian Foreign Service began in 1972. He served the Department of Atomic Energy as advisor to the Atomic Energy Commission. He continued this work after being posted in Vienna. Then he held three posts in Beijing. The final position in China he served as ambassador. He has also served as ambassador to Israel and high commissioner to Sri Lanka and Pakistan. He was appointed foreign secretary in 2006, and was the national security adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. His term as national security adviser ended in May 2014.

During his time at MIT, Menon will be working on a history of India-China relations. He will also meet with faculty and students to discuss regional issues.

CIS director Richard Samuels welcomed Menon: "My colleagues and I are thrilled that the former national security advisor of India has accepted our invitation to MIT. We look forward to his time with us."

A generous gift from Robert E. Wilhelm supports the Center's Wilhelm fellowship. The fellowship is awarded to individuals who have held senior positions in public life and is open, for example, to heads of non-profit agencies, senior officials at the State Department or other government agencies, including ambassadors, or senior officials from the UN or other multilateral agencies. Previous Wilhelm fellows include: Ambassador Barbara Bodine, Ambassador Frances Deng, Admiral William Fallon, and Yukio Okamoto, a former special advisor to the prime minister of Japan.