Visit our website to learn about all of the Center's fall 2018 activities. Many events are captured on video and available to view on YouTube.
 

Human Rights & Technology Fellowship Program

The Center announced a new fellowship program in human rights and technology for MIT undergraduates. The program supports students’ research, participation in a working group, and other activities. It is intended to produce new knowledge about the relationship between human rights and technology—ie, how technology can enhance human rights work, and how the use of technology can impede human rights. In its inaugural year, the Center awarded six research fellowships. The students' projects are expansive, and include field work in Africa and South Asia and a variety of topics. Four of them in different ways address the human right to health care or healthy environments and how technology can ensure good outcomes. Read more here.

MIT-Japan goes full STEAM ahead

The MIT-Japan Program and Tohoku University's Science Angels held their second annual collaborative education program for children, appropriately titled “Let’s STEAM!” The one-day event aims to encourage children—especially girls—to pursue their interest in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM).”

Selin and Oye win 2018 Martore Teaching Award

The Joseph A Martore Award for Excellence in Teaching in the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS) was awarded to two faculty members for 2018: Noelle Selin and Ken Oye. The curriculum underwent a periodic revision in 2017, requiring the merger of Selin’s modeling subject with Oye’s longstanding subject Science, Technology, and Public Policy. The synthesis reinvigorated both of their lesson plans while affording the students a learning environment that showcased their differing perspectives on the subject. 

Journalist Una Hajdari joins CIS

The Kosovo journalist will use her time as the 2018 IWMF Elizabeth Neuffer fellow to highlight the issues that affect the everyday lives of people in the Balkans and in Eastern Europe. “Oftentimes, outlets focus on the ‘big geopolitical narratives’ ... and neglect the stories that don’t necessarily fit into this polarized perspective, ” said Una Hajdari, who began her journalism career in post-conflict Kosovo, focusing on the lingering tensions between the Serbian and Albanian communities there. Over the years, she has covered politics, minorities, nationalism, inter-ethnic tensions, right-wing groups and hate speech in the Western Balkans for regional and international English-language outlets. Read more here. 

Starr Forums

The Center hosted a series of public talks including: The Assault on Intelligence: American National Security in an Age of Lies, with guest speaker and author General Michael Hayden (former director of the CIA and NSA), moderated by Joel Brenner (MIT); Citizenship Under Attack, with Peter Spiro (Temple University), moderated by Justin Steil (MIT); Pachinko, with author Min Jin Lee, moderated by Amy Carleton (MIT); The Rise of Populism, with Elizabeth Leeds (MIT), Sana Aiyar (MIT), Aysen Candas (Bogazici University), and Pippa Norris (Harvard); and Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress, with author Steven Pinker (Harvard). Most Starr Forums are available to view on the Center’s YouTube channel. Transcripts, when available, are posted here.

Myron Weiner International Migration Seminar

The Myron Weiner Seminar Series on International Migration explores factors affecting international population movements and their impact upon sending and receiving countries and relations among them. The two events for fall 2018 were: Current State of US Immigration: Trends, Policy Issues, and Public Opinion (Neil Ruiz, Pew Research Center) and Asian Americans and Affirmative Action Policy (Van Tran, Columbia University)

SSP Wednesday Seminars

The Security Studies Program's lunchtime series included: Rajan Menon, City College of New York, on "The Rise and Fall (?) of the Humanitarian Intervention Project"; Kimberly Marten, Barnard College, Columbia University, on "Russia's Use of Semi-State Security Forces: The Case of the Wagner Group"; Max Abrahms, Northeastern University, on "Rules for Rebels: The Science of Victory in Militant History"; Lori Murray, Council on Foreign Relations, on "Rising Nuclear Threats in a Disrupted World"; and Jeanne Guillemin, MIT, on "Hidden Atrocities: Japanese Germ Warfare and American Obstruction of Justice at the Tokyo Trial". A complete list of SSP Wednesday Seminars for fall 2018 is available here.