Visit our website and events calendar for a complete listing of spring 2016 activities. Many of our events are captured on video and available to view on YouTube.

Posen Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

Each year the International Security Studies Section of the International Studies Association recognizes a distinguished scholar in International Security Studies with an award for lifetime achievement in International Security Studies. Prior recipients of the award have included Thomas Schelling, Kenneth Waltz, Samuel Huntington, Robert Jervis, and John Mearsheimer. The 2017 Distinguished Scholar Award recipient—our own Barry Posen—will be honored at a special panel at the ISA conference in Baltimore in February 2017. The Center congratulates him on being recognized by the profession for his many contributions to scholarship and teaching.

IPL Awards Funds to 13 MIT Projects

The International Policy Lab (IPL) concluded its first institute wide Call for Proposals this past January. The IPL awarded six fully supported projects ($10,000 plus staff assistance) and seven partially supported projects. Roughly half of these projects address energy and environmental policy, while the rest are equally distributed among international security, biology and health, and big data and privacy policy issues. For a complete list of projects click here.

MIT-Imperial College London Seed Fund Winners

The MIT-Imperial College London Seed Fund awarded $60,565 to three MIT faculty pursuing joint projects with peers at Imperial College London. The grant primarily supports travel costs for exchange between teams at MIT and Imperial College London with priority given to projects that are new or entering a new phase; that reflect a balanced collaboration between participants; and that involve undergraduate and graduate students as well as early-career scientists. An initiative of the MIT Office of the Associate Provost for International Activities and Imperial College London, the seed fund is administered by MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI).

Myron Weiner Seminar on International Migration

The Center hosted three seminars including: "Migrants' Rights in the UN Human Rights Committee," with Gerald Neuman, Co-Director of the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School; "Understanding the Impact of War and Displacement in Cities: an Information Approach for Urban Settings," with Karen Jacobsen, Acting Director, Feinstein International Center, Tufts University; and "Refugees and Migrants: the Current Crisis in Greece and Europe," with Jackie Bhabha, Professor of the Practice at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Lecturer in Law at Harvard Law School and Katerina Sokou, Washington DC correspondent of Kathimerini Greek Daily Newspaper.

CIS Awards 23 Summer Study Grants

The Center is pleased to announce the recipients of its summer study grants. The grants have been awarded to twenty-three doctoral students in international affairs at MIT. Each will receive up to $3,000 for summer studies, which may be used for fieldwork, archival research, or home-based research and write-up. Criteria for the awards include the importance of the research question, the quality of the research proposal, and strong letters of support. For more information and a list of recipients, click here.

Gomez, Saraf Receive Infinite Mile Awards

The Center is pleased to announce that Griselda Gomez and Joli Divon Saraf each received a SHASS Infinite Mile Award. Gomez, the managing director of the MIT-Mexico Program at MISTI, received the award in the category "Great Ideas." Gomez spearheaded the initiative to include a health and safety information session for students going to Latin America.The model was so well received and helpful that it was replicated for all MISTI country programs and is now a core requirement for all MISTI students.  Saraf, the assistant director of the Security Studies Program, received the award in the category "Inclusion." Saraf has implemented a number of events that promote workplace community. These events range from informal, impromptu happy hours to the signature formal dinners and award ceremonies that the program runs annually. A nominator noted, "Joli understands that a truly collegiate and inclusive workplace is built on a bit of fun, comfort, friendship and encouragement, which she works tirelessly to provide.”

SSP Wednesday Seminars

The Security Studies Program's lunchtime series included: Lyle Goldstein, U.S. Naval War College, on " Meeting China Halfway: How to Defuse the Emerging US-China Rivalry;" Jon Lindsay, University of Toronto, on "Restrained by Design: Cyber Security and the Attenuation of War;" Clark McCauley, Bryn Mawr College, on "Countering Violent Extremism (CVE): The Two-Pyramids Model of Radicalization;" Matthew Fuhrmann, Texas A&M, on " When Do Leaders Free-Ride? The Case of Military Alliances;" and Sarah Daly, University of Notre Dame, on "Coercion and Politics: Citizen Support for Political Actors with Violent Pasts." A list of SSP Wednesday Seminars for fall 2016 is available here.

Starr Forums

The Center hosted multiple Starr Forums this spring including: "With Friends Like These: U.S. Allies and ISIS," featuring Barry Posen (MIT), Sarah Leah Whitson (Human Rights Watch), and Kristin Fabbe (Harvard); "Confronting the China Cyber Challenge," featuring James Mulvenon (Defense Group, Inc.) and Joel Brenner (MIT). "3.11: Fiver Years After the Triple Disaster in Northeastern Japan," featuring Richard Samuels (MIT), Tatsujiro Suzuki (Japan Atomic Energy Commission of the Cabinet Office), Kenneth Oye (MIT), Miho Mazereeuw (MIT), and Akinobu Murakami (University of Tsukuba); "Bitcoin and the Global Economy," featuring Michael Casey (MIT) and Cristina Dolan (TradingScreen); and Jay Aronson (Carnegie Mellon University), Christopher McNaboe (The Carter Center), Bradley Samuels (SITU Research) and Sucharita Varanasi (formerly with Physicians for Human Rights), on "Human Rights and Technology." For a full list of fall Starr Forums and a link to the videos, click here.