In the News

From warheads to cheap energy

As the Cold War ended in the late 1980s and early ’90s, a new fear arose amid the rejoicing and relief: that atomic security might fail in the disintegrating Soviet Union, allowing its huge stockpile of nuclear warheads to fall into unfriendly hands. Many officials and scientists worried. Few knew what to do. That is when MIT physicist, Thomas L. Neff, hit on his improbable idea: turning Russian warheads Into American electricity.

In the News

How should we use our intelligence?

News@E40

MISTI receives NAFSA award

MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI) was recently presented with the 2013 Senator Paul Simon Spotlight Award during International Education Week in Washington, D.C. The award is granted by NAFSA: Association of International Educators to innovative university programs that make a significant contribution to campus internationalization. "MISTI has spawned entrepreneurs, academics, and venture capitalists who work on the global stage with language skills on top of advanced technological prowess." Read more

précis

précis Interview: Richard Nielsen, assistant professor of political science, MIT

Richard Nielsen, assistant professor of political science at MIT, uses statistical text analysis and fieldwork in Cairo mosques to understand the radicalization of jihadi clerics in the Arab world. He sat down with précis to discuss current projects and courses he's teaching.

précis

What kind of capitalism?

In the many intense debates over development in Latin America in recent decades, the question rarely arose, as it had in previous decades, as to what kind of capitalism existed or whether capitalism in Latin America was somehow different, says Ford International Professor of Political Science Ben Ross Schneider. Read an excerpt from his recent book.

précis

Insurgent organizational structure and the control of collective violence

A central moment during the United States surge in Iraq came with the August 2007 stand down of Muqtada al–Sadr's Jaysh al–Mahdi (JAM). As a result, sectarian violence declined drastically as Baghdad became more stable.¹ However, few analysts in academia, the government, or the private sphere expected the ceasefire to hold.

précis

Briefings

The Center hosted a Starr Forum on the "Snowden Affair" on December 12; CIS and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars are collaborating on a $233 ,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to help realize potential benefits and to address potential ecological effects of synthetic biology; Prodita Sabarini, a Jakarta-based journalist, has been selected as the 2013–14 Elizabeth Neuffer Fellow.

précis

Activities

The Center hosted multiple Starr Forums; As part of its Global Teaching Labs, MISTI will be sending more than 80 students to Israel, Mexico, Korea, Spain, Italy, and Germany; the Center hosted Jonathan Alpeyrie as an artist in residence; the Center hosted a seminar on "Survival Migration: Failed Governance and the Crisis of Displacement," by Alexander Betts; Brian Haggerty wrote an Audit on "Debating U.S. Interests in Syria's War."; MISTI was recently presented with the 2013 Senator Paul Simon Spotlight Award.

précis

End Notes

End Notes features the professional achievements of our scholars, students, and staff. This includes recent awards, speaking engagements, and publications.

Audit

Debating US interests in Syria's civil war

In the aftermath of a chemical attack in the suburbs of Damascus on August 21, President Obama's threat to launch a limited cruise missile strike to "deter and degrade" Syrian President Bashar al-Asad's chemical weapons capability has once again thrust U.S. Syria policy to the forefront of national debate.