Visit our website and events calendar for a complete listing of spring 2015 activities. Many of our events are captured on video and available to view on YouTube.

MISTI Helps Empower African Teachers

Empowering the Teachers is a new project to enable outstanding young Nigerian faculty in science and engineering to collaborate with MIT faculty to develop new curriculum and teaching methods. The program is a collaboration of MISTI and its corporate partners Total and Google. Akintunde Ibitayo Akinwande, professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, is the director. 

Harris Named Fulbright Scholar

Tobias Harris, a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science and a member of the Security Studies Program, is studying in Japan as a Fulbright Scholar during the 2011-12 academic year. Harris will conduct interviews and archival research for his project titled "The Politics of Reform in Japan, 1955-2009." He is studying decisions made by Japanese government entities regarding whether and how to undertake reforms, and the factors affecting their success, throughout the country's recent history.

Starr Forums

The Center's Starr Forums addressed a range of timely issues with prominent speakers, including Dana Priest (Washington Post) on her recent co-authored book,Top Secret America; Husam Zomlot (a senior adviser to Palestinian foreign minister Nabil Shaath) on "Palestinian Statehood and the UN;" Chappell Lawson and Alan Bersin (the Commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection) discussed "Border Security in the 21st Century;" Steve Van Evera moderated a talk on "The Republican Party and Foreign Policy," with Michael Singh (The Washington Institute) and Daniel Drezner (Tufts University); and Daniel Yergin (Cambridge Energy Research Associates) discussed his recent book, The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World. Starr Forums and videos>>

South Asian Politics Seminar

The joint seminar on South Asian Politics (co-sponsored by CIS, Harvard's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, and Brown's Watson Institute) featured four talks: "Why is Democracy so Violent in India?" with Kanchan Chandra (NYU); "Democracy and the Politics of Need," with Veena Das (Johns Hopkins University); Incumbants and Criminals in the Indian National Legislature," with Miriam Golden (UCLA); and "War-making and State Building: Pakistan in Comparative Perspective," with T.V. Paul (McGill University).

MIT-France Helps Advance Energy Research

MIT President Susan Hockfield and other Institute representatives traveled to Paris for the France-MIT Forum on Energy, an event to advance collaboration between Institute researchers and their French counterparts. The event also marks the 10th anniversary of the MIT-France program. Read more.

SSP Wednesday Seminars

The Security Studies Program's lunchtime lectures included: Kathleen Hicks, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans, and Forces, US Department of Defense, on "Defense Strategy in a Time of Budget Austerity "; Mike Green, Center for Strategic and International Studies , on "The Shifting Balance of Power and U.S Grand Strategy in Asia"; and Harvey Cox, Harvard University, on "Is Non-Violence a Real Alternative?". A full list of SSP Seminars for fall 2011 is available here. 

MISTI Partners with MEET

MISTI announces a new partnership with MEET (Middle East Education through Technology). MEET will be a new MISTI program, managed by David Dolev. MEET is an innovative educational initiative aimed at creating a common professional language between Israeli and Palestinian young leaders. It was founded by two MIT students and this year 12 MIT students and recent alumni will be instructors in Jerusalem.

Bustani Middle East Seminar

The Emile Bustani Middle East Seminar hosted two talks: "Prospects for Peace and Stability in Two Sudans" with Alexander de Waal (Tufts University); and "The Second Arab Awakening: Challenges and Promise," with Marwan Muasher (Carnegie Endowment).