About
By cultivating opportunities for international research, education, and collaboration, CIS helps MIT achieve its mission of serving the nation and the world.
Mission
At MIT’s Center for International Studies, we aim to advance the Institute’s international research efforts while educating the next generation of global citizens and leaders. We empower students, faculty, and fellows to bring MIT’s interdisciplinary style of research and scholarship to address complex global challenges.
Programs & Priorities
CIS is a growing ecosystem that hosts more than 20 country and area programs spanning Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. These centers of activity and expertise are hubs that power international scholarship and engagement at MIT through student global education; seed funds for international faculty research; events and seminars; convening scholars and collaborations; and much more. It is home to MIT’s prestigious Security Studies Program (SSP), a leader in security research and analysis, which recently launched a Center for Nuclear Security Policy (CNSP); and to the MIT Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI), which has provided international internship, study and teaching opportunities to thousands of students. Other priorities for CIS include research on democratic development, global diversity, emerging powers, and climate adaptation, education for national security leaders, and policy translation.
Global Impact
The mens et manus (mind and hand) motto that anchors MIT demands that we bring the Institute’s resources and scholarship to proactively meet the needs of a complex world. We foster a community where deep collaboration and diverse perspectives produce new ideas and groundbreaking solutions to a range of global issues. While housed within MIT’s School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, CIS connects, convenes, and engages with faculty from across the Institute, creating a unique and productive synergy between the social sciences and the world’s leading students and scholars of engineering, science, and technology.
At the Center for International Studies, we are passionate about the work of educating tomorrow’s leaders and committed to producing insights that lead to a safer, more prosperous world.
