The Center for International Studies (CIS) supports and promotes international research and education at MIT.
CIS includes 100 members of the MIT faculty and staff, mainly drawn from the departments of Political Science and Urban Studies and Planning, and visiting scholars from around the world. We sponsor formal programs, multidisciplinary working groups and numerous public events. While CIS does not offer courses, students engage with the center's faculty and staff as colleagues in research, dissertation students, participants in a range of events, and enthusiastic interns in the MIT Science and Technology Initiative (MISTI), the ground-breaking international education program. The center also provides other services to MIT students: internships, other opportunities to work in programs, and help with finding resources for research.
Within CIS is the MIT Security Studies Program (SSP), a graduate-level research and educational program. The Program's teaching ties are primarily with the Political Science Department, and courses offered emphasize grand strategy, causes of conflict, military technology, bureaucratic politics, and budgetary issues. A special feature of the program is the integration of technical and political analyses in studies of international security problems, but the program's prime task is educating those who will be the next generation of scholars and practitioners in international security policy making.
For more information on SSP, contact Joli Saraf, Room E40-477, 617-258-7608, fax 617-258-7858 joli@mit.edu.
The MIT International Science and Technology Initiative (MISTI) is MIT's cornerstone program for international education. Through country programs in China, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, and Spain, MISTI places more than 350 students per year in internships with companies, research labs, and universities around the world. MISTI also supports MIT faculty members in cross-border research collaborations, works with institutes and universities on the transfer of OpenCourseWare information and iLab capability, facilitates research opportunities for international students and postdoctoral visitors at MIT, and arranges study opportunities for MIT students at selected universities abroad.
For more information, contact the program assistant, Room E40-428, 617-258-0385, fax 617-258-7432.
Seminar XXI is an educational program for senior military officers, government and NGO officials, and executives in the national security policy community. The program's objective is to provide future leaders of that community with enhanced analytic skills for understanding foreign countries and the relations among them. The fundamental criterion for fellows is that candidates should reach top decision-making levels in the next three to five years.
The program explores key policy issues by examining countries and problems critical to American interests through a variety of paradigmatic lenses.
For more information, contact Tisha Gomes, Room E40-417, 617-258-6862, fax 617-258-7044, tishag@mit.edu.
The Program on Human Rights and Justice, an interdisciplinary program created by CIS and the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, focuses on teaching, research, and application in human rights, and provides a forum on human rights issues at MIT. The activities of the program include research projects and placing interns in intergovernmental organizations, private sector, and nongovernmental organizations worldwide.
For more information, contact phrj@mit.edu.
The Inter-University Committee on International Migration, created 30 years ago, organizes the Myron Weiner seminar series, honoring the late MIT professor and pioneer in migration studies. The committee also undertakes other projects on an ad hoc basis. Member institutions are Boston University, Brandeis University, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Harvard, MIT, Tufts University, and Wellesley College. The committee is hosted at MIT by CIS.
For more information, email cis-migration@mit.edu.
The Program on Emerging Technologies (PoET) is a collaborative effort between the School of Engineering and the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. Researchers at the Center for International Studies work together with colleagues from the Engineering Systems Division, the Technology and Policy Program, the Department of Political Science, and the Program in Science, Technology, and Society. With current, future, and historical focuses, research efforts address diverse implications of emerging technologies and how responses to anticipated policy or societal impacts may shape the way in which those technologies are developed.
For more information, contact Rebecca Ochoa, E40-444D, 617-253-8306, fax 617-253-9330, rochoa@mit.edu.
The Persian Gulf Initiative was launched in 2005 and has now held workshops on political violence, stability and legitimacy, energy security, the regional impacts of the Iraq war, and other topics. It sponsors research such as the Iraq mortality study, publications, and public forums, several of which have been held in Washington, DC, and New York.
For more information, contact Casey Johnson-Houlihan, E40-445, 617-258-8550, caseyj@mit.edu.
The briefing paper series, Audits of the Conventional Wisdom on US foreign policy, is part of the center's public education program. Begun in spring 2005, the audits feature empirical analysis of pressing global issues, authored by MIT and guest scholars. They appear on the CIS website.
CIS manages the MIT-Japan International Studies Fund Grants, intended for advanced doctoral students at MIT working in close collaboration with faculty members on any international aspect of energy, environment, and international affairs.
Among the public events sponsored by CIS are the Starr Forum, the Emile Bustani Middle East Seminar, and the Security Studies Seminar Series. The Starr Forum mounts major public events for the MIT community and the broader public. The center's website is also a source of information and analysis, news about CIS activities, and a fellowship database. Audits of Conventional Wisdom, the Foreign Policy Index, recent op-eds and articles by CIS scholars, videos of talks, and other resources are found online.
Each year the center appoints as visiting fellows a few academics and government officials, both from the United States and abroad. Supported by their universities, governments, or foundations, these fellows work on problems relevant to the center's research and training interests. The Robert Wilhelm Visiting Fellow in International Studies is a distinguished visitor with extensive experience in government. The Elizabeth Neuffer Fellow is a woman journalist who reports on human rights and social justice.
For more information, contact executive director John Tirman, Room E40-447, 617-253-9861, tirman@mit.edu.