The Center for International Studies (CIS) aims to support and promote international research and education at MIT. Capitalizing on MIT's great strengths in science and engineering, the center examines the international aspects of these fields as they relate to both policy and practice, and focuses on those issues where science and engineering intersect most closely with foreign affairs.
CIS includes 160 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 teaching programs, the center's faculty and staff engage with students as colleagues in research, audiences in public events, and enthusiastic participants in the MISTI international internship program. The center also assists MIT students in obtaining external funds for international activities through the CIS fellowship database.
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. The SSP senior research and teaching staff includes social and natural scientists and policy analysts. 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 Magdalena Rieb, program coordinator, Room E38-624, 617-258-7608, fax 617-258-7858.
The MIT International Science and Technology Initiative (MISTI) is MIT's cornerstone program for international education. Through country programs in China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, and Spain, MISTI places more than 200 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, 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 Kelli Eagan, program assistant, Room E38-762B, 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. Fellows learn to recognize assumptions that underlie assessments of foreign societies confronting them as policymakers. 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, program coordinator, Room E38-274, 617-258-6862, fax 617-258-7044.
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 C. J. Huang, program assistant, Room 9-426, 617-258-7614, phrj@mit.edu.
The Inter-University Committee on International Migration is a focal point for migration and refugee studies at member institutions, which include Boston University, Brandeis, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Harvard, MIT, Tufts University, and Wellesley College. The committee is hosted at MIT by the Center for International Studies.
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 Annie Abbondante, program assistant, E38-270, 617-253-8306, fax 617-253-9330, aca@mit.edu.
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 seminars and workshops sponsored by CIS are the Starr Forum, the Starr Forum on the Rise of China, the Emile Bustani Middle East Seminar, and the Security Studies Seminar Series.
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 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 the director, Richard J. Samuels, Room E38-235, MIT, 617-253-3121.