Adam Berinsky is an assistant professor of political science and studies the political behavior of ordinary citizens. Berinsky has also studied the continuing power of ethnic stereotypes, the effect of voting reforms and the power of the media.

He is the author of the book Silent Voices: Public Opinion and Political Participation in America.

Nazli Choucri, a political scientist, works in international relations and international political economy, with a focus on conflict, connectivity and the global environment (including e-development, e-business and e-learning). She directs the Global System for Sustainable Development.

Fotini Christia is assistant professor of political science and member of the Security Studies Program at MIT. Her area of expertise are in issues of ethnic conflict and civil wars. She completed a dissertation on civil war alliance formation, which involved extensive fieldwork in Afghanistan and Bosnia.

She has published work on the role of local elites in civil wars in Comparative Politics, and has written opinion pieces on her experiences from Afghanistan, Iran, the West Bank and Gaza, and Uzbekistan for The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Boston Globe.

Diane E. Davis is professor of political sociology in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT, as well as head of the International Development Group.

She is the author of Urban Leviathan: Mexico City in the Twentieth Century (Temple University Press, 1994; Spanish translation 1999) and the award-winning Discipline and Development: Middle Classes and Prosperity in East Asia and Latin America (Cambridge University Press, 2004), as well as co-editor of Violence, Coercion, and Rights in the Americas (Sage Publications, 2000), Irregular Armed Forces and Their Role in Politics and State Formation (Cambridge University Press, 2003) and a forthcoming volume titled Cities and Sovereignty: Identity Conflicts in the Urban Realm (Indiana University Press, 2010).

In addition to her writings on the history and politics of urban growth in the developing world, Davis has published articles on public space, local governance, urban social movements, democratic transition and rule of law in urban Latin America.

Her most recent research, supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, examines the evolution of policing in the developing world, both public and private, with a focus on Mexico City, Moscow and Johannesburg.

Krusell worked in the Palestinian Territories from 2005 to 2006. A primary focus of his work was public opinion research, working closely with a local pollster, Nader Said, then affiliated with Birzeit University in Ramallah. Much of this centered on the January 2005 legislative election (the Hamas victory) and also included the peace process and 2006 war with Hezbollah. During that time, he briefed Administrative, Congressional and EU officials on polling results and cowrote an article on opinion research with Said.

Krusell maintains contact with the Palestinian pollster and can also share insights into attitudes toward current talks and possible scenarios for achieving a two-state solution. In a broader context, he would be comfortable discussing the political situation in the Palestinian Territories, including the split in power between the West Bank and Gaza and the role of political parties, elections and civil society. Having worked on a daily basis in Ramallah and travelling to Gaza, he can speak firsthand as to the conditions and challenges facing the Palestinians. Likewise, having lived in Jerusalem, he is aware of the security concerns of the Israelis. 

Kenneth A. Oye is associate professor of political science at MIT. He served two terms as director of the MIT Center for International Studies (1992-2000), and is now forming a Political Economy and Technology Policy Program within the center.

He has published six books, including Cooperation Under Anarchy, Economic Discrimination and Political Exchange and Eagle in a New World, and numerous shorter pieces in international relations, political economy, and science and technology policy.

Richard Samuels served as head of the MIT Department of Political Science between 1992-1997 and as vice chairman of the Committee on Japan of the National Research Council until 1996. From 2001-2007 was chairman of the Japan-US Friendship Commission, an independent federal grant-making agency that supports Japanese studies and policy-oriented research in the United States.

Grants from the Fulbright Commission, the Abe Fellowship Fund, the National Science Foundation and the Smith Richardson Foundation have supported a decade of field research in Japan. His most-recent book, Securing Japan: Tokyo’s Grand Strategy and the Future of East Asia, was named one of the five finalists for the 2008 Lionel Gelber Prize for the best book in international affairs. His previous book, Machiavelli’s Children: Leaders and Their Legacies in Italy and Japan, a comparative political and economic history of political leadership in Italy and Japan, won the 2003 Marraro Prize from the Society for Italian Historical Studies and the 2004 Jervis-Schroeder Prize for the best book in International History and Politics, awarded by the International History and Politics section of the American Political Science Association.

Eugene Skolnikoff has focused his research and teaching interests in the field of science and public policy, especially the interaction of science and technology with international affairs. This interest has covered a wide range of international subjects, including recent studies in global climate change and proliferation.

He studied electrical engineering at MIT, followed by politics and economics at Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship, and political science at MIT once again. He has held a variety of posts, including serving on the White House staff in the Office of the Special Assistant to the President for Science and Technology under Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy, and he played an active role as senior consultant to the White House Science Office under President Carter.

Skolnikoff served as head of the Department from 1970-1974, and was director of the Center for International Studies from 1972-1987. He has been a consultant to government departments and international organizations, has held a variety of posts in professional societies, and was instrumental in the development of the science and public policy fields at universities in the U.S. and abroad.

His research publications include Science, Technology and American Foreign Policy; International Imperatives of Technology; and a major new book titled The Elusive Transformation: Science, Technology, and the Evolution of International Politics.