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MIT Center for International Studies: 75 Years of Shaping Global Understanding

The MIT Center for International Studies (CIS), celebrating 75 years, integrates engineers, social scientists, and policy practitioners to address global challenges, embedding international studies within science and technology.

Established during the Cold War, CIS pioneered the understanding of intertwined science, technology, and geopolitics. Its interdisciplinary approach, convening faculty across fields, has influenced global development, security studies, and modernization research.

Notable contributions include inspiring the Peace Corps, establishing security studies as an academic field, and founding programs in arms control and defense policy.

CIS has also fostered global exchange through initiatives like MISTI, sending students abroad for reciprocal learning and research, and the Global Seed Funds for international academic collaboration.

The center actively engages with current global issues through programs focused on regions like the Middle East, North Africa, Ukraine, and China, mobilizing cross-disciplinary knowledge.

The MIT Security Studies Program, a leading incubator of ideas, influences debates on grand strategy and nuclear policy. It recently launched the Center for Nuclear Security Policy with a $45 million gift.

Seminar XXI, a nine-month program, convenes rising leaders from the U.S. government and national security community to address complex issues. CIS also supports undergraduate research, postdoctoral fellowships, and public events like the Starr Forum.

Looking ahead, CIS 2.0 will focus on the geopolitical implications of AI, global cooperation amid climate crisis, and the evolving U.S. role in a contested international order, emphasizing interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches.

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