The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation recently announced that MIT will receive a $1.2 million grant to help reduce the dangers posed by nuclear and biological weapons and materials.
The award is one of 12 grants, totaling nearly $5.3 million, made by the foundation to strengthen independent scientific and technical advice on security policy and to engage decision-makers with timely policy research.
MIT's grant will support its Science, Technology and Global Security Working Group. Grant funds will be used to nurture midcareer and aspiring science and security experts, to conduct technical studies on a range of security issues, including risk reduction in South Asia, and for efforts to ensure that technical analysis is relayed to policymakers in a timely fashion.
The MIT group is a leader in technical analysis of ballistic missile systems, missile defense and global satellite monitoring and surveillance. It is one of the largest groups of university scientists dedicated to independent technical analysis on science and security-related matters.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on April 26, 2006 (download PDF).
