Middle East

Students in the initial class examine electronics components as they begin their year-long course of studies.

New program from MIT offers refugees a career boost

ReACT will award credentials in computer and data science through online and in-person instruction.

January 23, 2018

The American University in Cairo is the first school in the world to pair with MIT in accepting the DEDP MicroMasters credential to help students embark on their master’s education.

Worldwide change takes global effort

The American University in Cairo is the first school to grant master's credits to MITx Data, Economics, and Development Policy MicroMasters program learners.

January 5, 2018

A study co-authored by MIT professor Daron Acemoglu shows that demonstrations in Cairo’s Tahrir Square lowered the stock market valuations of politically connected firms — indicating how much people thought a full democratic revolution was possible.

Street signs

Study shows how seriously investors took the possibility of a democratic revolution during Egypt’s Arab Spring.

December 19, 2017

Guest speaker Peter Krause presents a chart measuring changes over time in the rate of political violence in Algeria.

Tackling complex Middle East statehood issues

Bustani Middle East Seminar lectures by Leila Farsakh and Peter Krause PhD '11 take a close look at nationalist movements in Israel, Palestine, and Algeria.

November 16, 2017

Left to right: MEET facilitators Ted Golfinopoulos, a PSFC research scientist, and graduate students Adam Kuang and Alex Tinguely spent time in Israel as part of program that provides a safe place for Israeli and Palestinian high school students to become colleagues in the study of science, technology, and entrepreneurship.

Bridging the divide with technology

Three from the Plasma Science and Fusion Center spend time with the Middle East Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow.

November 14, 2017

Richard Nielsen’s book, “Deadly Clerics: Blocked Ambition and the Paths to Jihad,” finds a certain portion of Muslim clerics who end up advocating for jihad — war against Islam’s foes — started out as mainstream clerics looking for state-sponsored jobs where they could use their intellectual training, only to become unemployed, disenchanted, and radicalized.

Why some Muslim clerics become jihadists

In his new book, political scientist Richard Nielsen proposes a “blocked ambition” hypothesis.

November 9, 2017

Winners of the 2017 Better World Media Contest: At left, Max Freitas and his D-Lab project partner Hope Chen (pictured, with patient) developed and field tested prosthetics with Rise Legs through MIT-India. Right: Dou Dou '17 brought over 80 Israeli and Palestinian high school students together by teaching them computer science and entrepreneurship through MIT-MEET.

Tackling the world’s challenges in the field

MISTI media contest showcases MIT students working to build a better world.

October 2, 2017

MIT Sloan School of Management student Vick Liu demonstrates how small and portable a compressed TravlerPack is — an important attribute for refugees carrying all of their possessions on foot.

MIT students design and donate sleeping bags to Syrian refugees

"It's a simple solution to a big problem."

September 18, 2017

Researchers have developed a fast, inexpensive robotic device that can find even tiny leaks in pipes with pinpoint precision, no matter what the pipes are made of.

Finding leaks while they’re easy to fix

Robot can inspect water or gas pipes from the inside to find leaks long before they become catastrophic.

July 17, 2017

“This is not the first time that we have seen anti-immigrant sentiments surge in the U.S.,” said MIT Assistant Professor Justin Steil at a recent MIT Starr Forum, The Fight Over Foreigners: Visas and Immigration in the Trump Era. “Despite the fact that most U.S. residents are descended from either voluntary or involuntary migrants, all the way back to Benjamin Franklin there has been skeptic...

3 Questions: Justin Steil on the Trump administration travel ban

Assistant professor of urban studies and planning argues immigration is good for the U.S. and that President Trump's executive order threatens national security.

July 7, 2017