Academic scholars have been largely absent from the current debate over prospects for eliminating nuclear weapons. Mainstays of teaching and research in political science and international relations programs during the Cold War, the subjects of nuclear strategy and deterrence, today, are either taken for granted or simply overlooked. Now, in the midst of increased momentum for a national and global non-proliferation agenda, Adam Stulberg has launched a project to reinvigorate scholarship on the issue: the “Program on Strategic Stability Evaluation (POSSE): Re-thinking Stability Criteria along the “Road to Zero””.

The Sam Nunn-Bank of America Policy forum will take place March 29, 2010. Presented by Georgia Tech’s Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, the Center for International Strategy, Technology, and Policy, and the Ivan Allen College, the 2010 forum will explore the challenges and opportunities for pursuing a path towards a world free of nuclear weapons.

Applications for Sam Nunn Fellows are now being accepted for the Academic Year 2010/11. Deadline for Applications is Friday, 19 March 2010 @ 5pm.

Prof Kosal delivers brief on nanotechnology and chemical weapons agents at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague, The Netherlands on November 9th.

Professor Adam N. Stulberg of the Center for International Strategy, Technology & Policy at Georgia Tech and Professor William C. Potter of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) at the Monterey Institute of International Studies invite applications to participate in the newly formed Program on Strategic Stability Evaluation (POSSE). This joint initiative is generously supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York (CCNY). POSSE seeks to promote international scholarship on issues of strategic stability under deeply reduced or eliminated nuclear arsenals. The objectives of the program are to: a) forge a global network of young scholars on strategic stability; b) increase interaction both between members of the network and between the network and policy practitioners; c) fill knowledge and methodological gaps concerning analysis of strategic stability; and d) identify the means to advance and sustain nuclear arms reductions and disarmament under changing strategic landscapes.

The Obama administration’s emphasis on research-based policy-making and human resources for science and engineering gives new import in the U.S. to the type of dialog that unfolded during the Atlanta Conference on Science and Innovation Policy Oct 2-3.

Why do Silicon Valley and Boston continue to thrive as high tech industry hubs while other promising areas stagnate? It’s a question long debated by researchers, but new findings by Dan Breznitz of the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs and School of Public Policy, identify localized business connections and funding as imperatives. In a case study focusing on Atlanta, Breznitz highlights critical changes needed for that city and provides a roadmap for other regions looking to grow high tech industry.

Professor Margaret E. Kosal presented two papers at the Atlanta Conference on Science and Innovation Policy (Oct 2-3, 2009). Both papers presented were co-authored by INTA Students. (1) "Bioterrorism Deterrence: the Role of Public Health in Security" by Margaret E. Kosal, Ana Terron, and Katherine Lange. (2) "Bionanoechnology and Iran" by Margaret E. Kosal and Nikita Basandra. Ana Terron and Katherine Lange are both International Affairs Modern Language (IAML) undergrads. Nikita Basandra is Biomedical Engineering undergrad.

Major General Robert E. Livingston, Jr., Director of the J5 Coalition Coordination Center, United States Central Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, addresses Professor Margaret E. Kosal's graduate seminar on Counterinsurgency and Small Wars on Wednesday, October 7.

Professor Margaret E. Kosal is an invited speaker at the International Conference on Emerging and Disruptive Technologies (14-15 September 2009) in Singapore. Her presentation is "Bionanotechnology and Security: Is Small Scary?"

The Ivan Allen College occupies a unique and pivotal role at Georgia Tech, the result of a decade of work under the outstanding leadership of former Dean Sue V. Rosser. We established a new national model for liberal arts research and curriculum – one that dissolves the boundaries that traditionally separate fields of study, that integrates the analytical and qualitative and the humanistic and technological/scientific, and that places us at the center of the future of this great institution.

The Daisy Alliance is once again offering several scholarships ($1000, $500 and $250) based on an Essay Contest on the topic of "The Role of NATO in the 21st Century".

Professor Margaret Kosal participated in a by-invitation-only colloquia on August 10 on the future needs of the US Government and nation on education of the biodefense policy workforce. Experts in public policy and biodefense policy from academia, government, and the private sector were brought together to review current educational and training programs, identify challenges, and provide recommendations to address those challenges.

The pursuit of the minutely small – nanotechnology – is thriving in academia, in the private sector, and in global state science and technology programs. In her new book, Nanotechnology for Chemical and Biological Defense (Springer 2009), Margaret E. Kosal (Assistant Professor, Sam Nunn of International Affairs) focuses on the security implications of nanotechnology and emerging science.

Professor Seymour (Sy) Goodman provides testimony and questions for the record before the Subcommittee on Research and Science Education, House Committee on Science and Technology, Washington, DC.

Ivan Allen Dean Sue V. Rosser is at the mid-point of a three-year research initiative investigating ways to retain women and underrepresented minority students as engineering majors. In a recently published article in On Campus with Women, Rosser explains the problem and the curricular solutions that are being explored.