Fall/Winter 2014-15 Belfer Center Newsletter

The Fall/Winter 2014/15 issue of the Belfer Center newsletter features recent and upcoming activities, research, and analysis by members of the Center community on critical global issues. This edition highlights discussions at the Belfer Center about Iran and its nuclear program. Former U.S. National Security Advisor and Center Senior Fellow Thomas Donilon and former Israeli National Security Advisor Yaakov Amidror added their voices to Center debate on this issue during a Harvard Kennedy School forum on a possible deal to prevent development of nuclear weapons in Iran.

In "Stopping ISIL," a number of Belfer Center security experts weigh in on what must be done in the next year to stop the spread and brutality of the Islamic State (ISIL). Graham Allison, Nicholas Burns, Chuck Freilich, Nawaf Obaid, Ariane Tabatabai, Payam Mohseni, David Petraeus, Gary Samore, and Barak Mendelsohn suggest solutions to this strategic challenge.

Center scholars are also deeply involved in international efforts to stem climate change and steps the U.S. can take to increase affordable energy without environmental harm. Robert Stavins explains the importance of “linkage” in the next international climate agreement, while Laura Diaz Anadon, Matthew Bunn, and Venkatesh (Venky) Narayanamurti assess the role the U.S. government should play in energy technology innovation.

Narayanamurti, director of the Belfer Center’s Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, was honored on his 75^th birthday by a two-day seminar focusing on the future of innovation in America. Harvard University Drew Faust noted that only a few people in the world are known by one name – Napoleon, Madonna, Bono, and Venky.

Also in this issue, we welcome new Senior Fellow Daniel Poneman, until recently the deputy secretary of the Department of Energy. And we discuss the Belfer Center’s new Iran Project with the project’s inaugural director Payam Mohseni.

We also welcome contributions to the Harvard community by fellows Farah Pandith and Jairam Ramesh and feature two of our research fellows, Gaëlle Rivard Piché and Atiyeh Vahidmanesh.

Nuclear Security

• Eyes on Iran’s Nuclear Program

International Security and Relations

• Stopping ISIL
• Sigrid Kaag Takes on Syria’s Chemical Weapons

Climate and Energy

• Climate Change Agreement Takes Center Stage
• Affordable Energy Without Environmental Harm

In the Spotlight

• Harvard’s Incomparable Venky (Venkatesh Narayanamurti)
• Q&A with Payam Mohseni
• Belfer Center at IDEASpHERE 2014

New Fellows in Focus

• Former Dep. Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman Joins Center
• Gaëlle Rivard Piché: Gangs and Security in Fragile States
• Atiyeh Vahidmanesh: Education Inequality in the Middle East
• New Fellows Pandith and Ramesh Enrich Dialogue on Critical Issues from Extremism to Climate Change (Farah Pandeth and Jairam Ramesh)
• Grooming Future International Affairs Experts

In Print

• Hot Off the Presses
• International Security Journal Highlights

News and Notes

• From the Director
• Newsmakers
• Belfer in Brief

Fall/Winter 2014 Newsletter

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