Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center Announces 2010–2011 Nuclear Security Fellows

The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School has announced the 2010–2011 Nuclear Security Fellows. Supported by a generous gift from the Stanton Foundation, the fellows will spend a year in residence at the Belfer Center where they will conduct research under the auspices of the Center's International Security Program and Project on Managing the Atom.  The fellowships begin in September 2010.

2010–2011 Nuclear Security Fellowships have been awarded to the following scholars:

Karthika Sasikumar, who will be a junior faculty fellow, is an assistant professor of political science at San Jose State University in California. She earned her Ph.D. from the government department at Cornell University and previous degrees from Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. Her current research projects deal with the adoption and adaptation of deterrence theory in South Asia, civil-military relations in nuclearizing countries, and the implications of a "renaissance" in nuclear power.

Yun Zhou is currently a research fellow with the Belfer Center's Project on Managing the Atom and International Security Program. She is a graduate of Beijing's Tsinghua University and received a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from University of California, Berkeley. She will be a post-doctoral fellow whose research will focus on the requirements and consequences—for nuclear safety, security, and nonproliferation—of a major expansion of nuclear energy in China and elsewhere around the world.

Mahsa Rouhi is a Ph.D. candidate in international relations at University of Cambridge, UK, and a research associate at the Center for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She received her B.A. in economics from Shahid Beheshty University in Tehran and a master's degree in political theory from the University of Sheffield, UK. During her nuclear security fellowship, she will continue her dissertation research and writing on Iran's foreign and security policymaking, with a special focus on Iran's nuclear-related policymaking.

"The Stanton Foundation has had the wisdom to understand the importance of supporting emerging talent in this critical field, and we are grateful for the chance to work with them in providing opportunities to these outstanding young scholars," said Steven E. Miller, director of the Belfer Center's International Security Program.

The Stanton Foundation

The Nuclear Security Fellowships are supported by a gift from the Stanton Foundation, established by Frank Stanton, the president of CBS News from 1946–1971. During his 25 years at the network's helm, Stanton turned an also-ran radio network into a broadcasting powerhouse. Stanton died in 2006 at the age of 98 years.

Throughout his life, Stanton was interested in international security and U.S. foreign policy. He served on several presidential commissions charged with preparing the United States for the challenges of living in a nuclear world. In 1954, Dwight Eisenhower appointed Stanton to a committee convened to develop the first comprehensive plan for the nation's survival following a nuclear attack. Stanton was responsible for developing plans for national and international communication in the aftermath of a nuclear incident. According to a statement from the foundation, "The Stanton Foundation aims, through its support of the Nuclear Security Fellows program, to perpetuate his efforts to meet [such] challenges."

The Stanton Foundation notes that Stanton was a strong defender of free speech and was determined to use television as an "instrument of civic education." For example, in 1960 he supported the first televised presidential debates with Richard Nixon and John Kennedy, which required a special act of Congress before they could proceed. These debates were credited with helping Kennedy win the presidency, and have since become a staple of U.S. presidential campaigns.