75 YEARS AFTER HIROSHIMA: A NEW NUCLEAR ARMS RACE?

On August 6 and 9, 1945, over 120,000 people were killed by the atomic bombs dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Decade by decade, the billions of people at risk from direct and indirect effects of nuclear war continue to grow. The recent U.S. withdrawal from arms control treaties and the pursuit of new nuclear weapons capabilities by nuclear weapon states suggest we may be facing a renewed nuclear arms race. In this symposium, we will delve into the resurgent role of sea-based nuclear capabilities in national security strategies and the factors that undermine the generally‑recognized strategic stabilizing effect of submarine-launched ballistic missiles.

More information available at acdis.npre.illinois.edu

Click here to join the webinar live

Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation: Challenges, Opportunities & Careers

Click to pre-register: https://forms.illinois.edu/sec/868548055 Link will be sent prior to the presentation.

The international community faces no shortage of challenges when it comes to preventing the spread of nuclear weapons. The crisis in US-Russia relations, the slow pace of nuclear disarmament, the future of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, and the emergence of new technologies with military applications–these are just a few of the issues that nuclear policy professionals are working to address today.

Each of these problems will require creative ideas and novel methodologies to surmount. In this talk, Sarah Bidgood and Dave Schmerler ’12 will highlight different opportunities and approaches to contribute to this process.  They will focus in particular on the need for greater diversity, including gender diversity, among experts and practitioners in this field. All students, regardless of their prior knowledge of nonproliferation, disarmament, or arms control, are welcome to attend.

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Discussions on the US’ Political and Social Situation

The College of Education is compiling a group of very short (and translated) videos from experts across campus regarding the current political/social situation in the US as a way of providing background and context for incoming and current international students and scholars. In late July, they will begin hosting discussion sessions with current students both international and domestic to ask/discuss the videos or just the situation in general. The broad topics of discussion include the following:

• What historical context do I need to understand the US right now?

• What is the role of political protest in the US?

• How will the current context impact my experience at Illinois?

To participate in the discussions, please register here.

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Nuclear Threat Reduction

Angela Di Fulvio is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nuclear, Plasma & Radiological Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

For more information:  Neutron Measurement Laboratory

Be Safe, Practice Social Distancing, and Please Keep an Awareness of:

– OUR World’s Shared Challenges – 

• Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases by John Hopkins CSSE

• CDC: Center for Disease Control and Prevention

• Video on COVID-19: Why social distancing is important

• Response to COVID-19 in Taiwan.  Big Data Analytics, New Technology, and Proactive Testing

The ACDIS  Security Studies RSO meets weekly.

For more information, please click here:  ACDIS SSG

In addition, we offer the opportunity to be published in our student journal. 

For more information, please click here:  Illini Journal of International Security.

Did you know that ACDIS offers a Certificate in Global Security?

For more information, please click here:  ACDIS Certificate

Have you signed up for the ACDIS Newsletter?

ACDIS publishes a weekly newsletter that updates readers on ACDIS sponsored events, provides scholarship information, area studies centers events, and shares security related events taking place on campus. Interested? Please click:  ACDIS Newsletter Sign Up

ACDIS Honors the Celebrated Leader in Security and International Affairs: Stephen P. Cohen

Salute to Professor Stephen P. Cohen

by Ed Kolodziej

Let us suppose that Stephen P. Cohen had pursued a different academic career than that as a Professor of Political Science and History at the University of Illinois for thirty years and, later, as a distinguished Fellow at the Bookings Institution in Washington D. C.

It is not farfetched to say that, absent Steve Cohen, ACDIS might never have been created, nor would that South Asian studies enjoy today its elevated status in academia and in policy circles around the globe.

The death of Stephen P. Cohen has deprived us of a beloved colleague, an esteemed scholar, a leading influence in South Asian security studies and policy-making, and mentor of scores of students and public servants — and a mensch to all who knew him.

Continuing reading, click:  Salute to Professor Steven P. Cohen

Watch the Latest Jeremiah Sullivan Lecture:
The Strategies of Terrorism by John Lynn

You can now find the past Jeremiah Sullivan Lectures under Programs in the top menu. There you can go through the lecture slides or watch the recordings.

John Lynn kindly offered to prepare a fresh recording of his latest Jeremiah Sullivan lecture on The Strategies of Terrorism. You can find it in the Jeremiah Sullivan Lectures page on the website, found under Programs in the top menu, or you can watch it by clicking here.

Sarah Bidgood is the Director of the Eurasian Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center in Montery, CA, and David Schmerler is a Senior Research Assistant for the James Martin Center in Washington DC.