Science, security program gets $2.2m

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced Wednesday that it would award a $2.25 million grant to Princeton's Program on Science and Global Security, which trains scientists and conducts research on nuclear nonproliferation issues.

The University was one of four schools to win grants totaling $8 million, which are designed to increase the number of faculty positions and researchers working at the intersection of science and international security.

"There is an enormous need in national and international security to marry scientific and technical knowledge with policy," program co-director Chris Chyba said. "The [Princeton] program is one of the few, and one of the best, programs in the country helping to train scientists and others to do this."

Carnegie Mellon, Cornell and the Georgia Institute of Technology were the other schools to receive grants.

The University's grant will fund new research, travel to foreign countries and the salaries of faculty and research staff. Research will focus on ways to reduce dangers from Russian and American nuclear weapons, and ways to encourage cooperation between India and Pakistan to reduce threats from their nuclear arsenals.

The program will also use the money to fund continued research on diseases caused by bioterrorism. Since 2002, the program has worked to strengthen protection against disease outbreaks by collaborating with U.S. and regional public health systems.

The four institutions that received grants on Wednesday were chosen for their reputations as some of the top research institutions in the nation, MacArthur Foundation spokesman Andy Solomon said.

"Princeton's Program for Science and Global Security is really a leader in nonproliferation research and a major training center for international researchers interested in the field of security-related technology," he said.

Support nonprofit student journalism. Donate to the ‘Prince.’ Donate now »

The MacArthur Foundation has been one of the program's longterm sponsors. A three-year, $1.35 million MacArthur grant announced in 2003 enabled the program to recruit new faculty members, including Chyba, who joined as a co-director in July 2005.

Five other U.S. universities, including Harvard, Stanford and MIT, and 25 research institutions in Europe, Russia and China have received funding through the Foundation's $50 million Science, Technology and Security Initiative since it was launched in 2003.

"The number of specialists providing independent analysis of nuclear and biological weapons dangers falls far short of the international community's needs, especially as the threat of terrorism has grown," foundation president Jonathan Fanton said in a statement this week. "There should be more substantial engagement between policymakers responsible for decisions regarding security and technical specialists with the expertise on these new and emerging threats."

Since its founding in 1975, the Program on Science and Global Security has focused on issues of nuclear arms control and nuclear-power safety. It has attracted staff and visiting researchers from around the world, including India, Pakistan, Russia, China and South Korea. It was originally part of the University's Center for Energy and Environmental Studies but split in 2001 to become a separate security research program within the Woodrow Wilson School.