Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy & Technology - Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy & Technology

CMU's home for Political Science and International Relations, CMIST is an interdisciplinary institute that works across Carnegie Mellon University to tackle the risks and benefits of emerging technologies in war and peace.

Academics

Tech & Policy

Washington Center

The Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy & Technology or "CMIST" is a university-wide initiative dedicated to the wise development, use and governance of new and emerging technologies that are changing war and peace. The home for Carnegie Mellon University’s study of Political Science and International Relations, CMIST is uniquely poised to take advantage of the university’s strengths in computer science and engineering, and its distinctive tradition of cross-university, cross-disciplinary research. Focused on questions of power and governance, CMIST builds new frameworks for managing global and national security challenges.

CMIST White Paper Launch Event with Harry Krejsa

CMIST's Scientists & Strategists Speaker Series with Kate Zernike

CMIST's Lawfully Speaking: A Forum for Law & Ethics event with John Bellinger

CMIST cohosted event for the US Army War College International Fellows

CMIST's MITS graduate students present their Capstone Projects

CMU Washington Semester Program students attending the PA Delegation event with CMIST Director, Audrey Kurth Cronin

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At CMIST we address the challenges of new and emerging technologies through a political science lens.

Inaugural Publications

CMIST's first white paper from Director of Studies Harry Krejsa, Sun Shield: How Clean Tech & America’s Energy Expansion Can Stop Chinese Cyber Threats, discusses how the U.S. can lead the charge on clean energy while protecting our infrastructure from rising cyber threats. With China's influence in critical energy supply chains growing, it’s time to rethink how we modernize and protect our energy systems. Get insights on upgrading the electrical grid with digitally-native tech, leveraging clean energy deployment to strengthen our cybersecurity, and boosting American leadership in the technologies that will power tomorrow’s economy.

View White Paper Watch Launch Event

CMIST has had a dynamic first year addressing the critical challenges posed by emerging technologies on security, governance, and society. We have fostered a vibrant interdisciplinary environment by bringing together experts from across the university, launched speaker series translating research into actionable insights, and prepared students to address the most pressing issues of our time. Key achievements this year include organizational restructuring, strategic faculty recruitment, expansion of our academic curriculum.

View Annual Report

Team of Teams

CMIST is a Team of Teams that works with cutting-edge Carnegie Mellon University research units, including the School of Computer Science, Cy-Lab, the Army Artificial Intelligence Integration Center, Heinz College, the Block Center, Dietrich College, the Software Engineering Institute, the Tepper School of Business, the College of Engineering, and the Engineering and Public Policy program. And CMIST’s home for its vibrant political science graduate and undergraduate academic programs is the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Public Events

*Spring 2025 Event Term Card*
Spring 2025
Date	Event & Registration	Speaker(s)
Thurs, 1/16/2025	Leveraging Clean Energy for National Defense	Harry Krejsa
Wed, 1/29/2025	Scientists & Strategists - Influence Without Arms: The New Logic of Nuclear Deterrence	Matthew Fuhrmann
Tues, 2/11/2025	Scientists & Strategists - How Tech Firms Shape Geopolitics	Adam Segal
Mon, 2/17/2025	Scientists & Strategists - How Can We Manage the Misuse Potential of Increasingly Powerful Technologies?	Jonas Sandbrink
Thurs, 2/20/2025	Scientists & Strategists - Civil-Military Relations: Throughout History and in Modern Times	Kori Schake
Thurs, 3/13/2025	Lawfully Speaking on the importance and complexities of national security law*	Renn Gade
Thurs, 3/27/2025	Scientists & Strategists on the practical challenges and strategic importance of fast-evolving global space technology and policy*	Laura DeNardis
Thurs, 4/10/2025	Scientists & Strategists on the limits of cloud computing, and the advantages and challenges of computing on the edge*	Justin Fanelli and Mahadev "Satya" Satyanarayanan

*Details and registration forthcoming

The views and opinions expressed in CMIST publications are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect any official position of CMIST or Carnegie Mellon University.

CMU's Home for Political Science and International Relations

CMU's home for Political Science and International Relations, CMIST is an interdisciplinary institute that works across Carnegie Mellon University to tackle the risks and benefits of emerging technologies in war and peace.

Academics

Tech & Policy

Washington Center

At CMIST we address the challenges of new and emerging technologies through a political science lens.

Inaugural Publications

Recent Work

The Cybersecurity Stakes of the Energy Transition

Dracarys: Unleashing the Lessons of Nuclear Conflict from House of the Dragon

Seeing Is Disbelieving: Why People Believe Misinformation in War, and When They Know Better

Donald Trump 2.0 and The Next Era of Superpower Competition

Moldova versus Russian Sharp Power

Stealth and Scale: Quality, Quantity, and Modern Military Power

Assad’s Downfall in Syria: Who Wins and Who Loses?

Can They Control the Weather? How the Secretive History of Weather Weapons Fuels Conspiracy Theories

Sinwar Is Dead, but Hamas Will Survive

Team of Teams

Public Events

Other Events