MIT Political Science

Highlights of our Department of Political Science commencement reception included:

Professor David Singer presenting the Lucian Pye Award for the Best Doctoral Thesis to Yui Fung Raymond Wang.

Professor Andrea Campbell and Dr. Kate Hoss presenting the Stephen M. Meyer Award for Best Undergraduate Thesis to Aidan Vaughan.

Congratulations to both recipients and to all of our graduates!

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences MIT Center for International Studies MIT Security Studies Program

Congratulations to our Political Science PhDs! We celebrate the dedication, determination, and creativity of all of our graduates and look forward to staying in touch in the coming years.

Front row: Suzanne Freeman, Wenyan Deng, Ye Zhang, and Diana (Tingxuan) Zhu.

Back row: Sukrit Puri, Nicholas Blanchette, Eleanor Freund, Eyal Hanfling, Raymond Wang, and Wright Smith.

MIT Security Studies Program MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences MIT Center for International Studies Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Some democracies are struggling to ensure safe drinking water While democracies are slightly ahead of non-democracies when it comes to providing at least some water to the public, they have been falling behind when it comes to ensuring that water is clean and safe, a new study shows.

“I have yet to meet a professor that cares more for their students.” Professor Danny Hidalgo, who studies elections, democracy and political behavior in Latin America, is honored as “Committed to Caring” for graduate student mentorship.

https://news.mit.edu/2026/committed-to-caring-daniel-hidalgo-0513

MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences MIT Center for International Studies

“I have yet to meet a professor that cares more for their students” MIT Associate Professor Daniel Hidalgo, a political scientist who studies elections, democracy, and political behavior in Latin America, is honored as “Committed to Caring” for graduate student mentorship.

Opinion | Political Campaigns Have No Idea What’s About to Hit Them Social media helped put Trump over the top. What’s A.I. going to do to us?

Brian Robinson is "following in the footsteps of, and being inspired by, Erik Lin-Greenberg, an associate professor, U.S. Air Force reservist, and co-director of MIT’s Wargaming Lab, whose research explores how emerging military technologies affect conflict dynamics. Robinson is also working under the tutelage of Caitlin Talmadge, the Raphael Dorman-Helen Starbuck Associate Professor of Political Science and an affiliate of the Security Studies Program. This spring, Robinson will also complete a master’s degree in political science, with a focus in security studies and international relations."

Built to fly MIT senior and master's student Brian Robinson, a double major in aerospace engineering and political science, lives and works at the intersection of aviation, politics, and technology.

Target opened its first store in a Minneapolis suburb, Roseville, in 1962. It was the same year that discounters Walmart and Kmart also launched their first stores, said Kathleen Thelen, a professor of political science at MIT and author of "Attention, Shoppers! American Retail Capitalism and the Origins of the Amazon Economy."

There was huge competition at the time among retailers with the discount store model emerging, Thelen told USA TODAY.

How Target became one of America's most iconic brands From its origins in Minneapolis to its cultural influence today, this is how Target helped shape America as one of the nation’s most iconic brands.

Congratulations to Professor Kathleen Thelen who has been named to the 101st class of Guggenheim Fellows. The class includes 223 trailblazing artists, scientists and scholars across 55 disciplines.

https://www.gf.org/stories/announcing-the-2026-guggenheim-fellows #2026-fellows

MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences MIT Center for International Studies