Indiana University Bloomington – Restraining the New Nuclear Arms Race: What Scientists and Engineers Can Do to Preserve Nuclear Arms Control

Colloquium Abstract 

We live in an increasingly dangerous nuclear world marked by the abandonment of hard-won arms-control and nonproliferation agreements; the modernization at a cost of trillions of dollars of existing nuclear arsenals; the development of new types of strategic weapons; and threats to use nuclear weapons that risk escalation to large-scale nuclear war. This talk highlights some current and emerging nuclear weapon issues and discusses examples of policy analysis and research where contributions from scientists and engineers could be particularly valuable and timely in advancing efforts to mitigate nuclear weapon risks. The talk also outlines the goals and work by the new Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction, which seeks to inform and mobilize the physics community on nuclear arms control and to offer avenues for scientists to take action in the years ahead.

About the Speaker

Alex Glaser is an associate professor in the School of Public and International Affairs and in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University. He is the co-director of Princeton’s Program on Science and Global Security and serves on the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Science and Security Board, which sets the hands of the Doomsday Clock. Foreign Policy named Glaser one of the 100 Leading Global Thinkers of 2014 for his work on nuclear warhead verification. Glaser holds a PhD in Physics from Darmstadt University and is a fellow of the American Physical Society.