Nazli Choucri is Professor of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a position she has held since 1978. She earned her Ph.D. and M.A. in Political Science from Stanford University and her B.A. in Social Sciences from the American University in Cairo. Her academic career began as Assistant Professor at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada, from 1967 to 1969, followed by her appointment at MIT as Assistant Professor from 1969 to 1972 and Associate Professor from 1972 to 1978. Choucri serves as Senior Faculty at MIT’s Center for International Studies since 1975, Faculty Affiliate at the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society since 2015, Head of the Middle East Program from 1985 to 2009, and Associate Director of the Technology and Development Program from 1976 to 2012. She is the architect and Director of the Global System for Sustainable Development (GSSD), the first patent granted in MIT’s School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences for an interactive multilingual knowledge management system on sustainability. Additionally, she created and directs CyberWorld@MIT and CyberIR@MIT, stemming from her role as Principal Investigator for the MIT-Harvard Explorations in Cyber International Relations project.

Choucri’s research in Political Science centers on international relations and cyberpolitics, exploring dynamics of transformation in geopolitical, environmental, and cyber domains, including sources of conflict and security threats alongside strategies for sustainability and global accord. She advanced the Theory of Lateral Pressure in collaboration with Robert C. North, analyzing interactions of population, resources, and technology driving international expansion. Author or editor of twelve books and over 120 articles, her key publications include Cyberpolitics in International Relations (MIT Press, 2012), International Relations in the Cyber Age: The Co-Evolution Dilemma with David D. Clark (MIT Press, 2019), Global Accord: Environmental Challenges and International Responses (MIT Press, 1993), and Mapping Sustainability: Knowledge e-Networking and the Value Chain (Springer, 2007). Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2020, member of the European Academy of Sciences, and recipient of the International Studies Association Political Demography and Geography Section Distinguished Scholar Award in 2016, she has held editorial roles as General Editor of the International Political Science Review, on the Editorial Board of the American Political Science Review, founding Editor of the MIT Press Series on Global Environmental Accords, and on the Science Board of the Santa Fe Institute. Choucri has advised UNESCO’s Management of Social Transformations Programme and collaborated internationally across numerous countries.

Professional Email: nchoucri@mit.edu