Stanford University

When Law Matters: the Everyday Life of the Indian Constitution

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This event is sponsored by the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) and the Center for South Asia.

 

When the Indian Constitution was adopted in 1950, its egalitarian and inclusive spirit was widely seen as ahead of its time and out of sync with India’s many entrenched inequalities. Due to the efforts of its main author, the renowned Dalit leader B.R. Ambedkar, the Constitution contained multiple safeguards of cultural, religious and political rights as well as the most ambitious affirmative action program in the world. Over the following six decades, the Constitution shaped Indian society in numerous ways but its most profound impact was in framing public discourse and the way citizens and communities present their claims and demands in public. Despite deep and often violent social and political conflicts, the Constitution and many of its key provisions – religious tolerance, uplift of the historically disadvantaged, recognition of the rights of distinct communities, unity of the nation – are invoked and claimed by all sides in these conflicts. At the same time, the Supreme Court of India has emerged as an active and activist court that is widely respected as the guardian of the Constitution.

 

In this seminar, two distinguished speakers will highlight and analyze why and how the Indian Constitution acquired this key role in the nation’s life.

Professor Rajeev Bhargava is a renowned political theorist who has published seminal studies of Indian secularism and law, and the Director of the well known Center for the Study of Developing Societies in New Delhi. 

Dr. Rohit De is a legal scholar and Assistant Professor of History at Yale University. His forthcoming book is entitled Litigious Citizens, Constitutional Law and Everyday Life in the Indian Republic.

 

The two presentations will be followed by shorter commentaries from:

Francis Fukuyama, Senior Fellow at FSI and Director of CDDRL

Erik Jensen, Professor at the Stanford School of Law

Dr. Vivek Srinivasan, Program Manager for CDDRL's Program on Liberation Technology

 

Rajeev Bhargava Director, Center for the Study of Developing Societies Director, Center for the Study of Developing Societies
Rohit De Assistant Professor of History at Yale University Assistant Professor of History at Yale University
Seminars
CDDRL Special Events

The International Atomic Energy Agency and Nuclear Safeguards, 1953-1971

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Abstract: The nuclear negotiations between the P5+1 and Iran moved the International Atomic Energy Agency to the center of public attention. Based on multi-archival research and oral history interviews, this talk will look into the early history of the IAEA’s nuclear inspectorate. The foundations of today’s safeguards system were laid in the mid-1950s, when a group of twelve nations negotiated the Statute of the IAEA. In the mid-1960s, the Soviet Union abandoned its formerly critical stance on nuclear safeguards. Following the entry-into-force of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) comprehensive safeguards were introduced. The control of diversion was at the heart of the IAEA’s early safeguards system, while it neglected other aspects of the proliferation problem, such as the distribution of dual-use technology and related knowledge, or the development of clandestine nuclear programs. It was not lack of knowledge or imagination, but the complex technical, political, and legal background that was the reason for this limitation.

About the Speaker: Elisabeth Roehrlich is a senior researcher and project director at the University of Vienna’s Department of Contemporary History, and a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington D.C. She received her PhD. in History from the University of Tuebingen, Germany, and held fellowships at the Norwegian Institute for Defense Studies, the German Historical Institute in Washington D.C., and Monash South Africa. Her research focuses on the history of international relations and the evolution of the global nuclear order. She is the author of a prize-winning book about the former Austrian chancellor Bruno Kreisky (Kreisky’s Außenpolitik, Vienna University Press, 2009), and her work on the IAEA has been published or is forthcoming in journals such the IAEA Bulletin and the Journal of Cold War Studies. Roehrlich has been awarded funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), and the Austrian Central Bank to support her research on the IAEA.

The International Atomic Energy Agency and Nuclear Safeguards, 1953-1971
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Elisabeth Roehrlich Director IAEA History Research Project, University of Vienna
Seminars

Research in Progress (RIP): "Prevalence and Characteristics of Physicians Prone to Malpractice Claims"

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"Prevalence and Characteristics of Physicians Prone to Malpractice Claims"

 

Please note: All research in progress seminars are off-the-record. Any information about methodology and/or results is embargoed until publication.

 

Abstract

The distribution of malpractice claims across the physician workforce is not well understood.  If claim-prone physicians account for a substantial share of all claims, and it is feasible to reliably identify those physicians at an early stage, there are clear implications for efforts to improve the quality and safety of care.  Liability insurers and healthcare organizations could use the information to target interventions to address risks posed by claim-prone physicians.  Using data from the National Practitioner Data Bank, we analyzed malpractice claims paid against physicians between 2005 and 2014.  We calculated concentrations of claims among physicians.  We also sought to identify characteristics of physicians at high risk of “recurrent claims”.  We find that relatively few physicians account for a surprisingly large number of paid malpractice claims. Our findings also suggest that it may be feasible to predict who these physicians are before they accumulate troubling track records.

David Studdert

Encina Commons Room 225,
615 Crothers Way,
Stanford, CA 94305-6006

(650) 723-0970 (650) 723-1919
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Vice Provost and Dean of Research
Professor, Health Policy
Professor, Law
rsd15_081_0469a.jpg LLB, ScD, MPH

David M. Studdert is a leading expert in the fields of health law and empirical legal research. His scholarship explores how the legal system influences the health and well-being of populations. A prolific scholar, he has authored more than 150 articles and book chapters, and his work appears frequently in leading international medical, law, and health policy publications.

Professor Studdert joined Stanford Law School faculty on November 1, 2013, in a joint appointment as Professor of Health Policy at the Stanford University School of Medicine, and Professor of Law.

Before joining the Stanford faculty, Professor Studdert was on the faculty at the University of Melbourne (2007-13) and the Harvard School of Public Health (2000-06). He has also worked as a policy analyst at the RAND Corporation, a policy advisor to the Minister for Health in Australia, and a practicing attorney.

Professor Studdert has received the Alice S. Hersh New Investigator Award from AcademyHealth, the leading organization for health services and health policy research in the United States. He was awarded a Federation Fellowship (2006) and a Laureate Fellowship (2011) by the Australian Research Council. He holds a law degree from University of Melbourne and a doctoral degree in health policy and public health from the Harvard School of Public Health.

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David Studdert

Michelle Mello

(650) 725-3894
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Professor, Health Policy
Professor, Law
mello-scott_macdonald-profile.jpg JD, PhD

Michelle Mello is Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and Professor of Health Policy in the Department of Health Policy at Stanford University School of Medicine.  She conducts empirical research into issues at the intersection of law, ethics, and health policy.  She is the author of more than 230 articles on medical liability, public health law, the public health response to COVID-19, pharmaceuticals and vaccines, biomedical research ethics and governance, health information privacy, and other topics.
 
The recipient of a number of awards for her research, Dr. Mello was elected to the National Academy of Medicine at the age of 40.  From 2000 to 2014, she was a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, where she directed the School’s Program in Law and Public Health.
 
Dr. Mello teaches courses in torts, public health law, and health policy.  She holds a J.D. from the Yale Law School, a Ph.D. in Health Policy and Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an M.Phil. from Oxford University, where she was a Marshall Scholar, and a B.A. from Stanford University. 

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Michelle Mello
Seminars

Taiwan’s Evolving Position on the South China Sea—and Why It Matters

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Taiwan’s claims in the South China Sea are often regarded as virtually indistinguishable from China’s. On paper, Taiwan and China appear to be making substantially the same claims and the controversial U-shaped dashed line may be found on ROC and PRC maps alike. Neither government has officially clarified the dashed line’s meaning or assigned its coordinates.

Dr Kuok, however, argues that Taiwan has in the past year taken small but significant steps toward clarifying its claims. It has also adopted a more conciliatory approach best illustrated by President Ma’s official launch of a South China Sea Peace Initiative in May 2015. These moves imply possible daylight between Taiwan and China regarding the South China Sea. Dr. Kuok will examine these developments, as well as the costs, benefits, and chances of widening or narrowing that daylight in the larger context of Taipei-Beijing relations, domestic considerations including the January 2016 election in Taiwan, and the responses of other actors in the region.

kuokl 1x1
Lynn Kuok’s latest publication is Tides of Change: Taiwan’s Evolving Position in the South China Sea (2015). She was recently a senior visiting fellow at the Centre for International Law (Singapore), and has held fellowships at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Her research interests include ethnic and religious relations and nationalism in Southeast Asia and the politics and security of the Asia-Pacific region. She has served as editor-in-chief of the Cambridge Review of International Affairs and the Singapore Law Review. She holds degrees from the University of Cambridge (PhD), the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (MALD), and the National University of Singapore (LLB).

Lynn Kuok Center for East Asia Policy Studies, Brookings Institution
Seminars

DBJ Initiatives for Japan's Growth Strategy

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Toru Hashimoto was a member of the Board of Directors and President and Chief Executive Officer of the Development Bank of Japan Inc. (DBJ) from June 2011 to June 2015. He is currently Senior Advisor of the DBJ. Previously, Mr. Hashimoto was Chairman of Deutsche Securities Inc., an investment banking subsidiary in Japan of Deutsche Bank, from July 2003 to September 2008 after serving as Senior Advisor from January 2003 to June 2003. Prior to joining Deutsche Securities, he was Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Fuji Bank, Limited (currently the Mizuho Financial Group) from June 1996 to March 2002. Earlier, he was President and Chief Executive Officer from 1991 to 1996. He began his career at the bank in 1957. Mr. Hashimoto served as Vice Chairman of the Board of Councilors of the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations from 1997 to 2001 and Chairman of the Japanese Bankers Association from 1995 to 1996. He was also Vice Chairman of the Institute of International Finance, Inc. from 1997 to 1999. Mr. Hashimoto received a bachelor's degree in law from the University of Tokyo in 1957. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the Graduate School of Economics of the University of Kansas from 1959 to 1960.

DBJ Initiatives for Japan's Growth Strategy Presentation
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Philippines Conference RoomEncina Hall, 3rd Floor616 Serra StreetStanford, CA 94305
Toru Hashimoto, Former President and CEO, Development Bank of Japan Inc.
Seminars
Japan Colloquium Series

Book Event: Ballots, Bullets, and Bargains: American Foreign Policy and Presidential Elections

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Drawing on twenty-four years of experience in government, Michael H. Armacost explores how the contours of the U.S. presidential election system influence the content and conduct of American foreign policy. He examines how the nomination battle impels candidates to express deference to the foreign policy DNA of their party and may force an incumbent to make wholesale policy adjustments to fend off an intra-party challenge for the nomination. He describes the way reelection campaigns can prod a chief executive to fix long-neglected problems, kick intractable policy dilemmas down the road, settle for modest course corrections, or scapegoat others for policies gone awry.


Armacost begins his book with the quest for the presidential nomination and then moves through the general election campaign, the ten-week transition period between Election Day and Inauguration Day, and the early months of a new administration. He notes that campaigns rarely illuminate the tough foreign policy choices that the leader of the nation must make, and he offers rare insight into the challenge of aligning the roles of an outgoing incumbent (who performs official duties despite ebbing power) and the incoming successor (who has no official role but possesses a fresh political mandate). He pays particular attention to the pressure for new presidents to act boldly abroad in the early months of his tenure, even before a national security team is in place, decision-making procedures are set, or policy priorities are firmly established. He concludes with an appraisal of the virtues and liabilities of the system, including suggestions for modestly adjusting some of its features while preserving its distinct character.

Books will be available to purchase at the event. Published by Columbia University Press.

David M. Kennedy is the Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History, Emeritus at Stanford University. He earned his Ph.D., Yale University, 1968, American Studies, M.A., Yale University, 1964, American Studies and B.A., Stanford University, 1963, History. Reflecting his interdisciplinary training in American Studies, which combined the fields of history, literature, and economics, Professor Kennedy's scholarship is notable for its integration of economic and cultural analysis with social and political history. His 1970 book, Birth Control in America: The Career of Margaret Sanger, embraced the medical, legal, political, and religious dimensions of the subject and helped to pioneer the emerging field of women's history. Over Here: The First World War and American Society (1980) used the history of American involvement in World War I to analyze the American political system, economy, and culture in the early twentieth century. Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War (1999) recounts the history of the United States in the two great crises of the Great Depression and World War II.

 

<i>Shorenstein APARC Distinguished Fellow, Stanford University </i>
David Kennedy, Discussant <i>Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History, Emeritus, Stanford University</i>
Seminars

Priorities and Best Practices in the Anti-Trafficking Movement: A Conversation with Stanford Professor Katherine Jolluck and Free the Slaves Executive Director Maurice Middleberg

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On the heels of the 2015 Freedom from Slavery Forum, this lunchtime discussion will focus on lessons learned for both the local and global anti-trafficking movement. 

Middleberg oversees Free the Slaves’ diverse anti-trafficking initiatives abroad as well as U.S.-based advocacy and policy work. He has worked in 50 countries with the likes of CARE and USAID. 

Jolluck works on the topics of women and war, women in communist societies, nationalism, and human trafficking. She is active with several Bay Area-based anti-trafficking initiatives. 

This event is co-sponsored with the WSD HANDA Center for Human Rights and International Justice.

To RSVP, please email Jessie Brunner at jbrunner@stanford.edu.

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Encina Hall East

Room 409

Katherine Jolluck Senior Lecturer, History; Affiliate Europe Research Center; Freeman Spogli Institute
Maurice Middleberg Executive Director Free the Slaves
Seminars

China’s Health System: Achievements and Challenges

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Professor MENG Qingyue, Dean of the Peking University School of Public Health and Director of the China Center for Health Development Studies at Peking University, will share his deep experience with research and policy advising about health and healthcare in the PRC. In the colloquium, Professor Meng will summarize the achievements of China’s health system reforms as well as the formidable challenges remaining -- strengthening primary care, reforming payment incentives, and multiple other reform priorities.

Professor Meng is lead author of the first-ever comprehensive overview of the PRC health system [http://www.wpro.who.int/asia_pacific_observatory/hits/series/chn/en/], which documents that the PRC has made great strides in raising health status and improving access to medical care, in large part thanks to emphasis on cost- effective public health programs, renewed commitments of government financing, expansion of social health insurance and other forms of financial protection, and investments in the healthcare delivery system. However, challenges remain in the form of large and in some cases growing inequalities in health and healthcare – across regions, urban-rural areas, or involving migrants and other vulnerable groups– as well as in improving the quality of healthcare, reforming public hospitals, and making expenditure growth sustainable through payment reforms and improved strategic purchasing.

meng qing yue
Professor Meng Qingyue (MD, PhD), is Professor in Health Economics and Policy, Dean of Peking University School of Public Health, and Executive Director of Peking University China Center for Health Development Studies.

He obtained his Bachelor degree in medicine from Shandong Medical University (now Shandong University), Masters in public health from Shanghai Medical University (now Fudan University), Masters in economics from University of the Philippines, and PhD in health economics and policy from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.

Before taking the current position, he was the Dean of Shandong University School of Public Health and Director of Shandong University Center for Health Management and Policy. His research interests include health financing policy and health provider payment systems.

He has led a team doing dozens of research projects supported by both domestic and international funding sources. He has been Member of the Expert Committee on Health Policy and Management to China Ministry of Health over the past decade. He is the Board Member of Health Systems Global elected from the Asia and Pacific Region.

 

China's health system
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Meng Qingyue Professor in Health Economics and Policy, Dean of Peking University School of Public Health, and Executive Director of Peking University China Center for Health Development Studies
Seminars

Doomed to cooperate: How American and Russian nuclear scientists joined forces to mitigate some of the greatest post-Cold War dangers - Part 2: The technical dimensions

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Abstract: Two months after the breakup of the Soviet Union, I was in the Russian closed nuclear cities of Sarov and Snezhinsk, home of the Russian equivalent to the Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories. With our Russian counterparts, John Nuckolls, director of LLNL, and I developed a plan for scientific cooperation that would become a 20-plus year program, which began with fundamental science and then expanded to weapon safety and security, nuclear materials security, nonproliferation, and countering nuclear terrorism. Fundamental science collaboration resulted in professional respect, which, in turn, allowed us to develop the trust necessary to address the serious technical challenges resulting from the dissolution of the Soviet Union. I will describe some of the similarities and differences in how Russian and American laboratories tackled problems ranging from fundamental science to nuclear weapons stockpile stewardship. 

About the Speaker: Siegfried S. Hecker is a professor (research) in the Department of Management Science and Engineering and a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI). He was co-director of CISAC from 2007-2012. From 1986 to 1997, Dr. Hecker served as the fifth Director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Dr. Hecker is an internationally recognized expert in plutonium science, global threat reduction, and nuclear security.

Dr. Hecker’s current research interests include plutonium science, nuclear weapons policy, nuclear security, and the safe and secure expansion of nuclear energy. Over the past 20 years, he has fostered cooperation with the Russian nuclear laboratories to secure and safeguard the vast stockpile of ex-Soviet fissile materials.

Dr. Hecker’s research projects at CISAC focus on reducing the risks of nuclear terrorism worldwide and the challenges of nuclear India, North Korea, Pakistan, and the nuclear aspirations of Iran. Dr. Hecker is also compiling and editing a book with two of his Russian colleagues on the history of Russian-U.S. laboratory-to-laboratory cooperation since 1992.

Dr. Hecker joined Los Alamos National Laboratory as graduate research assistant and postdoctoral fellow before returning as technical staff member following a tenure at General Motors Research. He led the laboratory's Materials Science and Technology Division and Center for Materials Science before serving as laboratory director from 1986 through 1997, and senior fellow until July 2005.

Among his professional distinctions, Dr. Hecker is a member of the National Academy of Engineering; foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences; fellow of the TMS, or Minerals, Metallurgy and Materials Society; fellow of the American Society for Metals; fellow of the American Physical Society, honorary member of the American Ceramics Society; and fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

His achievements have been recognized with the Presidential Enrico Fermi Award, the American Physical Society’s Leo Szilard Prize, the American Nuclear Society's Seaborg Medal, the Department of Energy's E.O. Lawrence Award, the Los Alamos National Laboratory Medal, among other awards including the Alumni Association Gold Medal and the Undergraduate Distinguished Alumni Award from Case Western Reserve University, where he earned his bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in metallurgy.

Siegfried S. Hecker

CISAC
Stanford University
Encina Hall, C220
Stanford, CA 94305-6165

(650) 725-6468 (650) 723-0089
0
Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Emeritus
Research Professor, Management Science and Engineering, Emeritus
hecker2.jpg PhD

Siegfried S. Hecker is a professor emeritus (research) in the Department of Management Science and Engineering and a senior fellow emeritus at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI). He was co-director of CISAC from 2007-2012. From 1986 to 1997, Dr. Hecker served as the fifth Director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Dr. Hecker is an internationally recognized expert in plutonium science, global threat reduction, and nuclear security.

Dr. Hecker’s current research interests include nuclear nonproliferation and arms control, nuclear weapons policy, nuclear security, the safe and secure expansion of nuclear energy, and plutonium science. At the end of the Cold War, he has fostered cooperation with the Russian nuclear laboratories to secure and safeguard the vast stockpile of ex-Soviet fissile materials. In June 2016, the Los Alamos Historical Society published two volumes edited by Dr. Hecker. The works, titled Doomed to Cooperate, document the history of Russian-U.S. laboratory-to-laboratory cooperation since 1992.

Dr. Hecker’s research projects at CISAC focus on cooperation with young and senior nuclear professionals in Russia and China to reduce the risks of nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism worldwide, to avoid a return to a nuclear arms race, and to promote the safe and secure global expansion of nuclear power. He also continues to assess the technical and political challenges of nuclear North Korea and the nuclear aspirations of Iran.

Dr. Hecker joined Los Alamos National Laboratory as graduate research assistant and postdoctoral fellow before returning as technical staff member following a tenure at General Motors Research. He led the laboratory's Materials Science and Technology Division and Center for Materials Science before serving as laboratory director from 1986 through 1997, and senior fellow until July 2005.

Among his professional distinctions, Dr. Hecker is a member of the National Academy of Engineering; foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences; fellow of the TMS, or Minerals, Metallurgy and Materials Society; fellow of the American Society for Metals; fellow of the American Physical Society, honorary member of the American Ceramics Society; and fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

His achievements have been recognized with the Presidential Enrico Fermi Award, the 2020 Building Bridges Award from the Pacific Century Institute, the 2018 National Engineering Award from the American Association of Engineering Societies, the 2017 American Nuclear Society Eisenhower Medal, the American Physical Society’s Leo Szilard Prize, the American Nuclear Society's Seaborg Medal, the Department of Energy's E.O. Lawrence Award, the Los Alamos National Laboratory Medal, among other awards including the Alumni Association Gold Medal and the Undergraduate Distinguished Alumni Award from Case Western Reserve University, where he earned his bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in metallurgy.

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FSI Senior Fellow, Research Professor of Management Science and Engineering Stanford University
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Doomed to cooperate: How American and Russian nuclear scientists joined forces to mitigate some of the greatest post-Cold War dangers - Part 1: The policy and human dimensions

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Abstract: Nuclear risks changed dramatically when the Soviet Union collapsed at the end of 1991. Suddenly the world was threatened more by Russia’s weakness than its strength. Never before had a country with the capacity to destroy the world experienced such dramatic political, economic and cultural turmoil. The United States and much of the world was concerned about loose nukes, loose nuclear materials, loose nuclear expert knowledge, and loose nuclear exports. I will describe how scientists and engineers at the U.S. nuclear weapons laboratories joined forces with counterparts in the Russian nuclear weapons complex for more than 20 years to avoid what looked like the perfect nuclear storm. I will also reflect on how today’s strained political relations between Washington and Moscow have curtailed that cooperation to the detriment of a safer and more secure world. 

About the Speaker: Siegfried S. Hecker is a professor (research) in the Department of Management Science and Engineering and a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI). He was co-director of CISAC from 2007-2012. From 1986 to 1997, Dr. Hecker served as the fifth Director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Dr. Hecker is an internationally recognized expert in plutonium science, global threat reduction, and nuclear security.

Dr. Hecker’s current research interests include plutonium science, nuclear weapons policy, nuclear security, and the safe and secure expansion of nuclear energy. Over the past 20 years, he has fostered cooperation with the Russian nuclear laboratories to secure and safeguard the vast stockpile of ex-Soviet fissile materials.

Dr. Hecker’s research projects at CISAC focus on reducing the risks of nuclear terrorism worldwide and the challenges of nuclear India, North Korea, Pakistan, and the nuclear aspirations of Iran. Dr. Hecker is also compiling and editing a book with two of his Russian colleagues on the history of Russian-U.S. laboratory-to-laboratory cooperation since 1992.

Dr. Hecker joined Los Alamos National Laboratory as graduate research assistant and postdoctoral fellow before returning as technical staff member following a tenure at General Motors Research. He led the laboratory's Materials Science and Technology Division and Center for Materials Science before serving as laboratory director from 1986 through 1997, and senior fellow until July 2005.

Among his professional distinctions, Dr. Hecker is a member of the National Academy of Engineering; foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences; fellow of the TMS, or Minerals, Metallurgy and Materials Society; fellow of the American Society for Metals; fellow of the American Physical Society, honorary member of the American Ceramics Society; and fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

His achievements have been recognized with the Presidential Enrico Fermi Award, the American Physical Society’s Leo Szilard Prize, the American Nuclear Society's Seaborg Medal, the Department of Energy's E.O. Lawrence Award, the Los Alamos National Laboratory Medal, among other awards including the Alumni Association Gold Medal and the Undergraduate Distinguished Alumni Award from Case Western Reserve University, where he earned his bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in metallurgy.

Siegfried S. Hecker

CISAC
Stanford University
Encina Hall, C220
Stanford, CA 94305-6165

(650) 725-6468 (650) 723-0089
0
Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Emeritus
Research Professor, Management Science and Engineering, Emeritus
hecker2.jpg PhD

Siegfried S. Hecker is a professor emeritus (research) in the Department of Management Science and Engineering and a senior fellow emeritus at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI). He was co-director of CISAC from 2007-2012. From 1986 to 1997, Dr. Hecker served as the fifth Director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Dr. Hecker is an internationally recognized expert in plutonium science, global threat reduction, and nuclear security.

Dr. Hecker’s current research interests include nuclear nonproliferation and arms control, nuclear weapons policy, nuclear security, the safe and secure expansion of nuclear energy, and plutonium science. At the end of the Cold War, he has fostered cooperation with the Russian nuclear laboratories to secure and safeguard the vast stockpile of ex-Soviet fissile materials. In June 2016, the Los Alamos Historical Society published two volumes edited by Dr. Hecker. The works, titled Doomed to Cooperate, document the history of Russian-U.S. laboratory-to-laboratory cooperation since 1992.

Dr. Hecker’s research projects at CISAC focus on cooperation with young and senior nuclear professionals in Russia and China to reduce the risks of nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism worldwide, to avoid a return to a nuclear arms race, and to promote the safe and secure global expansion of nuclear power. He also continues to assess the technical and political challenges of nuclear North Korea and the nuclear aspirations of Iran.

Dr. Hecker joined Los Alamos National Laboratory as graduate research assistant and postdoctoral fellow before returning as technical staff member following a tenure at General Motors Research. He led the laboratory's Materials Science and Technology Division and Center for Materials Science before serving as laboratory director from 1986 through 1997, and senior fellow until July 2005.

Among his professional distinctions, Dr. Hecker is a member of the National Academy of Engineering; foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences; fellow of the TMS, or Minerals, Metallurgy and Materials Society; fellow of the American Society for Metals; fellow of the American Physical Society, honorary member of the American Ceramics Society; and fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

His achievements have been recognized with the Presidential Enrico Fermi Award, the 2020 Building Bridges Award from the Pacific Century Institute, the 2018 National Engineering Award from the American Association of Engineering Societies, the 2017 American Nuclear Society Eisenhower Medal, the American Physical Society’s Leo Szilard Prize, the American Nuclear Society's Seaborg Medal, the Department of Energy's E.O. Lawrence Award, the Los Alamos National Laboratory Medal, among other awards including the Alumni Association Gold Medal and the Undergraduate Distinguished Alumni Award from Case Western Reserve University, where he earned his bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in metallurgy.

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FSI Senior Fellow, Research Professor of Management Science and Engineering Stanford University
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