Nonproliferation Education at the University of Washington

The nonproliferation curriculum at the University of Washington (UW) is the product of collaboration between Pacific Northwest Center for Global Security (PNWCGS) at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and the Jackson School of International Studies (JSIS) and Department of Political Science at the University of Washington. This collaboration began in 2001 with the establishment the Institute for Global and Regional Security Studies (IGRSS). IGRSS is housed in the Jackson School, which will celebrate its centenary in 2008 as a center for the study of world regions. PNNL also engages in a number of collaborative relationships with UW units in the natural and applied sciences. The principal goal of IGRSS has been to develop courses that draw graduates and undergraduates into careers in the field of nonproliferation. Since offering its first courses in 2002, IGRSS has assisted a substantial number of UW graduate students in submitting successful applications for nonproliferation positions in U.S. government agencies, including the Nonproliferation Graduate Program at the National Nuclear Security Administration. Since 2001, several UW undergraduates have begun careers in the field of nonproliferation, either by working at national laboratories or enrolling in non-UW graduate programs. The UW brought to its nonproliferation partnership with PNNL long-established programs in a wide range of professional programs and academic disciplines, including the 14 interdisciplinary regional and topical programs of the Jackson School of International Studies. The JSIS is an interdisciplinary and interdepartmental enterprise that brings together faculty and students from across the UW. Since the late 1940s the UW has trained experts for the nation's foreign policy community in programs focused in the languages, cultures, and histories of regions deemed critical to U.S. national security. However, since the termination of its program in nuclear engineering several decades ago, the UW has not supported hard science faculty positions that require knowledge of the theoretical and practical dimensions of the nonproliferation of nuclear technologies. Among U.S. National laboratories, PNNL has special strengths in technologies critical to the implementation of arms control treaties and to the detection of activities associated with the production, deployment, and dismantlement of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). PNNL plays a central role in the management of US-Russian programs for protection of fissile materials. In 2000, the PNWCGS initiated outreach to universities and NGOs. The Pacific Northwest Center for Global Security and the Jackson School have sought to bring PNNL expertise to the UW campus and the PNWCGS currently funds several IGRSS course instructors. The PNWCGS has arranged for Russian scientists to teach an experimental course in the IGRSS curriculum. In partnership with the Pacific Northwest Center for Global Security, IGRSS is presently seeking to engage scholars and scientists from other countries in joint teaching programs with the UW. IGRSS permits students to combine their disciplinary and professional specialties with the interdisciplinary and international IGRSS curriculum and its specialized courses on nonproliferation and WMD threats. IGRSS now offers three core courses and several occasional courses on special topics related to WMD issues. The core courses will serve as the requirements for a planned Graduate Certificate and Undergraduate Minor. The three core courses discussed are: (1) Arms control and international law; (2) Weapons of mass destruction; and (3) Arms control simulation.