 |
About
the CIF Program
The Center
for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) at the Monterey
Institute of International Studies began its educational outreach
effort in response to a question from a local high school student.
In the summer of 1997, Dr. William Potter, Director of CNS, spoke
of issues surrounding the spread of weapons of mass destruction
to a community organization in Monterey. After his presentation,
the high school student asked Dr. Potter why information like this
was never taught in high schools -- in fact, the student said that
until that moment, he had never heard of the subject of nuclear
nonproliferation.
To meet
the need evident in the student's remark, CNS initiated the Critical
Issues Forum (CIF) in 1998 in partnership with the Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory's Science and Technology Education Program.
The objective of the program is to provide curricula and instructional
materials on weapons of mass destruction nonproliferation to secondary
schools.
Each annual
Critical Issues Forum project typically includes
three key elements:
- a Summer Workshop
in which a core group of experienced CIF teachers gather in
Monterey to develop the curriculum that will be presented to
students,
- a Winter Workshop
where the core CIF teachers and CNS personnel introduce the
CIF curriculum to all participating teachers, and
- a student-teacher
conference to learn of student work in other schools.
The CNS
program modeled its activities on a previous nonproliferation-education
initiative developed in 1996 by the Science
Education Team (SET) at the Los
Alamos National Laboratory. In 1997-98, the Science and Technology
Education Program (STEP) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
began to collaborate on nonproliferation education projects.
In the fall
of 1997, STEP sponsored three Bay Area high schools, one of which
went on to attend the student conference on Terrorism in the Nuclear
World held in May 1998 in Los Alamos. In 1998-99, CNS joined the
CIF program by providing lectures at the Summer Workshop in Los
Alamos and sponsoring a Winter Workshop in Monterey. In 1999-2000,
CNS became the program leader while continuing to cooperate with
the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Project
History
| 1997-1998 |
The Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) began collaboration with
LANL on the CIF program. LLNL sponsored the participation
of three high schools.
Topic:
Terrorism in the Nuclear World |
|
1998-1999 |
CNS joined
the project by providing lectures at summer workshop and sponsoring
winter workshop. The CIF program was expanded to more schools
in California, Oregon, and Washington State.
Topic:
Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons
|
| 1999-2000 |
CNS became
the project leader of the Critical Issues Forum (CIF). The
CIF program expanded to schools in Colorado and Texas.
Topic:
The Disposition of Nuclear Materials |
| 2000-2001 |
CNS
trained CIF teachers from schools
in California,
New Mexico, Texas,
and Washington.
Topic:
Chemical and Biological Weapons
|
| 2001-2002 |
CIF schools
are from California, Georgia, New Mexico, Ohio, Texas, Vermont,
Washington and a new international contingent from Russia.
Topic:
Missiles and Missile Defense |
| 2002-2003 |
CIF schools
are from California, Georgia, Maryland, New Mexico, Texas,
Washington, six schools in Russia and one in the U.K.
Topic:
Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle East and South Asia |
| 2003-2004 |
CIF
schools are from California, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland,
New Mexico, Texas, Washington and ten schools in Russia.
Topic:
Nuclear Issues in Northeast Asia |
| 2004-2005 |
CIF
schools are from California, Georgia, Indiana,
New Mexico, Texas and Washington with eleven schools from Russia
plus an observer from Japan.
Topic:
Peaceful and terrorist uses of radioactive materials |
| 2005-2006 |
CIF
schools are from California and
Texas with ten schools from Russia plus
observers from Wisconsin, Japan and the U.S.
Department of Energy.
Topic:
Nuclear Weapons and Nonproliferation |
| 2006-2007 |
CIF schools are from California and Texas with ten schools from Russia plus observers from Wisconsin, and speakers from NASA.
Topic: Outer Space: Next Frontier for Proliferation or Forum for Cooperation? |
| 2007-2008 |
CIF schools are from California, Texas and New York with ten schools from Russia plus speakers from the US Department of Energy.
Topic: Nuclear Renaissance: Benefits and Risks |
| 2008-2009 |
CIF schools are from California, Hawaii, Texas, and Wisconsin with ten schools from Russia plus speakers from the US Department of Energy.
Topic: Nuclear Disarmament: Challenges, Opportunities and Next Steps |
http://www.criticalissuesforum.org/about.html
updated 06 May 2009
|
