Pitt's Matthew B. Ridgway Speaker Series to Present a Lecture Jan. 22 by Charles Ferguson: "The Future of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy"

PITTSBURGH-The University of Pittsburgh's Matthew B. Ridgway Center for International Security Studies will present a lecture by Charles Ferguson, the Philip D. Reed Senior Fellow for Science and Technology at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), as part of its speaker series. The free public lecture, titled "The Future of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy," will be presented at 7 p.m. Jan. 22 in Frick Fine Arts Building Auditorium, 650 Schenley Dr., Oakland.

At CFR, Ferguson specializes in analyzing nuclear energy, nuclear nonproliferation, and the prevention of nuclear terrorism. He is the project director of CFR's Independent Task Force on U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy, chaired by former Secretary of Defense William Perry and former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft.

In addition to Ferguson's position at the CFR, he is an adjunct professor in the security studies program at Georgetown University, where he teaches the graduate-level course Nuclear Technologies and Security, and an adjunct lecturer in the national security studies program at Johns Hopkins University, where he teaches the graduate-level course Weapons of Mass Destruction Technologies.

Ferguson has worked as the scientist-in-residence at the Monterey Institute's Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS). At CNS, he cowrote (with William Potter) the book "The Four Faces of Nuclear Terrorism" (Routledge, 2005). He also has served as a physical scientist in the Office of the Senior Coordinator for Nuclear Safety at the U.S. Department of State, where he helped develop U.S. government policies on nuclear safety and security issues. After graduating with honors from the U.S. Naval Academy, he was trained as a nuclear engineering officer on a ballistic missile submarine. Ferguson received his PhD in physics from Boston University.

Visit the Ridgway Center's Web site for additional information (www.ridgway.pitt.edu), or contact Beverly Brizzi at 412-624-7884 or brizzi@gspia.pitt.edu.

The Ridgway Center is part of Pitt's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.

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