MIT Political Science

The crucial human component in computing and AI The MIT Ethics of Computing Research Symposium brings together experts and researchers working at the heart of ethical and social impact in technology.

"Understanding and Combatting Misinformation Across 16 Countries on Six Continents," authored by Prof. Adam Berinsky and twelve co-authors, and published in Nature Human Behavior, tied for Best Publication from the Behavioral Science and Policy Association at their Annual Meeting last week.

https://polisci.mit.edu/news/2026/article-understanding-and-combatting-misinformation-co-authored-prof-adam-berinsky-wins

The article can be found here:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-023-01641-6

MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

Understanding and combatting misinformation across 16 countries on six continents - Nature Human Behaviour Across 16 countries, this research finds consistent cognitive and social predictors of COVID-19 misinformation susceptibility, and shows how accuracy prompts and literacy tips reduce misinformation sharing and how wisdom of crowds can identify false claims cross-culturally.

California has an election problem While Californians cast ballots Tuesday for a series of contests, outcomes may not be known for days, or even weeks.

Highlights of our Department of Political Science commencement reception included:

Professor David Singer presenting the Lucian Pye Award for the Best Doctoral Thesis to Yui Fung Raymond Wang.

Professor Andrea Campbell and Dr. Kate Hoss presenting the Stephen M. Meyer Award for Best Undergraduate Thesis to Aidan Vaughan.

Congratulations to both recipients and to all of our graduates!

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences MIT Center for International Studies MIT Security Studies Program

Congratulations to our Political Science PhDs! We celebrate the dedication, determination, and creativity of all of our graduates and look forward to staying in touch in the coming years.

Front row: Suzanne Freeman, Wenyan Deng, Ye Zhang, and Diana (Tingxuan) Zhu.

Back row: Sukrit Puri, Nicholas Blanchette, Eleanor Freund, Eyal Hanfling, Raymond Wang, and Wright Smith.

MIT Security Studies Program MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences MIT Center for International Studies Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Some democracies are struggling to ensure safe drinking water While democracies are slightly ahead of non-democracies when it comes to providing at least some water to the public, they have been falling behind when it comes to ensuring that water is clean and safe, a new study shows.

“I have yet to meet a professor that cares more for their students.” Professor Danny Hidalgo, who studies elections, democracy and political behavior in Latin America, is honored as “Committed to Caring” for graduate student mentorship.

https://news.mit.edu/2026/committed-to-caring-daniel-hidalgo-0513

MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences MIT Center for International Studies

“I have yet to meet a professor that cares more for their students” MIT Associate Professor Daniel Hidalgo, a political scientist who studies elections, democracy, and political behavior in Latin America, is honored as “Committed to Caring” for graduate student mentorship.