Deepen your knowledge and expand your expertise through our CMIST minors
Undergraduate minors complement students’ primary areas of study and add depth and interdisciplinarity. Minors tend to be narrow in scope and therefore, CMIST offers six different minors to meet the variety of interests of students across the university. Minors in CMIST cover topics including political science, international relations, cybersecurity, emerging technology’s impact on national security, American politics, legal issues and law, military strategy, and public policy.
Undergraduate students from any college and major in the university may declare a minor offered through CMIST. No application is required, however students must meet with the Deputy Director for Academic Affairs to discuss the requirements and declare the minor.
Minor in American Politics and Law
The minor in American Politics and Law is designed to equip students with comprehensive insights into the political and legal landscape of the United States. Our curriculum emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach, blending theoretical knowledge and practical skills. Students have the opportunity to engage with a variety of courses that cover key aspects of American civics, policy development, and legal principles. A core objective of this program is to nurture critical and analytical thinking skills through engagement with primary source materials, real world examples of policy and legal conflicts, and current events and matters of national policy debate. Students are challenged to dissect and debate major policy issues facing the nation, fostering their ability to develop, draft, and articulate informed political analyses and recommendations on complex matters.
Through this minor, students will develop a robust understanding of both the historical and contemporary dynamics of American politics and law. This approach ensures that they not only grasp the fundamentals but also learn to apply this knowledge in real-world scenarios. It provides a gateway to understanding the intricate workings of American governance and law, and a platform for building a career that makes a meaningful impact in society. The skills and objectives learned in the minor provide students from any discipline with core and foundational knowledge that is particularly useful for students entering law school, as well as other potential future careers in policymaking, politics, non-governmental organizations, political analysis, and legislative affairs, at all levels of government. In addition to those aspiring to careers in the public sector or law, this program is also uniquely tailored for students from diverse academic backgrounds seeking to integrate an understanding of American politics and domestic and international law into other disciplines.
Curriculum (60-63 units)
For More Information
Please contact Emily Half, CMIST Deputy Director, to discuss or declare the minor.
Minor in Cybersecurity and International Conflict
The minor in cybersecurity and international conflict focuses on the existing gaps in our understanding of cybersecurity and international conflict. The minor exposes students to basic technology concepts, methods of attack and defense, potential strategy and goals for cyber-engagement, and response and forensics for cyber-engagements.
Alongside conventional methods of warfare, cybersecurity has rapidly developed into a centerpiece of a state’s ability to protect and project power. In the shifting landscape of cyber capabilities, how will laws, authorities, and policies keep pace? What are the implications and consequences of actions that may be considered “short of war” by some countries but “above the threshold” of conflict by others? Will a more aggressive defensive posture with respect to cybersecurity inadvertently increase the risk of conflict with states that sponsor malicious hacking groups? What is the proper balance between offense and defense in cybersecurity and how are cyber operations best integrated into a country’s overall military strategy?
Unlike some other kinds of tactics, attribution of cyber attacks presents significant challenges. If the aggressor’s identity cannot be quickly confirmed, how can a counterattack be launched? Some attackers may seek to mount “false flag” attacks and deception, for example, that misdirect defenders to counter-attack in the wrong direction. What are the appropriate rules of engagement for attacks on national systems, infrastructural systems, businesses, and individuals? When, for example, is a counterattack or a “kinetic” response permissible?
These questions have major implications for the study of war and peace. Those who seek to start a war may be harder to find and their motives more difficult to discern. The cybersecurity and international conflict minor tackles the social-scientific dimensions of cybersecurity with a focus on the implications of the cyber age for modern statecraft, warfare, elections (local, state, and national), and domestic and international politics.
Curriculum (60-63 units)
For More Information
Please contact Emily Half, CMIST Deputy Director, to discuss or declare the minor.
Minor in International Relations and Political Science
The International Relations and Political Science (IRPS) minor is for students who want to learn how to think systematically and develop foundational knowledge about international and domestic politics. It examines international relations, comparative politics, and domestic politics from the discipline of political science. The minor emphasizes the importance of political institutions, decision making by leaders in shaping policy, and contemporary challenges to the international system.
Students wrestle with a wide range of issues including the future of democracy, the relationship between technology and politics, the drivers of war and peace, domestic politics across countries, and the formulation of effective foreign policies. Core courses for the IRPS minor establish a strong foundation in the study of political science and enable students to better understand the workings of political institutions, political behavior across countries, the decision-making of political leaders, the making of national and international policy, and prevailing challenges to the international system, among other topics. A rich set of electives allows students to investigate issues in security and technology, grand strategy and national security, cybersecurity and international conflict, military strategy and doctrine, the politics of key regions of the world, international political economy and economic policy, representation and voting rights, climate change and development, repression and human rights, international law and diplomacy, political psychology and public opinion, and social change and revolution.
Curriculum (63 units)
For More Information
Please contact Emily Half, CMIST Deputy Director, to discuss or declare the minor.
Minor in Military Strategy and International Relations
The minor in Military Strategy and International Relations focuses on military strategy and doctrine, the current national security landscape, including how cybersecurity and artificial intelligence influence national security decision making, and the full range of strategic challenges facing future American leaders. While the minor is open to all CMU undergraduates, it is in part motivated by a desire to support CMU students embarking on the unique effort to serve and defend the country through the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program and others interested in pursuing applied defense-related careers post-graduation. This minor will expose students to the wider strategic context facing military leaders and decision-makers and the political and institutional frameworks in which they are embedded.
In short, the Military Strategy and International Relations minor offers future military and defense leaders insight into the national and international strategic challenges they will navigate in the future.
The Military Strategy and International Relations minor teaches future leaders how diplomacy, information, economics, development, and defense intersect. It engages students in the whys and hows of national strategy, military planning, and the future of warfare. In addition, it emphasizes the political and institutional systems and rules in which military affairs are situated, with core courses on the topics of military strategy, governance, diplomacy, and policy decision-making. Finally, the minor stresses the use of cutting-edge analytical and social science methods to prepare students for advanced training, study, and government or military service in national and international security.
Curriculum (60-63 units)
For More Information
Please contact Emily Half, CMIST Deputy Director, to discuss or declare the minor.
Minor in Political Science, Security, and Technology
The Minor in Political Science, Security, and Technology is designed for students who are majoring in fields from the arts and humanities to science, engineering, and computer science. By adding a new dimension to their major field of study, these students will gain the background and knowledge to address the ethical, social, and political dimensions of new technologies from a political science perspective.
The minor in Political Science, Security, and Technology takes a social science (not technical) approach to studying emerging technologies that affect war and peace. There is no better place to study security and technology than Carnegie Mellon University, a thought leader in global and national security issues, policies, and strategies related to digital technologies. CMU students are uniquely poised to influence the future, with cutting-edge research happening across campus in all the relevant technological areas—e.g., machine learning, cybersecurity, robotics, big data, neuroscience, human-computer interaction, human enhancement, synthetic biology, and various types of artificial intelligence.
In completing this course of study, Carnegie Mellon undergraduates will learn how to analyze the political, economic, social, and ethical dimensions of new technologies, equipping themselves to contribute to vital political debates and influence technological developments in the public interest.
Students may double count a maximum of two courses with another major or minor. Unlimited double counting is permitted with General Education requirements.
Curriculum (63 units)
For More Information
Please contact Emily Half, CMIST Deputy Director, to discuss or declare the minor.
Minor in Politics and Public Policy
Rooted in the discipline of political science, the minor in Politics and Public Policy investigates US public policy issues and matters of American politics and law while providing students hands-on and practical learning experiences. Students pursuing the Politics and Public Policy minor must participate in the Carnegie Mellon University Washington Semester Program (CMU/WSP) for one semester during their undergraduate experience.
From embassies to nongovernmental organizations, think tanks to advocacy organizations, government agencies to congressional offices, and consulting firms to media outlets, Washington, DC, is the center for many political, international relations, and public policy activities. Students in the program come into direct contact with political, business, and community leaders and learn about the most pressing policy issues of the day.
The CMU/WSP, sponsored by the university's Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy & Technology (CMIST), is a semester-long program in which students live, intern, and take CMU classes on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Undergraduates from any course of study at the university may participate in the program. Students earn 48 units for the Carnegie Mellon University Washington Semester Program, interning about twenty-four hours per week in any sector or field of interest within the Washington, DC, metropolitan region, while taking classes on American politics, public policy, and law taught by Carnegie Mellon faculty.
Through this experiential learning program, CMU/WSP participants develop professional and networking skills, explore how coursework connects to the real world, learn to give and receive constructive feedback in the workplace and classroom, and intentionally reflect on their learning and growth. CMIST also sponsors events and policy-oriented opportunities in Washington for students participating in the program to further enrich their experience and enhance their understanding of how Washington functions as a hub of international and US policy decision making.
Curriculum (66 units)
For More Information
Please contact Emily Half, CMIST Deputy Director, to discuss or declare the minor.