Washington Seminar Series 2024-2025

Join the MIT Club of Washington's 42nd annual Seminar Series on an important national topic related to science, technology, and public policy. Each year, the series offers engineers, scientists, industry leaders, policy makers and educators an opportunity to explore a specific topic in depth. Both those within and outside the Washington area MIT community gain the opportunity to develop a better understanding of recent developments and key issues.

Program:

Technological Competition between China and the U.S.

There is no question China is aggressively trying to enhance its long-term economic and military as a way to compete with most countries of the world, particularly the United States. And a key focus in pursuit of that goal is advancing its science and technological abilities. China has made impressive advancements in the last 5-10 years in scientific research, and the technological content of the products it exports around the world, including to the U.S. 

This Series will explore the current and near-term status of Chinese technological abilities and the continuing impacts this will have on the U.S. economy and military capabilities. Presentations by distinguished speakers are followed by ample time for questions and discussion. The social hour and dinner provide additional opportunities to meet the speakers, renew acquaintances, or join in stimulating discussions with other participants.

Each session begins at 6:15 PM on the second floor of Maggiano’s with a cash bar, followed by dinner at 7:00 PM, and the presentation from 8:00 PM to 9:30 PM.

The registration fee for the Series is $275 for ColumbiaDC members, which includes all dinners. The registration fee for non-members is $305.

Purchase the lecture series here!

All sessions are on the second Tuesday of each month. For detailed information about each session, see below.

2024

• October 8, The Present-Day Technological Status of the U.S. and China

  • Speaker: Dean Cheng, Senior Advisor, China program, U.S. Institute of Peace. Former Senior Research Fellow on Chinese political and security affairs, Heritage Foundation.

    It is important to understand how U.S and China relations have evolved, and the present role of science and technology. In recent years China has initiated state-directed and funded programs in several specific technological areas having potential impacts in both commercial and military areas. Dean Chang has studied Chinese activities for decades and will share his knowledge and views about likely outcomes. This opening session will present an overview of Chinese competition- subsequent sessions will go into detail for several critical areas of technology.

• November 12, China’s Counterspace Technology Impacts

  • Speaker: Clayton Swope, Deputy Director, Aerospace Security Project, and Senior Fellow, International Security Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

    Clayton Swope was the lead author for the 2024 Space Threat Assessment by the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). For the last seven years, CSIS has used open-source information to produce an annual assessment of threats to U.S. national security space systems posed by foreign government capabilities. Each report in this series catalogs yearly trends, uses, and advancements of counterspace weapons and enablers to provide accessible insights into the global space threat landscape. Of all the issues covered in this year’s assessment, China's growing space and counterspace capabilities received the most attention. For this presentation, Clayton will focus on China's counterspace capabilities, discussing their impacts on space security and role in China's national security.

• December 10, The Importance of Quantum Qubits for the US and China

  • Speaker: Sam Howell, Associate Fellow with the Technology and National Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS).

    Quantum computing holds immense potential across various fields, including financial modeling, artificial intelligence, scientific research, and defense sectors such as undersea warfare and military communications networks. In this session, Sam Howell will delve into the current strengths and weaknesses of quantum information science in both the US and China. She will also explore the quantum strategies being pursued by these two global powers. Additionally, Ms. Howell will offer her data-driven recommendations on how the US can bolster its position in the ongoing quantum computing competition with China.

2025

•   January 14, Competition in National Defense

  • Speaker: Lt. General Charles Hooper (US Army, Ret), Senior Counselor, The Cohen Group, former Director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, former Defense Attache at the US Embassy in China

    There are currently several areas of concern that affect national defense where China and the US are in opposition- aggression in the South China Sea, and invasion of Taiwan being the two biggest. Our ability to ensure our national defense is directly dependent on our technological superiority – can we maintain that? Cybersecurity is an important element.

    Thirty years of consistent People’s Republic of China (PRC) defense budget increases have fueled growing U.S. national security concerns over Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) technological advancement, surveillance capabilities and military build-up. More alarming is that the sole focus of this modernization has been to disrupt and defeat the U.S. military. The PLA ground forces have invested heavily in military robotics and ground systems, unmanned operations, artificial intelligence, and electromagnetic attack. The PLA Navy is experimenting with a range of intelligent/autonomous surface vessels and underwater vehicles including submarines and gliders with anti-submarine warfare capabilities. The PLA Air and Space Force is continuing its research, development, and operationalization of a range of UAVs with varying degrees of autonomy, while exploring new techniques for UAV swarming and manned-unmanned teaming. The PLA Strategic Support Force (PLASSF)— the center of gravity for AI weaponization—is looking to leverage advances in artificial intelligence (AI) in support of its missions of space, cyber, electronic, psychological warfare, electronic reconnaissance and countermeasures. Finally, the PLA Rocket Force is modernizing an expanding force capable of attacking the US homeland with nuclear and conventional weapons. The questions are what capabilities the PLA have acquired from their investment in technological advancements, and how can the U.S. neutralize and defend against these capabilities?

•   February 11, CHIPS Act: Bolstering Domestic Semiconductor Manufacturing Amid Global Competition

  • Speaker: Dr. Greg Yeric, Director of Research, CHIPS NSTC Program

    President Biden signed the landmark bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act into law in 2022. The law provides the Department of Commerce with $50 billion to bolster the domestic semiconductor industry and revitalize the U.S. position in semiconductor research and development (R&D). While the U.S. has always been a leader in semiconductor innovation, it has fallen behind in manufacturing. Today, none of the most advanced logic and memory chips are manufactured at commercial scale in the United States. The CHIPS Act seeks to reverse this course by incentivizing leading edge domestic manufacturing facilities and bolstering R&D to ensure semiconductor innovations are deployed in the U.S. This federal investment has sparked over $300 billion in private investment in the U.S. At the heart of these investments is the demand for the most advanced chips, which are needed to train AI algorithms, build defense systems, and enable other sensitive technologies. The U.S. government is seeking to bolster manufacturing and innovation in these critical technologies while coordinating with international allies and partners to support a healthy global semiconductor ecosystem. This includes coordinating government incentive programs, building resilient cross-border semiconductor supply chains, promoting knowledge exchange and collaboration on future technologies, and implementing safeguards to protect national security.

•   March 11, Biotechnology in the United States and China — not finalized, details should be available soon.

Metro: Maggiano's is very near the Friendships Heights Metro station.

Parking: Discounted parking is available in the underground garage (marked Pavilion) for up to 4 hours - entry is from Military Road and park in the section labeled "Friendship Center" (look for the elevator with a Maggiano's sign). Bring your parking ticket to Maggiano’s for validation.

The restaurant is handicapped accessible.