Fotini Christia

Fotini Christia is the Ford International professor of the social sciences at MIT. She is director of the Sociotechnical Systems Research Center (SSRC), associate director of the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS), and chair of the doctoral program in Social and Engineering Systems (SES) at MIT's Schwarzman College of Computing.

Fotini authored 'Alliance Formation in Civil War' (Cambridge University Press, 2012), which received the Luebbert Award for Best Book in Comparative Politics, the Lepgold Prize for Best Book in International Relations and a Distinguished Book Award from the International Studies Association.

Fotini graduated magna cum laude from Columbia University in 2001 with a joint bachelor's degree in economics and operations research and a master's degree in international affairs. She received a doctorate degree in public policy from Harvard University in 2008 before joining MIT faculty that year.