In the 1997 thriller The Peacemaker, Nicole Kidman chases nuclear bomb-stealing terrorists across the globe, culminating in a tense showdown in New York.

Her character, Julia Kelly, was based on Jessica Stern, one of the country’s leading terrorism experts and a newly appointed research professor at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies.

Just how leading an expert is Stern? In 1999, she predicted a world where murderers would commit “macroterrorism,” or attacks aimed at achieving previously unimaginable casualty levels. That prophecy came true two years later on September 11, prompting Time to put her on its list of 100 innovators with big ideas.

More recently, Stern testified before the Senate Homeland Security Committee, urging an expansion of college courses (like those she’ll teach at BU) to counter ISIS online recruiting propaganda. “One of the major gaps in our response to ISIS,” she said, “is the lack of investment in developing and disseminating effective counternarratives that are compelling to the millennial youth who are ISIS’ principal recruitment.”

Stern is best known for her research sit-downs with murderers: she interviews terrorists in prisons and refugee camps, seeking to understand their motives. Her most recent book deals with terrorism’s public enemy number one: ISIS: The State of Terror (HarperCollins, 2015). Her research for the book serves as the backbone of a course she’s teaching at Pardee, Guerilla Warfare and Terrorism.

“Her work exemplifies a blend of rigorous research and a deep understanding of the world of policy and practice,” says Adil Najam, dean of the Pardee School, “and this will enrich our classrooms and the students’ experience.”