2015-16

Meredith Blank

Meredith Blank

Pre-Doctoral Fellow

Meredith studies international relations with a focus on sub-national conflict and violence. She investigates the relationship between state governments, national militaries and militias in enabling human rights abuses. Her current work explores the impact of security institutions on state-sponsored repression.

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Alec Worsnop

Alec Worsnop

Pre-Doctoral Fellow

Alec Worsnop is a Ph.D. candidate in political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he is an affiliate of the Security Studies Program. His research examines civil war, military effectiveness, and civil-military relations and has been supported by organizations including the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, the Smith Richardson Foundation, and the Tobin Project. His dissertation investigates the determinants of insurgent military effectiveness and employs a mixed methods approach, which, drawing upon extensive archival materials, includes an in-depth examination of organizations in Iraq (2003-present) and Vietnam (1945-1975). Previously, he worked for a USAID implementing partner, conducting business development for assistance programs in Afghanistan and the Middle East.

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Ivan Oelrich

Visiting Scholar

Ivan Oelrich is an adjunct professor at George Washington University’s Elliott School. Dr. Oelrich was the former vice president of the Strategic Security Program at the Federation of American Scientists. Previously, he worked at the Institute for Defense Analyses, Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, the Office of Technology Assessment, and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. His research has followed two tracks: first, the evaluation of research and development programs aimed at developing new conventional military capability and, second, the role of and need for nuclear weapons with special focus on the determinants of nuclear stability. Dr. Oelrich received his BS from the University of Chicago and a PhD from Princeton University, both in chemistry.

Elai Rettig

Elai Rettig

Visiting Scholar

Elai Rettig is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Political Science at the University of Haifa. His dissertation examines the military structure and power of the major oil and gas exporting countries in the international system. His regional focus is on the Caspian, Eastern-Mediterranean and West-African regions. In addition, Elai specializes in policy and security issues of Israel’s energy sector, as well as on issues of energy cooperation and conflict potentials in the East-Med. He has received scholarships from Israel’s Ministry of Energy and Water and from the University of Haifa, and has graduated with highest honors from the University of Haifa’s Honors Program in Humanities.

Anna Samson

Anna Samson

Visiting Scholar

Anna Samson is a PhD candidate from the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University (ANU). Her research explores end state planning and exit strategies in humanitarian interventions.  Anna’s dissertation focuses on the role of US Presidential discourse in framing decisions to use military force to respond to mass atrocities.  She is currently a recipient of a Fulbright Postgraduate Scholarship and has previously been a visiting scholar at Georgetown University Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service’s Center for Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Studies, and the International Institute for Strategic Studies.  Anna holds an MA (Strategic Studies) from ANU as well as a Bachelor of Laws (1st class Hons) and Bachelor of Economics (Social Science) (1st class Hons) from the University of Sydney.  She has worked for more than ten years in the humanitarian protection sector in the Asia-Pacific region focusing specifically on forced migration.

 

Frank Smith

Frank Smith

Visiting Scholar

Dr. Frank Smith is a Lecturer with the Centre for International Security Studies and the Department of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney. His teaching and research examine the relationship between technology and international security. His book, American Biodefense (Cornell University Press 2014), explains why the U.S. military struggled to defend itself and the country against biological warfare and bioterrorism. His current research compares security cooperation on infectious diseases with cyber defense against malware; he is also analyzing the impact of quantum computing on international relations. Frank has a Ph.D. in political science and a B.S. in biological chemistry, both from the University of Chicago.

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Ryan Baker

Ryan Baker

PhD in Residence

Ryan is a Ph.D. student in public policy at George Washington University and a reserve officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. He received his master’s degree in Security Policy Studies from the Elliott School of International Affairs and his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Utah. Ryan’s research interests revolve around issues in international security, U.S. defense policy, and research methodology. His dissertation will examine the influence of logistics on military effectiveness, and try to identify the contribution of logistics relative to other important factors. Before graduate school, Ryan spent more than five years on active duty as a supply officer in the Marine Corps and deployed overseas twice.

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Daniel Jacobs

Daniel Jacobs

PhD in Residence

Daniel Jacobs is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Political Science at The George Washington University and a research assistant at the Institute for Security and Conflict Studies in the Elliott School of International Affairs. His current research interests include the strategic benefits of material and ideational vulnerability, autocratic accountability, and theories of grand strategic success. Daniel holds a M.A. (Hons) in International Relations from the University of Chicago and a B.A.(Hons) in Political Science from McGill University. When not studying international relations, Daniel is an aspiring barbecue pitmaster and canoe builder/woodworker.

Michael Joseph

Michael Joseph

PhD in Residence

Michael Joseph is a Ph.D. student in political science at George Washington University. His research uses formal insights to explore how states determine the extent of each other’s motives and its consequences for war, trade and peace. He is passionate about the role of bad actors in international politics and is interested in how Western powers can single these states out and manage their bad behavior. His research draws from six years’ experience working in Iraq, Jordan and the United States in various analytical roles. In his spare time he makes ice cream and plays risk.

Bryce Loidolt

Bryce Loidolt

PhD in Residence

Bryce Loidolt is a doctoral student in political science at George Washington University and an adjunct researcher at the RAND Corporation. He has also served as adjunct faculty at National Defense University at Fort Bragg, NC. His research focuses on terrorism and counterterrorism, with a current interest in the relationship between security force assistance and recipient combat effectiveness. At RAND, he has recently assisted in coordinating and synthesizing findings from advanced quantitative models and qualitative analytic tools to inform U.S. strategy against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Bryce also worked as an adviser to Special Operations Forces in Afghanistan, and conducted field research in Egypt and Yemen. Through Arabic and English language research, Bryce’s work has appeared as RAND Corporation monographs and in scholarly journals such as Studies in Conflict and Terrorism and Terrorism and Political Violence. A Southern California native, Bryce received his B.A. in Middle East Studies from Middlebury College, and his M.A. in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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Jacquelyn Schneider

Jacquelyn Schneider

PhD in Residence

Jacquelyn Schneider is a Ph.D. student in Political Science at George Washington University. Her research focuses on the intersection of national security, technology, and political psychology and covers a diverse range of topics from intelligence to unmanned technologies to cyber policy. Her work appears in Journal of Conflict ResolutionStrategic Studies Quarterly, the International Relations and Security Network, and War on the Rocks. She has won awards for Best Graduate Student Paper at both the International Studies Association Annual Meeting (Foreign Policy Section and International Security Studies Section) and the Southwestern Social Sciences Association Annual Meeting and is a two-time award winner of the AFCEA National Intelligence Writing Contest. Before beginning her academic career, Jacquelyn spent six years as an Air Force officer in South Korea and Japan. She holds a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Columbia University and a M.A. in Political Science from Arizona State University.

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