Four New Faces at the Stimson Center

October 22, 2012

Stimson is pleased to announce the arrival of four new scholars to the Center: Geneive Abdo, John Edwards, Amy Nelson, and Yun Sun. Stimson's Chairman, Ambassador Lincoln Bloomfield, Jr., and President Ellen Laipson welcome these additions, each who bring deep expertise on a range of transnational issues - from Iran and East Asia relations to nonproliferation and nuclear security - and will strengthen and enhance Stimson's research and impact on critical 21^st-century security challenges.

Geneive Abdo, Fellow: Abdo joins the Middle East/Southwest Asia program at Stimson. Her current research focuses on contemporary Iran and political Islam.  Abdo is the former director of the Iran Program at the Century Foundation from 2007-2012.  Prior to that, Abdo was also the liaison officer for the Alliance of Civilizations, a UN initiative under Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

John Edwards, National Defense Visiting Fellow: Edwards will be working alongside co-founder Barry Blechman on nuclear policy strategy.  A Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force, he commanded the 96th Bomb Squadron-Red Devils, Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, responsible for leading more than 90 personnel and 11 B-52 bomber aircraft worth $924 million.  Edwards completed staff assignments on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Headquarters Air Force Staff and Air Forces Central Command.

Amy Nelson, Visiting Research Fellow SIPRI North America/Stimson from the University of California, Berkeley:  Nelson's work will examine ways to improve the efficacy of formal arms control agreements for nuclear, conventional, and non-conventional threats. Previously, Nelson worked as a member of the US arms control delegation to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on issues pertaining to the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, while conducting her dissertation research.

Yun Sun, Fellow:  Sun joins the East Asia program at Stimson, and brings expertise on Chinese foreign policy and its relations with neighboring countries and authoritarian regimes. Sun was previously a visiting fellow at the Center for Northeast Asia Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution, where she focused on China's national security decision-making system. She was the China Analyst for International Crisis Group based in Beijing from 2008 to 2011, specializing in cutting-edge issues of China's foreign policy, especially those toward conflict countries.

From left to right: Geneive Abdo, John Edwards, Amy Nelson, Yun Sun.