The Stimson Center announced the appointment today of five Nonresident Fellows: Elizabeth Chalecki, Melissa S. Hersh, Agnieszka Paczynska, Amit A. Pandya, Kathryn Rauhut.
“Stimson has emerged as a unique center of pragmatism and excellence in addressing the grand global challenges of our time,” said Stimson President and CEO Brian Finlay. “This class of Nonresident Fellows complements and expands our reach into the transnational issues of climate, global public health, post-conflict reconstruction, migration, nuclear security, and beyond. I am delighted to welcome this talented class to the innovative family of Stimson scholars.”
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Elizabeth Chalecki is an Assistant Professor of International Relations at the University of Nebraska – Omaha. Her areas of expertise include climate change and security, global environmental politics, and international relations. She recently concluded a fellowship at Goucher College as the Visiting Mellon Scholar for Environmental Studies. Chalecki has published over 20 books, articles, and book chapters on diverse topics such as climate change and Arctic security, environmental terrorism, climate change and international law, public perceptions of environmental issues, and water in outer space. She holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy at Tufts University, and an M.Sc. in Environmental Geography from the University of Toronto. |
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Melissa S. Hersh brings 20 years of experience operating at the nexus of commercial and public sector policy and operations. Her areas of expertise include: global public health and biosecurity, unmanned systems (drones), disaster preparedness and response, and nuclear energy. Hersh regularly advises governments, IGOs and Fortune 500 companies on risk across a variety of sectors. She comes to the Stimson Center while serving as the Principal of Hersh Consulting LLC, a boutique risk consultancy based in Washington, D.C. advising clients in aerospace, defense, and security, nuclear energy and extractives, transport and logistics, and global health issues. She was educated at The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, The Medical College of Wisconsin, and Skidmore College. |
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Agnieszka Paczynska is Associate Professor at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University and the Principal Investigator of a United States Institute of Peace-funded project, “Emerging Powers in Post-Conflict and Transitional Settings: the New Politics of Reconstruction.” Paczynska’ research interests include the relationship between economic, political change, and conflict. Paczynska has been a Franklin Fellow/Foreign Affairs Officer in the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction, has observed elections in Liberia, Afghanistan and Egypt, and worked as a conflict analysis consultant for the U.S. State Department, USAID and Marine Corps Combat Development Command. She holds a B.A. and M.A. in political science from New York University and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Virginia. |
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Amit A. Pandya is an international lawyer and consultant. His research interests include global migration, developments and prospects in maritime commerce, and social and economic trends in the Arab world and South Asia. Until 2015, he was Chief of Staff and Counselor to the International Labor Affairs Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor. Among other positions, he has served as a Counsel to Subcommittees on National Security and International Operations in the U.S. House of Representatives, Director of the Humanitarian Assistance Office in the U.S. Department of Defense, and a member of the Department of State’s Policy Planning Staff. He was a Senior Associate at Stimson between 2007 and 2010, where he directed the Regional Voices/Transnational Challenges Project. He holds academic degrees from Oxford and the University of Pennsylvania, and law degrees from Yale and Georgetown. |
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Kathryn Rauhut is an attorney specializing in international security based in Vienna, Austria. She works primarily on nuclear security governance, accountability and liability issues with a focus on cybersecurity. Prior to her work with the Stimson Center’s Managing Across Boundaries initiative, she was a Strategic Advisor to the Internet Security Alliance and to the World Institute for Nuclear Security (WINS). In her role at WINS, Rauhut led international roundtables and authored policy papers on improving global governance of nuclear and cybersecurity through building the business value of security. Previously, she was the Deputy General Counsel of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. She is a member of the California Bar Association, the American Bar Association, and the International Nuclear Lawyer’s Association. |