People

Director and Founder

Dr. Sarah Kreps

Sarah Kreps focuses on the intersection of international politics, technology, and national security. She is the John L. Wetherill Professor in the Department of Government, Adjunct Professor of Law, and the Director of the Cornell Brooks School Tech Policy Institute.

She has written five books, including Social Media and International Relations. Other books include Taxing Wars: The American Way of War Finance and the Decline of Democracy, Drones: What Everyone Needs to Know, Drone Warfare, and Coalitions of Convenience: United States Military Interventions after the Cold War.

Lead Research Associate

Elizabeth H. Redmond

Elizabeth H. Redmond is TPI's Lead Research Associate supporting DoD-funded research on semiconductor supply chain security and cybersecurity assessment. She is the hub lead for the Drones & Robotics, Geopolitics & Technology, and Space Security hubs with a particular focus on Arctic wargaming.

A Subject Matter Expert at the Homeland Defense Institute at the United States Air Force Academy and NORAD/NORTHCOM, her expertise spans hybrid warfare, gray-zone aggression, supply chain security, and critical infrastructure resilience, with a focus on how contemporary conflict targets the systems underpinning civilian and military power. She holds an M.S. in Regional Science and a B.S. in Urban and Regional Studies with honors from Cornell University.

Project Manager

Tyler Akira Durst

Director of the Semiconductor Research Hub at the Tech Policy Institute, where he supports programs focused on national security and critical technology policy. He currently serves as Program Manager for the institute's semiconductor supply chain cybersecurity and assurance effort, coordinating research execution, stakeholder engagement, and sponsor-facing deliverables.

His work emphasizes translating complex technical findings into clear, actionable outputs for government, industry, and academic partners, and building collaborative forums that strengthen resilience across defense-relevant supply chain segments.

Tyler is a U.S. Navy veteran and previously served as an Assistant Professor of Naval Science at Cornell University. Earlier in his career, he served as a Naval Flight Officer supporting maritime surveillance missions and operational planning. He is currently an MBA candidate at Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management and holds a Master of Public Administration from Cornell's Brooks School of Public Policy and a Bachelor of Science in Public Health from the University of South Carolina Beaufort.

Assistant Administrator for TPI

Meleah Grover

Meleah Grover is an administrative and event coordination professional at the Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy. She supports the Center on Democracy by bringing together scholars, policymakers, journalists, and global leaders to address critical issues in democracy, governance, and public policy worldwide.

In her role, Meleah manages event logistics, speaker visits, travel coordination, and key partnerships that connect Cornell faculty and students with vital global conversations. Her work directly elevates core programming, including Connecting Cornell to Congress, the Global Democracy Defenders initiatives, and the non-resident fellows program.

Non-Resident Senior Fellow

Lauryn Williams

Lauryn Williams was previously Chief of Staff in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy in the U.S. Department of Defense, where she spearheaded release of the first-ever National Defense Industrial Strategy Implementation Plan.

Immediately prior, Lauryn was Director for Strategy in the Office of the National Cyber Director and drove the White House strategic initiative on space system cybersecurity. This work resulted in the first-ever minimum cybersecurity requirements for federal space systems, included in President Biden's January 2025 cybersecurity executive order.

Lauryn joined ONCD from the DoD space policy office, where she led efforts to better leverage commercial space capabilities and to develop the first-ever U.S. norms of responsible behavior in space. She has also served in the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration and at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She received her bachelor's degree from Stanford University and master's degree from Princeton University.

Senior Fellow

Douglas Kriner

Douglas Kriner's research and teaching interests focus on American political institutions and the separation of powers, as well as on US foreign policy and science and health policy. In addition to his affiliation with Brooks, he is the Clinton Rossiter Professor in American Institutions in the Department of Government.

Professor Kriner is the author or co-author of five books, including most recently The Myth of the Imperial Presidency: How Public Opinion Checks the Unilateral Executive. He has received the D.B. Hardeman Prize, the Richard F. Fenno Jr. Award, and the Richard E. Neustadt award.

His research has appeared in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, and Journal of Politics, and his work on science and health policy has appeared in The New England Journal of Medicine, Science Advances, and Energy Policy. He received undergraduate degrees from MIT and a PhD from Harvard.

Non-Resident Senior Fellow

Dr. Gustavo Flores-Macías

Gustavo A. Flores-Macías is Dean of the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland. His scholarship focuses on political and economic development in Latin America.

He is the author of three books, is frequently featured as an expert in national and international news media, and has consulted for local and national organizations. He is the editor of The Political Economy of Taxation in Latin America and the author of After Neoliberalism? The Left and Economic Reforms in Latin America, which won the Latin American Studies Association Tomassini Award in 2014.

He holds a bachelor's degree in international relations from Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico City, a master's degree in public policy from Duke University, and a doctorate in comparative government from Georgetown University.

Senior Fellow

Dr. Jillian Goldfarb

Jillian Goldfarb received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Northeastern University in 2004 and her Ph.D. from Brown University in 2008, and is now an Associate Professor in Biological and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University. Her research tackles issues surrounding energy generation and its impact on the environment.

On campus, she is a Fellow at the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future, the Cornell Institute of Politics and Global Affairs, and the Cornell Dairy Center of Excellence, and an Expert in the Cornell Energy Systems Institute. She is an Associate Principal Editor for the journal Fuel and a member of the ACS Committee on Environmental Improvement.

Non-Resident Senior Fellow

Professor Jamie Shea

Jamie Shea CMG is Professor at the College of Europe in Natolin. He is also a Senior Fellow responsible for security and defense programs at Friends of Europe and a Senior Advisor with the European Policy Centre in Brussels.

For 38 years Professor Shea was an international public servant and a member of the International Staff of NATO. His last NATO post was Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges. Other positions included Director of Policy Planning in the Private Office of the Secretary General, Deputy Assistant Secretary General for External Relations, and Spokesman of NATO.

He has been awarded two honorary doctorates and is a recipient of the NATO medal for Meritorious Service. In 2020 he received the honour of Companion of St. Michael and St. George.

Senior Fellow

Dr. Rebecca Slayton

Rebecca Slayton's research and teaching examine the relationships between and among risk, governance, and expertise, with a focus on international security and cooperation since World War II.

Her current book project, Shadowing Cybersecurity, examines the historical emergence of cybersecurity expertise. It shows how efforts to establish credible expertise in corporate, governmental, and non-governmental contexts have produced varying and sometimes conflicting expert practices. All cybersecurity experts wrestle with the irreducible uncertainties that characterize intelligent adversaries, and the fundamental inability to prove that systems are secure.

Senior Fellow

Dr. Gregory Falco

Gregory Falco is an Assistant Professor at the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Systems Engineering Program at Cornell University. He received his PhD from MIT, where NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory funded his doctoral research in cybersecurity at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

He is the director of the Aerospace ADVERSARY Laboratory, which designs and develops next-generation autonomous, secure, and resilient space infrastructure. His space technology research is policy-relevant and advances standards and national security conversations relating to space supremacy and cybersecurity.

He was listed in Forbes 30 Under 30 for Enterprise Technology, named a DARPA RISER, and received the DARPA Young Faculty Award.

Senior Fellow

Dr. David Silbey

David Silbey is the Director of Teaching and Learning at the Cornell in Washington program in the Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy. He specializes in the industrialized total wars of the 20th century and the asymmetric responses, including guerrilla warfare, insurgency, and terrorism.

He has written books on the British Army in World War I, the Philippine-American War, the Boxer Rebellion in China, and US military encounters with non-western nations. He is the series editor for Cornell University Press' military history series "Battlegrounds: Cornell Studies in Military History." He received his Ph.D. at Duke University and his BA at Cornell University.

Non-Resident Senior Fellow

Dr. Caroline Kennedy Pipe

Professor Kennedy-Pipe is regarded as one of the UK's leading scholars of war. In her work with the UK Parliament, NATO, and the United Nations, she has advised on new and emerging technologies in modern warfare, from IEDs to drones, and the changing landscape of geopolitics in the High North and Arctic.

A past Chair and President of the British International Studies Association, Caroline was the 2024 recipient of the organization's Distinguished Contribution Prize, and in 2025 she was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. She is currently Professor of War Studies at the University of Loughborough and a specialist advisor to the House of Commons Select Committee on Defence.

Non-Resident Senior Fellow

Dr. Paul Lushenko

LTC Paul Lushenko is the Director of Special Operations and a Faculty Instructor in the U.S. Army War College's Department of Military Strategy, Planning, and Operations.

He earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in International Relations from Cornell University. He also holds an M.A. in Defense and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College, an M.A. in International Relations and a Master of Diplomacy from The Australian National University, and a B.S. from the U.S. Military Academy.

He is the co-editor of Drones and Global Order: Implications of Remote Warfare for International Society, the first book to systematically study the implications of drone warfare on global politics. He also has a book forthcoming entitled The Legitimacy of Drone Warfare: Evaluating Public Perceptions.

Senior Fellow

Judith Germano

Judith Germano is a practicing attorney, corporate director, and former federal prosecutor specializing in cybersecurity and technology risk management and strategy, regulatory risk, and compliance.

She is a Distinguished Fellow at NYU's Center for Cybersecurity, Adjunct Professor of Law at NYU School of Law, and Adjunct Professor and Faculty Advisory Board Member of the Volatility and Risk Institute at NYU Stern School of Business. She is the founder and lead counsel of GermanoLaw LLC, advising organizations and their leaders on cybersecurity and privacy, high-stakes mediation and negotiations, complex fraud investigations, regulatory compliance, and crisis management.

Judi is an independent director at DIME Community Bancshares, serving on the Enterprise Risk, Strategic Planning, and Credit Risk Committees. She founded and chairs Women Leaders in Cybersecurity.

Senior Fellow

Dr. Qian Yang

Qian Yang is a human-AI interaction designer and Cornell's assistant professor in information science. Her research focuses on understanding how to bring human-centered thinking to bear on frontier AI techniques more effectively.

Her recent work focuses on leveraging large language models for education and mental healthcare, and in doing so promoting the new practice of designing AI technologies and policies simultaneously.

Senior Fellow

Dr. Christopher Earls

Chris Earls' research focuses on using mathematics and physics for mechanistic interpretability of complex, emergent behaviors exhibited by state-of-the-art AI systems. Such mechanistic understanding is vital when deploying AI within high-regret contexts, and when forming trustworthy partnerships between human and machine intelligence.

Earls is the J. Preston Levis Professor of Engineering and a faculty member in the Cornell Center for Applied Mathematics.

Non-Resident Senior Fellow

Dr. J. Wesley Hutto

J. Wesley Hutto is an Associate Professor within the US Air Force's School of Advanced Air and Space Studies. His research interests include drone warfare and its intersection with International Relations theory, regional powers and comparative regional security, military strategy, and multinational military exercises.

His work has appeared in the Journal of Regional Security, International Politics, Defence Studies, RUSI Journal, and The Army War College Quarterly Journal: Parameters.

Non-Resident Senior Fellow

Srinjoy Bose

Srinjoy Bose is Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations at the University of New South Wales in Australia. His research focuses on Critical Peace and Security Studies, including the global governance of military technologies.

He is Associate Editor of the Australian Journal of International Affairs and co-Editor of Drones and Global Order: The Implications of Remote Warfare for International Society. His research on the racialization and global governance of drone warfare has informed the UN's work on Human Rights in Africa and the UN's High-Level Advisory Body on AI.

Senior Fellow

Dr. Jean-François Bélanger

Jean-François Bélanger is an expert on nuclear politics, disruptive and emerging technologies, and coercive diplomacy and conflict escalation.

He is currently leading Wargaming as Experiments: Strategy and Unintended Consequences, funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 fund as part of his Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship. The project uses geopolitical simulations to better understand the causes of nuclear escalation and restraint.

Jean-François is interested in the ways geopolitical simulations can generate data on rare events, develop better heuristics for crisis decision-making, and inform military exercises. He was previously a fellow at Yale's International Security Studies and at the Balsillie School of International Affairs.

Non-Resident Senior Fellow

Michael John Williams

Michael John Williams is associate professor of public administration and international affairs and director of international relations graduate programs at the Maxwell School, senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, an associate of LSE IDEAS, and editor-in-chief of International Politics.

He is an international security expert with an interest in the conduct of modern war and the relationship between war, technology, and society. He is the author of four books, including Science, Law and Liberalism in the American Way of War and International Security: Theory and Practice.

Williams has been a NATO Security Studies Fulbright Fellow, a Robert Bosch Fellow in the German Ministry of Defense, and a DAAD Fellow at the Bundeswehr Center for Social Science in Potsdam. He earned his B.A. from the University of Delaware, an M.A. from the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, and a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics.

Non-Resident Senior Fellow

Mike Brenes

Michael Brenes is Senior Lecturer in Global Affairs at Yale University and a Senior Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for International Policy.

He is the author of For Might and Right: Cold War Defense Spending and the Remaking of American Democracy and The Rivalry Peril: How Great-Power Competition Threatens Peace and Weakens Democracy, co-authored with Van Jackson. He is also co-editor, with Daniel Bessner, of Rethinking U.S. Power and Cold War Liberalism: Power in a Time of Emergency.

His work has been published in The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Politico, The New Republic, Dissent, Boston Review, The Nation, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. He is currently writing a history of the War on Terror from the 1990s to the present.

BTPI Director's Fellow

John Miller

John Miller is an active duty Air Force Special Warfare Officer and has served in Europe, South East Asia, and the Middle East. He is currently a first-year Cornell Systems Engineering PhD student.

His research focus is assessing the feasibility of drone mass production for national defense, and he hopes to use his research to influence the design and acquisition of drones. John is from Miami, Florida and is a 2015 graduate of the US Air Force Academy, where he majored in Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering with a minor in Japanese Language.

Fellow

Amelia Arsenault

Amelia C. Arsenault is a PhD candidate at Cornell University's Department of Government, in the international relations subfield. Her research explores the implications of emerging technology on international relations, with a particular focus on AI, surveillance, and smart city technologies.

She contributed a chapter to the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of AI Governance, and her work has been published in the Canadian Foreign Policy Journal, the Harvard Business Review, and the Journal of Peace Research. Her doctoral research has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Department of National Defence MINDS Scholarship Initiative.

Fellow

Avishai Melamed

Avishai Melamed is a PhD student at Cornell University's Department of Government in the international relations subfield. His research focuses on the politics of technology, science diplomacy, and patterns of international cooperation and competition.

He has published in Acta Astronautica and the Journal of Space Safety Engineering, and written for the Center for Space Policy and Strategy and Brookings TechStream. Avishai holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and History from the University of California, San Diego.

Fellow

Dr. Jon McCandless

Jon McCandless is an Ignite Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell University, where he is working to commercialize his research on semiconductors.

Prior to Cornell, Jon worked at the Air Force Research Laboratory focusing on device fabrication and testing of gallium nitride and gallium oxide devices. He was a member of the ACCESS Center, a joint center between AFRL and Cornell devoted to gallium oxide. He earned his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Cornell, received the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, and was an Irwin Jacobs Family Fellow.

Non-Resident Fellow

Basim Ali

Basim has been a public servant for the Government of India with expertise in technological and fintech policy analysis, risk advisory, and strategy consulting. He is currently pursuing his MPA from the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy.

In India, at the federal level, he was instrumental in formulating and executing policies dealing with cryptocurrency regulations, Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism, along with regulating peer-to-peer lending platforms. At Deloitte, he was part of a global team handling financial crime investigations, anti-corruption due diligence, and business intelligence. In his spare time he enjoys hiking and reading poetry.

Fellow

Joshua Greenberg

Joshua is a PhD student in Information Science at Cornell University. His research focuses on the impacts of emerging technologies on the laws of armed conflict, international humanitarian law, and organizational practices of the US military.

His recent work explores how integrating open-source intelligence and AI systems into the joint targeting cycle presents novel challenges to civilian harm mitigation, international legal compliance, and public accountability. He holds an MA in International Relations and Contemporary War from King's College London and a BA in Philosophy from the University of Michigan. He previously served in the Michigan National Guard and as an active-duty Armor officer with the 4th Infantry Division.

Industry Fellow

Patrick Whitty

Patrick Whitty is the Founder of 5/13, a strategic advisory firm, and a Major in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. His career has spanned roles in special operations, the intelligence community, space operations, and advanced technologies.

His work has centered on advancing commercial space adoption, strengthening supply chain resilience in critical technologies including rare earth minerals, semiconductors, space-enabling infrastructure, and advanced sensing, and bridging gaps between government, industry, and academia with an emphasis on venture capital and innovation integration.

Fellow

Rajiv Thummala

Rajiv Thummala is pursuing a PhD in Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University with a minor in International Relations. He graduated summa cum laude and as a NASA Space Grant Scholar from Pennsylvania State University in 2023, where he earned his M.S. and B.S. degrees in Cybersecurity.

As a graduate researcher at the Aerospace ADVERSARY Laboratory, Rajiv is developing disruptive space technology. His research interests are in aerospace security, space combat power projection, and national security space topics.

Non-Resident Fellow

Dr. Martin Thorp

Dr Martin Thorp MBE is a scholar-practitioner whose work examines the psychological dimensions of combat. He served 24 years in the British Army's Parachute Regiment, culminating as Command Sergeant Major and Regimental Sergeant Major, and was awarded the MBE for distinguished service.

After leaving the military he qualified as an organisational psychologist and completed a PhD at Loughborough University in 2024. His research, based on Grounded Theory Methodology and over 50 interviews with UK combat veterans and medical practitioners, analyses how commanders psychologically prepare soldiers, limit the psychological effects of battle, manage exposure to trauma, and support those affected. He has co-authored an article in Parameters and, with lived experience of combat-related trauma, volunteers to support veterans with mental health problems.

Fellow

Doğa Özden

Doğa Özden is a third-year J.D. student at Cornell Law School. His research interests span AI governance, constitutional law, and technology policy. His current research explores the constitutional dimensions of AI governance, including First Amendment limits on government-directed modifications to AI systems.

Doğa is the creator of PropBench, an open-source benchmark for evaluating large language model reasoning through propositional logic proof efficiency. A Myron Taylor Scholar and Berger Fellow, he holds an MA in Philosophy from York University. Following graduation he will join Latham & Watkins' Silicon Valley office, focusing on tech transactions and emerging companies.

Fellow

Shruthi Ramani

Shruthi Ramani is an M.S. student in Data Science for Public Policy at Cornell University. Her research interests sit at the intersection of artificial intelligence, public policy, and digital governance, with a focus on how data-driven technologies can support effective, equitable, and evidence-based policymaking.

Her work draws on experience in education policy, behavioral decision science, and comparative technology regulation, including research on digital dark patterns and AI governance challenges across national contexts. She is especially interested in AI governance and defense, geopolitics and technology, and drones and robotics.

Fellow

Juliana Sessum

Juliana Sessum is a Master's candidate in Cornell University's Data Science for Public Policy program. Her work explores the application of open-source intelligence and geospatial analysis as tools for understanding illicit networks and regional security, with past focus on Captagon trafficking in Syria, conflict risk modeling along the Thailand-Cambodia border, and resistance movements in Myanmar.

She contributed the first documented dataset dedicated to incidents of drone warfare as part of a team competing in the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's M.A.J.I.C. Challenge. Her analytic background includes service as an Intelligence Analyst Intern at United States Central Command, where she was named The Robertson Foundation for Government's Intern of the Year among 1,483 federal interns.

Fellow

Abby Srulevich

Abby Srulevich is a Tanner Dean's Scholar at Cornell University studying Government in the College of Arts and Sciences. On campus she is a fellow of Pi Lambda Sigma's pre-professional government society. Her research interests lie in media studies, with a focus on online extremism and radicalization.

Fellow

Varija Mehta

Varija Mehta is a sophomore in the College of Engineering majoring in Computer Science and pursuing a minor in Data Science. On campus she is an engineer for the Cornell Mars Rover project team, director of Women in Computing at Cornell, and a member of the Cornell Undergraduate Asia Business Society.

With past experience as a Cadet in the Civil Air Patrol and as a Cybersecurity Analyst for MassMutual, Varija is interested in cybersecurity, technology, and foreign policy.

Distinguished Junior Fellow

Eeshaan Chaudhuri

Eeshaan Chaudhuri is a Public Policy student at Cornell's Brooks School, with minors in International Relations, Data Science, and Philosophy. On campus he enjoys walking backward while giving tours, writing for the Cornell Policy Review, and representing his peers in Cornell's Student and University Assemblies.

Eeshaan has contributed to projects with the New Jersey State Legislature, the U.S. Congress, NATO, and the Department of Defense. His research explores human behavior, grand strategy, and the role of emerging public interest technologies in governance.

Distinguished Junior Fellow

Kayla Schechter

Kayla Schechter is a Public Policy student in the Brooks School of Public Policy. On campus she is a speaker curator for the TEDx conference team, a Democracy Fellow with the Cornell Center on Global Democracy, and a member of the Cornell Intellectual Property and Ethics Club.

Inspired by studying abroad in Jerusalem and interning for the French Consulate as well as local government, Kayla is interested in the intersection between international relations, technology policy, and national security.

Distinguished Junior Fellow

Aniket Martins

Aniket is a Meinig Family Cornell National Scholar studying Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in the College of Engineering. On campus he serves as an Air Force ROTC Cadet, a Laidlaw Scholar, and as an engineer and safety lead for Cornell University Unmanned Air Systems.

Beyond Cornell he is the Education Team Commander for i5 Space, a national organization dedicated to educating and training students about the importance of space. His research interests lie at the intersection of emerging technologies, national security, geopolitics, and foreign policy.

Junior Fellow

Sumajja Denysiuk

Sumajja Denysiuk is a junior majoring in Government in the College of Arts and Sciences, with a minor in Science and Technology Studies. She is a fellow of Pi Lambda Sigma and a member of the Cornell fencing team.

Sumajja has contributed to policy initiatives for human rights organizations and conducted legal research on violations of international humanitarian law, helping draft reports in support of International Criminal Court case filings. She is currently working with a government agency to track and counter misinformation and Russian propaganda in occupied territories. Her research interests include government digitalization, international relations, and national security.

Junior Fellow

Sophia Dasser

Sophia Dasser is a junior in Cornell's College of Arts & Sciences, double majoring in Computer Science and Philosophy with minors in Artificial Intelligence and Law and Society. A Milstein Scholar in Technology and Humanity, Laidlaw Leadership and Research Scholar, Telluride Scholar and Beck Entrepreneurship Fellow, she serves as Editor in Chief of The Cornell Daily Sun, leading a staff of 200 and authoring the paper's first bylaws and inaugural AI policy. At TPI, under Professor Sarah Kreps, she contributed to the analysis of Anthropic's federal defense contracts alongside the parallel shifts in its consumer terms of service. She researches uncertainty quantification for large language models with Professor Jed Stiglitz at Cornell Law School, testing whether model confidence holds up in high-stakes legal settings, and leads data visualization for the Cañizares Center for Emerging Markets' annual report. Her earlier work spans remote sensing and machine learning on agricultural abandonment in Morocco's High Atlas and federal appropriations advocacy with UNICEF USA, where she represented the United States at the United Nations General Assembly. She has been featured in The New York Times for her advocacy, and her interests center on AI evaluation, procurement and governance.

Junior Fellow

G. Luke Flores

Luke Flores is a Tech Policy Institute junior fellow and student at Ithaca High School, with technical interests in engineering systems, cybersecurity, and applied research at the intersection of hardware and computation. He is currently a research assistant in Cornell University's Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, where he works on semiconductor supply-chain security and cybersecurity risks to critical infrastructure.

Luke has participated in competitive STEM and entrepreneurship programs, including the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics Summer Accelerator and the Appalachia Entrepreneurship Academy. His academic work spans statistics, physics, computer science, and history. Outside the lab he is active in varsity tennis and chess club leadership, and teaches bilingual STEM education programs.

Junior Fellow

Katie Winton

Katie Winton is an undergraduate in Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences studying Computer Science with a minor in Policy Analysis and Management. Her research with the Tech Policy Institute and Cornell's Aerospace Adversary Lab focuses on semiconductor supply-chain security.

On campus she is a software developer for the Engineers for a Sustainable World project team and a Staff Writer for the Arts and Culture section of The Cornell Daily Sun. Her other interests include mathematics, reading, and art.

Junior Fellow

Saanvi Puri

Saanvi Puri is a Public Policy student in the Brooks School, with minors in Information Science and Philosophy. On campus, she is a volunteer for the Veterans Law Practicum, holds a position in the Cornell Undergraduate Law and Society Review, and is a member of both the Cornell Undergraduate Parole Initiative and the Undergraduate International Law Review. Off campus, she is a Research Assistant at Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute where she contributes on the legal end to the development of legal machine learning software, and writes research briefs on human rights concerns internationally. Saanvi hopes to learn more about the intersection between tech policy and civil liberty, and the underlying tech infrastructure that promotes human rights values.

Junior Fellow

Karolina Ostrowski

Karolina Ostrowski is a student at Cornell University studying Public Policy with minors in Artificial Intelligence and Business. As a D.C. Start Scholar she developed an early focus on AI governance and technology policy.

She serves as an Artificial Intelligence Research Intern at USC Marshall School of Business, where she analyzes AI regulatory frameworks across more than 50 countries, and as a Technology Operations Intern at Blue Voice. On campus she is an Analyst for the Cornell Political Strategy Group and a member of Phi Lambda Sigma. Her work sits at the intersection of AI governance, regulatory strategy, and responsible technology deployment.

Junior Fellow

Johnny Mou

Johnny Mou is a sophomore majoring in Industrial and Labor Relations who transferred from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, where he was a Computer Science and Economics major.

On campus he interns for the Ultimate Reentry Opportunity initiative, an organization dedicated to supporting the reintegration of formerly incarcerated individuals. He is a brother of Phi Alpha Delta and serves as a Staff Writer for the Undergraduate International Law Review. His research interests focus on the intersection of artificial intelligence, national security, and the law.

Junior Fellow

Kashyap Rajesh

Kashyap Rajesh is a student at Cornell University studying Information Science and Political Science with a minor in AI. For the past five years he has led AI policy at Encode, the world's first and largest youth-powered movement for safe and responsible AI, where he built a global chapter network, developed literacy programs reaching nearly 50,000 students, and advocated for state-level AI legislation.

He serves as a Youth Fellow for the Rithm Project and researches AI-induced job disruption at the JEM Lab for Generative AI at Work. He founded and serves as President of the Cornell Political Strategy Group and directs the Environmental Technology Center at the Cornell Policy Group.

Junior Fellow

Madeline Shukovsky

Maddie is a sophomore majoring in Public Policy at the Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy. On campus, Maddie is a foreign analyst for Cornell Policy Group and a consultant on AI upskilling for Applied Public Policy Strategies group. She also works as a data analyst for the Tenants Advocacy Program, informing program resource allocation and tenant support strategies. As a Junior Fellow for the Tech Policy Institute, she conducts research on the semiconductor supply chain, turning technical findings into lay terminology for congressional audiences. Maddie loves to learn languages and is interested in the intersection of national security, international relations, and technology policy.

Junior Fellow

Nitya Pakala

Nitya Pakala is a student majoring in Information Science with a concentration in Data Science and a minor in Artificial Intelligence. On campus she leads the product team at Digital Tech and Innovation and is active in Design Consulting at Cornell and Social Enterprise Group at Cornell.

Her work spans AI product strategy and responsible technology deployment across projects in logistics, data, and emerging markets, extending into policy recommendations on gender equity and digital access as a UN Women youth representative. Her research interests center on human-centered AI design, algorithmic governance, and how platform dynamics, geopolitical forces, and compute infrastructure shape global technology ecosystems.

Junior Fellow

Jonah Bassuk

Jonah Bassuk is a Public Policy student at Cornell's Brooks School with a minor in Business. On campus he serves on Cornell's Brooks School Dean's Student Advisory Council and the university's Student Activities Funding Commission.

Beyond Cornell, Jonah is the founder and CEO of Strong Heroes, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing health policy, research, and community engagement. He previously worked as a private equity summer analyst at Cerberus Capital Management, evaluating investment opportunities across defense technology, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, supply chain, and critical infrastructure.

Junior Fellow

John Karaca

John is a Cornell student studying Computer Science with a minor in Policy Analysis and Management. On campus, he conducts research in the sysphotonics group and previously served as a Teaching Assistant for Cornell’s introductory computer systems course. Most recently, John was a Software Engineer Intern at Meta, where he developed a tool for monitoring and diagnosing idle accelerator capacity. His research interests include computer infrastructure, AI-enabled warfare, and cybercrime.

Junior Fellow

Tami Omole

Tami Omole is a Public Policy student in the Brooks School of Public Policy, with a minor in Aerospace Engineering. On campus, she is a member of Cornell University Sustainable Design, where she works on transportation systems and infrastructure policy. She is also a staff writer for The Cornell Daily Sun and serves as Corporate Secretary of the Cornell Media Guild. Beyond Cornell, Tami has worked as a research assistant at the USC Space Engineering Research Center, contributing to the mechanical design and analysis of space systems. Her research interests lie at the intersection of space policy, technology, and national security, with a particular focus on space security and governance, satellite cybersecurity, and the implications of emerging technologies for critical infrastructure.

Junior Fellow

Paul Kurgan

Paul Kurgan is a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences double majoring in Government and Philosophy. He served as a Political Studies Fellow at the Hertog Foundation and spent a year abroad at Oxford reading Politics and Philosophy, where he earned first-class marks. With funding from the Brettschneider Fund, he studied how artificial intelligence becomes politicized in the context of local elections, interviewing voters, politicians, and AI experts across the Paris and Washington, DC mayoral races. He is currently analyzing that data for his senior Government honors thesis. His interests lie in the history of the American founding and political philosophy, and in how law and policy can keep the human at the center of both the university and our politics.

Junior Fellow

Ella Kim

Ella Kim is a sophomore in CALS studying Environment & Sustainability with a concentration in Environmental Policy & Governance, while pursuing minors in International Relations and Law & Society. She is a Project Manager at Applied Public Policy Strategies, where she researches nuclear development, FAA regulation, AI transparency, and civil rights issues in emerging technology. Ella is a staff writer for two law reviews at Cornell, and her work on commercial space governance, "Regulating the Final Frontier: Commercial Space Power and the Limits of Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty," is published in the Phi Alpha Delta Undergraduate Law Review. She has also worked as an Aerospace Engineering Intern at the Hong Kong PolyU Aerodynamics Lab, and aspires to work at the intersection of space sustainability and international law.

Junior Fellow

Tanmay Rai

Tanmay Rai is a Government student in the College of Arts & Sciences at Cornell University. On campus, he competes on Cornell’s debate team and is a member of the Alexander Hamilton Society. As a Junior Fellow at the Tech Policy Institute, he researches the intersection of national security and critical infrastructure. His interests include international relations, military history, law, and the broader strategic implications of emerging technologies.

Junior Fellow

Matthew Jordan

Matthew Jordan is a student at Cornell University studying Public Policy, minoring in International Relations and Public Policy. He developed an interest in federal foreign policy and trade policy, leading him to go to Washington D.C. in his Freshman year fall semester as part of the D.C. start program. He currently serves as a scholar within the Institute of Politics and Global Affairs. On campus, he advocates for state policies benefiting the student body through the Office of Student Government Relations and champions a transformative and human-centered foreign policy through the Cornell Diplomat and the Cornell International Affairs Society. He focuses on the intersection of foreign policy, economics and climate change, particularly through his focus on the Arctic region and economy.

Junior Fellow

Ronak Majee

Ronak Majee is a Junior Fellow at the Critical Infrastructure Hub at the Cornell Tech Policy Institute. He is a sophomore in Cornell's ILR School with intended minors in Economics, Statistics, and China & Asia-Pacific Studies. On campus, he is involved with the Cornell Emerging Markets Institute Club and the Cornell Political Union. This past summer, he interned in the district office for Ohio's 7th Congressional District. His interests include industrial and technology policy, sovereign finance, and the political and economic history of Asia and the Middle East and North Africa.

Fellow

Anna Blechová

Anna Blechová's research focuses on cyber and space law, with particular emphasis on the New Space sector. She is also involved in an EU-funded project on novel lawful interception tools and the digitalization of justice.

She holds a law degree from Masaryk University and has interned at the Law Branch of the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence and at the National Cyber and Information Security Agency. She regularly collaborates with the NATO CCDCOE on the Locked Shields exercise and has presented at conferences including CyCon in Tallinn and the International Astronautical Congress in Sydney.

Alongside her doctoral studies she has worked as a cybersecurity manager at the Prosecutor General's Office in Czechia and at the Masaryk University Ombuds Office. She was a visiting researcher at the Leiden University Institute of Air and Space Law, and is currently a Fulbright Scholar at George Washington University and Cornell University.

Junior Fellow

Cynthia Tan

Cynthia Tan is a Public Policy major with a minor in Information Science, concentrating in Information Ethics, Law, and Policy. On campus she is a Resident Advisor and a member of Phi Alpha Delta Pre-Law Fraternity, Cornell International Affairs Society, Women Leaders of Color, and a Laidlaw Scholar.

She has served as a Global Data Consultant for the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the United Nations Development Programme, and as a researcher at the Kaschak Institute for Social Justice. She was a delegate at COP28 and has collaborated with UN Women. Her current research as a Laidlaw Scholar focuses on the international legal and policy implications of economic cybercrime.

Junior Fellow

Fiona Neibart

Fiona is a Policy Analysis and Management major in Cornell's Brooks School, with minors in Business, Information Science, and Law and Society. On campus she is a Laidlaw Scholar, an Emerging Markets Institute Fellow, a Red Key Student-Athlete Honor Society member, and competes on the Division I Varsity Fencing Team.

Beyond campus she has conducted research on U.S. defense policy at a Washington, D.C. lobbying firm and explored peacebuilding strategies at a peace education hub in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Junior Fellow

Thej Khanna

Thej Khanna is a senior studying English Literature at Cornell University's College of Arts and Sciences. On campus he is a Student Researcher with the Digital Due Process Clinic and conducts research with Senior Fellow Judith Germano on enterprise cybersecurity risks associated with autonomous and agentic decision-making systems.

He writes for the Cornell Policy Review and previously served as Co-President of the Cornell American Civil Liberties Union. Thej is currently a Product Management Intern at Ocient, working on agentic AI governance and data privacy. He has previously worked in the Appeals Bureau of the Bronx District Attorney's Office and with the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project.

Junior Fellow

Lucas Galioglu

Lucas Galioglu is a senior at Cornell University studying Data Science and Business. As a Junior Fellow at the Tech Policy Institute, Lucas focuses on the intersection of emerging technology and global security. His current work examines Arctic and drone security policy, and he has a strong interest in the implications of semiconductor supply chains. Following graduation, Lucas will be joining Boston Consulting Group as an Associate.

BTPI Director's Fellow

Maxwell Norteman

Maxwell Norteman has worked in the diplomatic, national security, and intelligence community as a War Crimes Analyst for the US Department of State and as a Labor Crimes intern at the US Consulate in Johannesburg. He conducted research on a joint project between Cornell University and the US Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

Maxwell studied National Security and Human Rights at the Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy. He attended Trinity College, studying Comparative Politics and Genocide Studies, focusing on counterterrorism, peacekeeping, and atrocity prevention. He is a Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellow and an incoming Foreign Service Officer.

Fellow

Brett Reichert

Brett Reichert is a U.S. Army Goodpaster Fellow and PhD student in Public Policy at Cornell University. His research examines how emerging military technology affects conflict dynamics and the use of force.

He is interested in the ways legal regimes respond to and shape technological development in armed conflict and the national security context, and is particularly interested in the rise of automation and autonomy in military systems. He holds a Master's of Policy Management from Georgetown University. Prior to Cornell, Brett was a Bradley Fellow assigned to the 19th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the 40th Army Chief of Staff.

Industry Fellow

Adi Rao

Adi Rao is a PhD candidate at Cornell University's Department of Government and an associate at the RAND Corporation.

He researches national security and technology issues, including space politics, cyber defense, and the political economy of semiconductor chip supply chains. He earned his BA in Economics from NYU in 2015 and an MA in Politics from Columbia University in 2018.

Non-Resident Fellow

Dr. Julie George

Julie George received her PhD in the Government department at Cornell University, specializing in international security, in August 2023. Her research examines the proliferation of emerging technologies and their impact on the probability and nature of conflict and cooperation in the international system.

She is an International Security Program Postdoctoral Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School. Previously she was a predoctoral fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation and the Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Institute at Stanford University. Prior to her PhD she worked at the Atlantic Council and completed a graduate fellowship at the Nonproliferation Education and Research Center at KAIST University in South Korea.

Junior Fellow

Esteban Lau

Esteban Lau studied Government in the College of Arts and Sciences with a minor in International Relations. On campus he was vice president of Esports at Cornell and a trumpet player for the Big Red Marching Band.

His main research interests lie in the evolution of warfare, arms procurement, national security, and foreign policy.

Junior Fellow

Anika Kolanu

Anika Kolanu is an Information Science student in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. On campus she is a Staff Writer for The Cornell Sun and a photographer for Cornell Athletics.

Her research interests lie in the ethics of new technological advancements, foreign policy, and human-centered design.

Junior Fellow

Ojasvi Rana

Ojasvi is pursuing a double degree in Biomedical Engineering Honours and Economics at the University of Sydney, and spent a year-long exchange at Cornell.

She is a Democracy Fellow at the Brooks Center on Global Democracy, a Junior Fellow at the U.S. Semiconductor Research Hub, and writes for the Cornell Policy Review.

Junior Fellow

Nicholas Varela

Nicholas Varela studied Computer Science and Government in the College of Arts and Sciences, focused on cloud, emerging, and government technologies. He spent part of his 2023-2024 academic year at the University of Edinburgh studying UK Politics and Political Data Analysis, and was part of the Summer 2022 cohort of Cornell in Washington.

At Cornell he served as President of Perfect Match, a machine learning incubator for connecting students, and was an Arts and Sciences Ambassador and Teaching Assistant for the Computer Science Department. He interned with Amazon for three summers in their US Government Tech Sector and joined Amazon full-time upon graduation in 2025.

Junior Fellow

Ella Hough

Ella Hough pursued a Bitcoin-focused study through Cornell's Robert S. Harrison College Scholar Degree Program. In addition to being a College Scholar major, Ella majored in Cognitive Science with minors in Information Science, concentrated in Networks, Crowds, and Markets, and Business.

Through her work with the Cornell Bitcoin Club, Generation Bitcoin, the Bitcoin Students Network, and other efforts including as an author and speaker, she is dedicated to helping young generations learn about and contribute to Bitcoin.

Junior Fellow

Sofiia Kozak

Sofiia Kozak is a senior majoring in Government. Originally from Kharkiv, Ukraine, she transferred to Cornell in 2023 from Yaroslav Mudrii National Law University, Ukraine's leading law school.

Her research focuses on the role of emerging technologies and defense industrial development in shaping global politics and conflicts, with particular expertise in unmanned systems, counter-UAS technologies, and international defense cooperation. Sofiia has interned with the office of U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International, and the Voice of America. At Cornell she serves as an officer in the Cornell Commodities Trading Club and the Cornell Ukrainian Club.