Alumni & Student Affiliates

PhD Program - Doctor of Philosophy, Political Science

Research Interests: Post-Soviet defense and security. The relationship between religion and state security/nuclear weapons. Applications of time series analysis, permutation tests, and hypothesis testing in Political Science. 

Previous Education: B.A. Political Science, Pre-Law; J.D. Health Law & Policy and Litigation & Dispute Resolution; M.A. Political Science from Southern Illinois University Carbondale 

PhD Program - Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering

Bio: Jacob Fritchie is a fourth year Ph.D. student in Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he also earned his B.S. in Physics and M.S. in Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering. His research focuses on the characterization and modeling of silicon photomultipliers for radiation detection in nuclear safeguards and nonproliferation applications. Jacob is an NNSA Nuclear Nonproliferation and International Safeguards Fellow and an intern with Sandia National Laboratories, working on projects related to international nuclear safeguards and security. He is passionate about the intersection of nuclear technology, policy, and international security. Jacob currently serves as a Graduate Ambassador for the Grainger College of Engineering, mentoring fellow graduate students, and is the founder and president of the UIUC student chapter of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management. Outside of research, Jacob enjoys hiking, attending concerts, and reading science fiction novels.

Previous Education: B.S. in Physics (University of Illinois), MSc in Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering (University of Illinois)

PhD Program - Political Science

Dissertation: Bullets to Bargains: The Impact of Wartime Coup Attempts on Civil War Management and Resolution

Previous Education: B.A. in English Language and Literature, Political Science and M.A. in Political Science and International Relations from Ewha W. University - M.S. in Applied Statistics from UIUC (expected 2025)

PhD Program - Geography and Geographic Information Science

Bio: Gyudae “GD” Kim is a PhD student in Geography at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His research focuses on political geography, nuclear geopolitics, and the role of infrastructure and mobility in shaping state power, with a dissertation examining how the Manhattan Project and nuclear programs restructured sovereignty and territoriality. He also teaches courses on global conflicts and world regional geography, and has received multiple teaching awards at Illinois.

Previous Education: B.S. in Environmental Economics, University of Illinois; M.S. in Geography and Geographic Information Science, University of Illinois

Curriculum Vitae

PhD Program - Political Science

Bio:

Previous Education:

PhD Program - Geography and Geographic Information Science

Bio: Ömer Emre Kuşcu is a doctoral candidate and geographer born and raised in Türkiye. He completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at Istanbul University. Since his undergraduate studies, he has been interested in political geography and geopolitics, researching their history. He also conducts research on military geography, which is closely related to these fields.

Previous Education: Bachelor's: Istanbul University - Geography (2021), Master's: Istanbul University - Geography (2024)

Curriculum Vitae

PhD Program - Chemistry, Chemical Biology

Bio: Elisia, is a 5th year Chemistry PhD Candidate in the Burke Laboratory whose thesis research focuses correcting genetic defects in urea cycle disorder function through the synthesis of small molecule “molecular prosthetics” A second component of her thesis research involves evaluating how aggregation properties of polyene macrolide antifungals, amphotericin B and derivatives, effects potency. Elisia also has interests in science policy and international relations. As a graduate student affiliate of ACDIS, she authored a review on how emerging technologies impact chemical threat mitigation.

Previous Education: Bachelor's - Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Marquette University (2015)

Curriculum Vitae

Masters in Global Studies

Previous Education: B.S. Engineering Physics UCSD, M.S. Physics UIUC

Areas of Interest: Global Security, Nuclear Nonproliferation, Iranian Politics and Security

Recent Publication: Nuclear terrorists wear suits: How Iran could build a nuclear weapon without state approval

PhD Program - Informatics

Bio: Doctoral student in Informatics specializing in applied information science with a commitment to advancing human rights and international security. I specialize in transforming noisy signals into actionable insights by using mixed methods, revealing underlying human behaviors and emotions. My proficiency in managing both complex and sparce open-source testual, audio, and geospatial datasets ensures useable intelligence for policy-making grounded in the complexity of diverse sociocultural contexts. I plan to pursue a career in public service after my doctoral studies.

Previous Education: B. Sc Social Sciences with Social Anthropology + Cert.HE Social Anthropology; Birkbeck, University of London - MA Documentary Arts; University of Cape Town