After a highly competitive selection process, the John Quincy Adams Society is pleased to announce its Fall 2024 cohort of Marcellus Policy Fellows. This is the Society’s ninth cohort of fellows. The Fellows will spend the next twelve weeks learning from top experts on foreign policy as they develop a think tank style policy analysis on a pressing issue facing U.S. strategy. They will also be trained to produce supporting materials to make their work more likely to have impact, culminating in production of an op-ed and a one-page policy memorandum. Past fellows have gone on to work at a number of prominent foreign policy institutions in government, academia, the media, and think tanks. You can read their bios below.
Omar Abdelrahman is a senior at the University of Texas at Austin, majoring in Government and minoring in Middle Eastern Studies. He is also pursuing a security studies certificate from the Clement Centre for National Security. He works as an international program intern at Global Austin, helping facilitate the state department’s international visitor leadership program. His interests include researching Iran’s “Axis of Resistance Groups,” exploring the often-overlooked tense relationship between Shia and Sunni militant groups within the axis and the state of Arab-Israeli normalization.
George Barber is a graduate of the University of Georgia, where he studied International Affairs and History. After working as an Editorial Intern at The National Interest, he now works in the U.S. House of Representatives. George’s paper will focus on the United States’ relationship with Latin America, articulating what our core interests are in the region and providing recommendations for how to pursue them.
Rishab Chatty is Associate Director at the Crane Center for Mass Atrocity Prevention and an MPP Candidate at the University of Chicago. He will be researching the humanitarian implications of U.S. military assistance and arms exports to countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
Garrett Ehinger finished a B.S. in biomedicine and Chinese in 2022 and is now pursuing an MPH with disaster and emergency management certifications. He is a researcher and published writer on foreign policy and biosecurity, with op-eds in Newsweek, The Chicago Tribune, and The National Interest. He has done research and analysis for the University of Utah, for the Oxford Biosecurity Group, for the NGO ARMoR, and is now currently working on collaborations with the UK government’s MHRA on Southeast Asian and East Asian biosecurity policy analysis. As part of the Fellowship, he will be analyzing Chinese flashpoints in the Middle East and how these connect to U.S. interests.
Sherleen P. Espinosa is a Medical Service Corps Officer in the United States Navy. She holds a Master’s in National Security Policy from Duke University, as well as an M.S. in Community Health and a B.S. in Environmental Health from Old Dominion University, along with a certificate in Occupational Health and Safety. She is the Director of Health Security Cooperation at the U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in Falls Church, Virginia. From 2022 to 2024, she was the Director of Health Security Cooperation and Global Health for the U.S. Pacific Fleet Command in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. In this role, she served as the Force Health Protection Officer and led medical planning for the Pacific Partnership missions, the Department of Defense’s largest humanitarian missions in the Indo-Pacific region. She has made significant contributions to global health security by developing concepts that led to over 1,600 medical engagements in Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Salomon Islands, Tonga, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, and Vanuatu. Her policy analysis will explore how America can leverage health diplomacy to advance U.S. foreign policy objectives, strengthen alliances, and counter challenges from U.S. competitors like China.
Sofia Guerra is a Government Relations Associate at Win Without War, where she engages Congress on nuclear risk reduction, security assistance, and Pentagon budgeting. A Mexican-Salvadoran-American native of Daly City, California, she is passionate about making American foreign policy work for transnational security. Her policy analysis will center the AI governance models of the U.S. and China in relation to advancements in AI interpretability, nuclear arms control, and crisis stability. She graduated from Amherst College with a degree in Political Science and Asian Languages and Civilizations in 2022. In her free time, you can find her checking out concerts, practicing her Arabic, or running around DC.
Chad Kunkle is a recipient of a B.S. and M.S. in International Affairs from Florida State University and a former intern at the Hudson Institute. His policy paper will cover the crisis in the Red Sea and will explore alternative methods to the current approach by the United States and its partners, as well as how the United States should handle similar issues that may arise due to emerging weapon technologies and increasing multipolarity.
John Lubianetsky is a senior at the University of Kansas majoring in Chinese Literature, Global and International Studies, Political Science, and Russia, Eastern European, Eurasian Studies. He is interested in arms control and the future of Sino-American relations. John’s paper will focus on East Asian arms control through the lens of arrangements conducted under American alliances in the Indo-Pacific region, Chinese state responses to those developments, and the effects of Chinese participation in international arms control arrangements. The paper will propose methods to further and strengthen arms control policy between the United States and China.
Alex Mazzone graduated from Georgetown University in 2022 with a B.A. in Economics. He went on to pursue a M.A. in Global Security Studies from Johns Hopkins University. He is a former collegiate lacrosse player at both schools and now plays professionally in the Premier Lacrosse League. His policy interests center on nuclear and grand strategy. Alex’s policy paper will explore the “two-peer environment” argument as it relates to its implications on U.S. nuclear strategy.
Tim Mullen is a Security and Intelligence Consultant with Convoy Group in Pittsburgh, PA. Timothy graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a History and Political Science B.A. Timothy also completed his Master of Public and International Affairs concentrating in Security and Intelligence studies from the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. His academic interests include U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, counterterrorism, and intrastate conflict. Tim hopes to use his background in intelligence analysis to pursue a career reimagining American foreign policy in the Middle East and beyond.
Doniyor Mutalov is a graduate student at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, specializing in global security and international law. His research interests include the use of force under domestic and international law (jus ad bellum), as well as laws governing arms control and nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction. His paper is about how Congress could check and reclaim the sanctioning power from the executive branch, a unilateral power so unrestrained that even the Supreme Court has claimed it to be “sweeping and unqualified.”
Edward Nagler is a junior at the University of Notre Dame majoring in Political Science. He is also an undergraduate fellow at the Notre Dame International Security Center (NDISC) and the Center for Ethics and the Common Good (ECG). His research interests include U.S.-China relations and nuclear politics. He is also the current president of the Notre Dame JQAS chapter. His upcoming policy paper will examine the implications of the June 2024 North Korea-Russia treaty on East Asian security. Concerned that a typical U.S. response could exacerbate tensions with China, Edward seeks to identify avenues for U.S.-China cooperation to mitigate the North Korea-Russia alliance and pursue arms control with the DPRK.
Kamsi Obiorah is a senior at Emory University, pursuing a major in Political Science and a minor in Economics. She is a Policy and Advocacy Intern at Mercy Corps, where she works on government affairs and international development and humanitarian policy. This summer, she took a course on national defense policy at the American Enterprise Institute’s Summer Honors Program. Before that, she served as a spring research and communications assistant at the Institute for Global Affairs housed at the Eurasia Group. In light of recent wargaming that demonstrates that current US stockpiles of anti-ship and land-attack cruise missiles would be quickly depleted if China invades Taiwan, Kamsi’s policy analysis will explore whether it is viable for the United States to pair defensive arms sales to Taiwan with a recommitment to the Six Assurances to prevent a conflict.
William Purdy is a Master of International Affairs student at the Texas A&M Bush School of Government and Public Service with specialties in national security and diplomacy. William studies mostly East Asian security matters and their implications for the United States. With a previous B.A. in History and Political Science from Texas A&M University-Kingsville, William hopes to become a lifelong public servant who can help guide U.S foreign policy, inform policymakers, and bring to bear a host of knowledge in the realm of international relations. Past experiences for William include working in the aerospace industry, consulting, and luxury retail through Cartier. William hopes to write a paper that tackles U.S. security commitments in East Asia and runs a potential cost analysis on how nuclearization may prove to be a cheaper and more reliable option for stability and deterrence for South Korea and Japan while serving U.S. interests.
Sarah Reyes graduated in May 2024 with her Master of International Affairs from The Bush School of Government & Public Service at Texas A&M. During her time at The Bush School, she concentrated on political-economic trends in the Middle East and North Africa region, American grand strategy, and traveled to Amman, Jordan to further her Arabic language studies. Sarah graduated Highest Distinction from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a B.A. in Political Science in 2022. Her policy paper will evaluate the overextension of U.S. resources across multiple regions and focus on recommendations to shift responsibility to regional actors in the Middle East.
Griffin Stibor holds an MSc in International Politics from Trinity College Dublin and a B.A. in International Relations, French, and History from Penn State University. He is interested in Sub-Saharan Africa, international financial institutions, climate change, and economic development and their relationships with US foreign policy and each other.
Evan Ward is an ORISE fellow at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of International Affairs. In May of 2024 he graduated from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies with a M.A. in international relations. Before studying towards his master’s degree, Evan worked as a legislative staffer in the House of Representatives of his home state of Michigan. He has a B.A. from Xavier University where he studied in the Philosophy, Politics, and the Public honors program. Evan’s regional focus is Europe/Eurasia. Thematically, he is interested in multipolarity, the relationship between foreign and domestic policy, and the geopolitics of energy. His second language is Italian.