New America Announces Members of Nuclear Futures Working Group

Washington, D.C.—Today, New America announced the selection of 14 talented researchers who will make up the Nuclear Futures Working Group. New America is launching the Nuclear Futures Working Group to promote next-generation thinking that breaks down barriers between nuclear security and broader security thinking, and between traditional and emergent understandings of security.

The new working group members bring a wide array of nuclear security expertise in academia, government, advocacy, and policy. They were selected for their creative, forward-looking thinking on the most pressing emerging nuclear security challenges. 

Research conducted by the Nuclear Futures Working Group at New America will address issues that cut across siloed nuclear policy thinking and bridge conventional national security concepts with the realities of 21st century policy environment, including AI and escalation risks, threats to nuclear infrastructure during conventional warfare, nonproliferation as a sustainable development tool, and more.

The following individuals have been selected for New America’s Nuclear Futures Working Group:

• April Arnold, Senior Adviser, Culmen International
• Jack Crawford, Project Officer, Proliferation and Nuclear Policy Programme, RUSI
• Jordan Hibbs, Senior Advisor, U.S. Department of Defense
• Taylor Loy, Third Year PhD Student, Department of Science, Technology, & Society, Virginia Tech
• Sylvia Mishra, Janne Nolan Nuclear Security Fellow, Truman Center; New Tech Nuclear Officer, European Leadership Network
• Sneha Nair, Research Associate, Nuclear Security Program, Stimson Center; Coordinator, International Nuclear Security Forum
• Amna Qayyum, Postdoctoral Fellow, Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, Yale University
• Joseph Rodgers, Program Manager and Research Associate, Project on Nuclear Issues in the International Security Program, CSIS
• Edward Salo, Associate Professor, Associate Director of the Heritage Studies PhD Program, Arkansas State University
• Abigail Stowe-Thurston, Project Lead, CRDF Global 
• Peter Waring, Programme Manager, Non-proliferation Projects, Ridgeway
• Simone Williams, Director of Programs, Leadership Council for Women in National Security
• Austin Wright, Policy Analyst, National Nuclear Security Administration
• Reja Younis, Program Manager and Research Associate, Project on Nuclear Issues in the International Security Program, CSIS

"We are thrilled to welcome this cohort of 14 experienced researchers with diverse backgrounds and perspectives,” said New America Political Reform Program Senior Researcher Alexandra Stark. “We look forward to working with them to produce research that will break down silos in nuclear policy thinking and propose innovative solutions to challenging 21st century problems." 

Organized by Heather Hurlburt and Alexandra Stark, the Nuclear Futures Working Group supports emerging voices in the field to develop research that focuses on nuclear security policy problems through this broader lens of a changing global environment. Working group members will participate in a research development workshop and publish original policy research briefs in 2022. 

For more information on the Nuclear Futures Working Group, visit our webpage. 

The Nuclear Futures Working Group is supported by the Ploughshares Fund.