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The July 2017 NextGen Program Participants
Olivia Enos is a policy analyst in the Asian Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation where she specializes in human rights. Areas of focus include human trafficking, religious freedom, and refugee challenges, among other social issues in Asia and the Middle East. Olivia is a regular contributor to Forbes, writing on the intersection of human rights and national security challenges. She has also published with the National Interest, the Diplomat, Real Clear World, and Providence: A Journal of Christianity and Foreign Policy, among other publications. Olivia has working proficiency in Korean. Most recently, she completed her masters in Asian Studies in the Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and received her bachelors in Government from Patrick Henry College. She and her husband Zach live in Washington, D.C.
Ian Easton is a research fellow at the Project 2049 Institute, where he conducts research on defense and security issues in Asia. During the summer of 2013 he was a visiting fellow at the Japan Institute for International Affairs (JIIA) in Tokyo. Previously, Ian worked as a China analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) for two years.
He lived in Taipei from 2005 to 2010. During his time in Taiwan, he worked as a translator for Island Technologies Inc. and the Foundation for Asia-Pacific Peace Studies. He also conducted research with the Asia Bureau Chief of Defense News.
Ian holds an M.A. in China Studies from National Chengchi University in Taiwan and a B.A. in International Studies from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He also holds a certification in advanced Mandarin Chinese, having formally studied the language at Fudan University in Shanghai, and National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei. Ian has testified before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission and has given lectures at the U.S. Naval War College, Japan’s National Defense Academy, and Taiwan’s National Defense University.
Benjamin Friedman is a research fellow in defense and homeland security studies. He writes about U.S. defense politics, focusing on strategy, budgeting, and war. He has co-edited two books and has published in International Security, Political Science Quarterly, Foreign Affairs, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Atlantic, the Philadelphia Inquirer, USA Today, the Hill, Politico, the Christian Science Monitor, and various other journals.
Ben is a graduate of Dartmouth College, a PhD candidate in political science at the MIT, and an adjunct lecturer at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs.
Shannon Kellman is the assistant director of Washington External Affairs at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in Washington, D.C. In this capacity, she manages the Congress and U.S. Foreign Policy program, regularly engaging with the policymaking community on a wide range of foreign policy and economic issues.
Kellman worked in Congress as an aide to Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) handling foreign affairs and defense. She previously worked for Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), where she handled judiciary, health, agriculture, animal protection, and women’s issues. Kellman also worked as a lobbyist at J Street. Kellman previously worked as the development and communications associate for Pacific Environment, an environmental non-profit based in San Francisco.
Originally from Evanston, Illinois, Kellman holds a BA in Russian and Eastern European studies from the University of Michigan, where she wrote on the coverage of opposition political parties in Russian media. Kellman earned a MA in international relations from the London School of Economics, where she wrote on the legal frameworks to prevent and prosecute crimes of human trafficking. Kellman has also done graduate study at the University of California, Berkeley.
Sahana Kumar is a Research Associate for South Asia at the American Enterprise Institute, where she conducts research on issues related to South Asian economic, social, and foreign policy. Her particular research work focuses on Asian regional integration and South Asian demographics and political economy, and she has published work in the Diplomat, Newsweek, and AEIdeas. She previously interned at the Council on Foreign Relations and Population Services International, where she supported research on economic development and global trade.
Ms. Kumar holds a Master’s degree in public policy from the University College London, where she also participated in the Affiliate Student Program in Political Science. She has a Bachelor’s degree in international affairs and economics from George Washington University.
Anna Newby is the Assistant Director, Editorial in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution.
She came to Brookings after earning a Master’s degree in foreign affairs from Georgetown University and a Bachelor’s degree from Brown University.
Sandy Pho is a Senior Program Associate for the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Wilson Center, where she manages projects that focus on the Sino-U.S. bilateral relationship, China-U.S.-ASEAN relations, and U.S. foreign policy in the Asia-Pacific. In this capacity, she is responsible for research, grant management, and Congressional outreach. She is also the editor of The Month in U.S.-China Relations newsletter and the Weighing the Rebalance policy brief series.
Sandy Pho received a Bachelor of Science in Justice and Social Inquiry from Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University. She graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science and Peking University with a dual MSc in International Affairs.
Bradley Stephen Porter is a Senior Research Assistant at the Brookings Institution, where, as part of the Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence, he works with Senior Fellows Vanda Felbab-Brown and Bruce Riedel, analyzing issues of illicit economies, organized crime, states in conflict/post-conflict states, and counterterrorism within Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. He has worked also with Senior Fellows Steven Pifer and Robert Einhorn of the Arms Control and Non- Proliferation Initiative.
He has a research background in security, trade, and energy dynamics within Latin America and the Caribbean and East Africa, and has studied and worked abroad in Western Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, East Africa, and East Asia. He has closely analyzed U.S.-Cuban relations since a study abroad trip to the island in 2004.
He previously worked as a Program Manager of the Florida International University – Applied Research Center (FIU-ARC) Latin American and Caribbean Strategic Culture Program, and as a Research Analyst for the FIU-ARC Western Hemisphere Security Analysis Center, conducting a range of security studies and seminars on Latin America and the Caribbean for both projects. He holds a master’s degree in Latin American and Caribbean Studies from Florida International University.
Hana Rudolph is an Associate Director of Programs at the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation. Ms. Rudolph’s responsibilities include developing, promoting, and implementing the Foundation’s signature Mike Mansfield Fellowship Program, as well as the U.S.-Japan Network for the Future. In this capacity, she coordinates extensively with Foundation staff in Montana and Tokyo, program participants throughout the United States and in Japan, and officials in the U.S. and Japanese governments. Prior to joining the Mansfield Foundation, Ms. Rudolph served as a research associate with the Henry L. Stimson Center, supporting the East Asia program’s work on the U.S.-Japan security alliance, cross-Strait relations, and China’s foreign policy with its neighboring countries. Before Stimson, she worked at various U.S.-Japan organizations in Washington, D.C., including the Japan-America Society of Washington, D.C., and the U.S.-Japan Council.
Ms. Rudolph has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and East Asian Studies and a master’s degree in Global Security Studies from Johns Hopkins University.