Captain Austen Boroff is an active duty Field Artillery officer and U.S. Army General Wayne A. Downing Scholar hosted through the United States Military Academy's Combating Terrorism Center. Prior to joining Princeton SPIA, she commanded the U.S. military's first, and sole, hypersonic weapons unit. This experimental unit, focused on the research and development of long-range hypersonic capabilities, seeks to provide a critical deterrence function in the IndoPacific Theatre. Austen worked with the Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office, an expedited acquisition headquarters, and key defense industry partners including Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. Austen's research interests include hypersonic weapon capability development, the impact of emerging technology on international security, and modern geopolitical competition. Austen has operational experience in Iraq, and spent a year helping to solve talent acquisition challenges for the Field Artillery Commandant utilizing data from the Office of Economic and Manpower Analysis at West Point. Austen holds a Master of Science in marketing with a concentration in marketing analytics from the University of Alabama and a bachelor’s degree in international history (honors) from USMA.

Christian is a Ph.D. student in the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) Security Studies program. His research interests are in the international security and governance dimensions of emerging technologies, including AI, strategic stability, deterrence, and space security issues. Christian worked for over a decade as a foreign affairs analyst for the U.S. Government with a focus on Middle East issues. He graduated from Georgetown University with BSFS and M.A. degrees, and the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. Christian currently serves in the U.S. Navy Reserve as an Intelligence Officer.

Inspired by a polar explorer at the age of 11, Natalie has dedicated her life to climate action. She is the co-founder of V'air Sustainability Education, a social enterprise that provides nature-based climate change education for schools and corporations, reaching over 2 million people. Natalie is recognized by Eco-Business and The Japan Times as one of the most impactful sustainability leaders in Asia Pacific. Natalie's professional experience with the World Bank on a Pacific Island environmental project led her to realize the life-and-death consequences of extreme weather for vulnerable communities, sparking her research interest in climate resilience. In recognition of her climate research and advocacy efforts, Natalie has been appointed by the Hong Kong government as a member of the Council for Carbon Neutrality and Sustainable Development, the Green Tech Fund Assessment Committee, and the Country and Marine Parks Board to advise on policy decisions. As a World Economic Forum Global Shaper, Natalie initiated the Lead for Sustainability Mentorship program. She was also the sole Hong Kong representative at the Dr. Sylvia Earle Antarctic Climate Expedition, advocating for the ocean-climate crisis. 

Alexis is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Security Studies cluster. Her research interests include Chinese foreign policy and military strategy, U.S.-China relations, and the Korean Peninsula. She most recently worked as a Policy Analyst at the RAND Corporation. Previously she was a Research Assistant at the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission and a James C. Gaither Junior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She received her B.A. in international relations and East Asian area studies from the University of Southern California and her M.A. in Asian studies from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service.

Agostina is an internationalist from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Before coming to Princeton, she was Director of Analysis of Geopolitical Transformations at Argentina's Secretariat of Strategic Affairs, where she conducted research and high-level advising on foreign policymaking in the context of great power competition. Prior to that she held advising positions at the Secretariat and did both public and social policy consulting.  Her work so far has focused on contributing to the intersection between scholarship and policymaking. Her interests are foreign policy, international security and Latin American politics and democracy. She has taught courses on international relations, research design and international security, where she discovered her passion for teaching and research. She holds a bachelor's degree in international studies from Universidad Torcuato di Tella and a master's degree in international politics and economics from Universidad de San Andrés. She comes to Princeton with a Fulbright Scholarship. You will often spot her drinking mate or listening to music, maybe both at the same time. She practices yoga and plays the piano, mostly, because of Charly García.