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.

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. 

Christian Chung is a Ph.D. student in Security Studies at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. His research examines the interplay between emerging technologies, national security, and geopolitical competition, with a focus on how states develop strategies to navigate technological change competitively and implement effective AI governance.

Prior to his doctoral studies, Christian spent over a decade in the U.S. Intelligence Community, specializing in Middle East and technology issues. He is currently a U.S. Navy Reserve Intelligence Officer, a Technology and Security Policy Fellow at RAND, a visiting fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, and a 2025 Shawn Brimley Next Generation National Security Leaders Fellow at the Center for a New American Security. A native of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Christian holds BSFS and M.A. degrees from Georgetown University and is a graduate of the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California.

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.

Born and raised in the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Agostina is a PhD student in Security Studies at SPIA and a Fulbright Scholar. Her research interests include foreign policy, nuclear policy in the Global South, security policy and militarization in Latin America. Before coming to Princeton, she was Director of Analysis of Geopolitical Transformations at the Secretariat of Strategic Affairs of Argentina where she conducted research and advised on foreign policy.

Her advisor is Miguel A. Centeno and she’s currently working on her dissertation proposal, a project in which she will study how the new roles and missions of the Armed Forces in Latin America are transforming civil-military relations.

She holds an M.A. in International Politics and Economics from Universidad de San Andrés and a B.A. in International Studies from Universidad Torcuato di Tella.