Featured Guest Speakers Include:
Dr. Ariel Petrovics | Research Associate | Center for International and Security Studies | University of Maryland
Topic: While South Korea remains a non-nuclear U.S. ally under the protection of the U.S. nuclear umbrella, domestic support for developing its own independent nuclear weapons is high and growing. Petrovics considers how North Korea’s evolving nuclear program affects public threat perceptions and proliferation pressures in South Korea, as well as the potential for nonproliferation policies to offset those pressures. Using a series of original survey experiments, Petrovics and her co-authors find that the public’s fears are highly sensitive to North Korea’s nuclear posture choices, and that these fears can create pressures for South Korea to weaponize. And yet, emerging evidence on alternative nuclear policies meant to offset these pressures finds that they may not work as expected. Taken together, Petrovics suggests that both rival state proliferation behavior as well as domestic and allied nuclear policy responses can have unexpected but interrelated effects on public proliferation preferences.
Bio: Ariel Petrovics examines the effectiveness of foreign policies for addressing problems in international security, including issues of nuclear proliferation and the risks of counterproductive consequences in security strategies. Her book project compares the effectiveness of common foreign policies for inducing nuclear reversal, while related research evaluates engagement strategies with renegade regimes, and the effects of new proliferators on international security. Petrovics earned her PhD in Political Science from the University of California.
Dr. Lindsay Rand | Postdoctoral Fellow | Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) | Stanford University
Topic: Climate change will alter the operating environment for nuclear forces, though it is still largely unaccounted for in nuclear modernization plans. Drawing on historical data and future projections of environmental conditions, Rand will examine how climate change effects – rising temperatures, shifting precipitation patterns, and more frequent and severe extreme weather events – could undermine current modernization plans aimed at ensuring the long-term safety, security, reliability, and credibility of nuclear forces.
Bio: Lindsay Rand completed her PhD in international security and economic policy at the UMD School of Public Policy in 2023. Her dissertation, titled “Schrodinger’s Technology is Here and Not: A Socio-Technical Evaluation of Quantum Sensing Implications for Nuclear Deterrence,” examined the social, technical, and strategic factors that shape perceptions of new technologies and their consequences for deterrence and strategic stability. Her current research extends her dissertation work in two key areas: assessing the implications of quantum technology for international security and exploring how social, political, and technological changes have contributed to the cyclical reconception of “vulnerability” in nuclear strategy and policymaking.