Amir Bagherpour

Amir Bagherpour, PhD is a Managing Director at Accenture. He leads the development of advanced analytics platforms and methods for applications in diplomacy, defense, and international development. His areas of research are on disinformation, crisis & conflict risk forecasting, application of game-theory and agent-based modeling for national security applications, and emerging technologies. His Industry experience spans both commercial and federal sectors. Dr. Bagherpour served as Director of Advanced Analytics at the Department of State’s Bureau of Conflict & Stabilization Operations and later as Director of Data Analytics in the Office of the Secretary of State. Earlier in his career he worked as an application engineer at NSK Corporation, where he designed motion control components for manufacturing automation processes. He has a PhD in Political Science with an Emphasis in Methods from Claremont Graduate University and an MBA from the University of California Irvine. He is a graduate of West Point with a BS in Management Studies and Systems Engineering. Dr. Bagherpour served in the U.S. Army as an Armor Officer.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS AND ARTICLES

How Computer Simulations Enhance Geopolitical Decision-Making, (February 2021), Journal of Futures & Foresight Science

COVID Misinformation is Killing People (October 2020), Scientific American

Power Transitions: The Rise of Regions (May 2020), Authored Chapter on MENA, Rowman & Littlefield

Denying the Seeds of Future Conflict: Computational Modeling of Proxy Activity in the Euphrates River Valley (February 2018), SMA Reach-back Publication, Joint Staff J39

To Defeat ISIS, Cooperation is Key (April 2017), Foreign Affairs

Pathways to Stability for Transition Governments in the Middle East and North Africa (Jan 2015), Journal of Asian Politics and Policy

A Revised Selectorate Model for the Arab Spring (March 2012), Doctoral Dissertation

Hardliners Will Block Economic Reform: What Game Theory Tells Us About Rouhani’s Efforts (Jan 2016), The Guardian

Oppression 2.0: Iranian Discontent in Cyberspace (July 2011), PBS Frontline, Tehran Bureau

The Iranian Influence in Afghanistan (August 2010), PBS Frontline, Tehran Bureau

RECOGNITION BY COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE AND NATIONAL MEDIA

The race to curb the spread of COVID vaccine disinformation (April 2021)

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00997-x

How U.S. intelligence creates games to improve its forecasts, (July2017)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/prediction-games-u-s-canada-intelligence-community-1.4188537

5 Things to Know Before Diving into Data Driven Decision-Making (August 2016)

https://www.devex.com/news/5-things-to-know-before-diving-into-data-driven-decision-making-88516

Beyond the Dashboard: Data for Decision-Making (July 2016)

https://www.devex.com/news/beyond-the-dashboard-data-for-decision-making-88454

Predicting OPEC’s Behavior: What’s Their Next Move? (April 2016)

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2016-04-20/predicting-opec-s-behavior-what-s-their-next-move

Big Data Analytics and Preventing Conflict, Technology Empowering U.S. Diplomacy (May 2013)

http://tech.state.gov/profiles/blogs/ignite-sessions-speaker-bios-1

Moneyball Diplomacy: Applying Big Data Analytics on Conflict Analysis in Nigeria (June 2013)

http://www.nextgov.com/big-data/2013/06/moneyball-diplomacy/64508/

Marie Besançon

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Name: Marie Besançon
Academic Title: Associate Professor / Research Fellow
Email Address: besancon@pdx.edu

Dr. Besançon is currently writing about the Sudanese Muslim Brothers while a research fellow at the University of Khartoum, Sudan. She is also an associate professor at Portland State University and a senior fellow with the Trans Research Consortium. Additionally, her research encompasses state and regional alliances in the Horn of Africa.


From 2010 to 2013, Marie was the lead officer for the Socio-Cultural Research and Advisory Team at the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa in Djibouti where she did research, writing, and training in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Kenya.


After earning her PhD in Political Science from Claremont Graduate School, Marie was a post doc, research fellow, and senior fellow at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government from 2002-2009 in the International Security Program at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. During this tenure, she was an adjunct professor at Northeastern University and co-taught classes at Harvard’s Kennedy School.


Dr. Besançon was also an associate with the Initiative on Religion in International Affairs at the Kennedy School, and a visiting scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC simultaneously with a fellowship at the Hauser Center for Non Profits at Harvard. After visiting Darfur in 2005, Dr. Besançon founded Homes for Sudan (a nonprofit organization) with the late Nader Khalili from the California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture.

Publications/Working Papers/Reports:

• ‘The Evolution of an Islamist.’ Wilson Quarterly, Winter 2016
• ‘The Soldier and the Street: East African CIMIC, Somalia and Beyond.’ 2015. PRISM. Vol. 5, No. 2
• “’China’s Growing Presence in Africa’ – ‘Sino-African Union Cooperation in Peace and Security’: Views of African and Chinese Scholars’” 2013 [CJTF-HOA Report]
• ‘Uganda Karamoja VETCAP: Partnering with UPDF and NGOs.’ 2012. [CJTF-HOA Report]
• ‘Al Shabaab: Diminishing Influence or New Strategies?’ 2012. [CJTF-HOA Report]
• ‘Obock MEDCAP- Optometry and Dental.’ (Evaluation of Medical Civic Action Program in Northern Djibouti) 2011. [CJTF-HOA Report]
• ‘Dire Dawa-Ethiopia: Local Views of U.S. Military Operations.’ 2010. [CJTF-HOA Report]
• ‘Somalia / Al-Shabaab Recruiting and Finance.’ 2010 [CJTF-HOA Report]
• ‘Islam into the Fold.’ [submitted /APSR, World Politics - under revision and updating]
• ‘Blessed are the Peacemakers’ – Case Study on Senator Danforth as Special Envoy to the Sudan. 2009. [Harvard Kennedy School of Government- CR14-09-1905.0]
• ‘Government structure, strength, and effectiveness.’ 2008. Book Chapter in The Design and Use of Political Economy Indicators: Challenges of definition, Aggregation, and Application Eds. King Banaian, Bryan Roberts. Palgrave Macmillan.
• ‘Facing a Fragile Situation in Darfur.’ 2007. Boston Globe OPED
• ‘Relative Resources: Economic Inequality in Ethnic Wars, Revolutions and Genocide.’ 2005. Journal of Peace Research. Vol. 42, No. 4.
• ‘Measuring Capacity and Willingness for Poverty Reduction in Difficult Environments.’ 2005. DFID Paper
• Good Governance Rankings: The Art of Measurement. 2003. World Peace Foundation Reports, no. 36.
• ‘Women in the Northern Ireland Peace Process: A Novel Use of Expected Utility in Bridging the Gap between the Quantitative Scholars and the Policy Pundits.’ 2003. Boston Consortium on Gender, Security and Human Rights Working Paper No. 101
• ‘Effect of hypokalemia on the abundance of HK alpha 1 and HK alpha 2 protein in the rat kidney.’ 1997. (Kraut JA; Hiura J; Besancon M; Smolka A; Sachs G; Scott D) Am J Physiol. 272 (6 Pt 2): F744-50.
• ‘Acid secretion and Helicobacter pylori.’ 1997. (Sachs G; Meyer-Rosberg K; Scott DR; Melchers K; Shin J; Besancon M) Digestion. 58 Suppl 1: 8-13.
• ‘Sites of reaction of the gastric H,K-ATPase with extracytoplasmic thiol reagents.’ 1997. (Besancon M; Simon A; Sachs G; Shin JM) J Biol Chem; 272 (36): 22438-46.
• ‘Structural aspects of the gastric H,K ATPase.’ 1997. (Shin JM; Besancon M; Bamberg K; Sachs G) Ann NY Acad Sci; 834: 65-76.
• ‘Turnover of the gastric H+, K+-Adenosine triphosphatase a subunit and its effect on inhibition of rat gastric acid secretion.’ 1995. (K. Gedda, D. Scott, M. Besancon, P. Lorentzon G. Sachs) Gastroenterology: Vol 109: Issue 4:1134-1141.
• ‘Gastric acid secretion: activation and inhibition.’ 1994. (Sachs G; Prinz C; Loo D; Bamberg K; Besancon M; Shin JM) Yale J Biol Med; 67 (3-4): 81-95.
• ‘Continuing development of acid pump inhibitors: site of action of pantoprazole.’ 1994. (Shin JM; Besancon M; Prinz C; Simon A; Sachs G) Aliment Pharmacol Ther; 8 Suppl 1: 11-23.
• ‘Antibody epitope mapping of the gastric H+/K(+)-ATPase.’ 1993. (Mercier F; Bayle D; Besancon M; Joys T; Shin JM; Lewin MJ; Prinz C; Reuben MA; Soumarmon A; Wong H; et al) Biochim Biophys Acta; 1149 (1): 151-65.
• ‘The site of action of pantoprazole in the gastric H+/K(+)-ATPase.’ 1993. (Shin JM; Besancon M; Simon A; Sachs G) Biochim Biophys Acta; 1148 (2): 223-33.
• ‘Membrane topology and omeprazole labeling of the gastric H+,K(+)-adenosinetriphosphatase.’ 1993. (Besancon M; Shin JM; Mercier F; Munson K; Miller M; Hersey S; Sachs G) Biochemistry; 32 (9): 2345-55.
• ‘The continuing development of gastric acid pump inhibitors.’ 1993. (Sachs G; Shin JM; Besancon M; Prinz C) Aliment Pharmacol Ther; 7 Suppl 1 4-12, discussion 29-31.
• ‘Chemomechanical coupling in the gastric H,K ATPase.’ 1992. (Besancon M; Shin JM; Mercier F; Munson K; Rabon E; Hersey S; Sachs G) Acta Physiol Scand Suppl; 607: 77-88.
• ‘Topology and sites in the H,K-ATPase.’ 1992. (Sachs G; Shin JM; Besancon M; Munson K; Hersey S) Ann N Y Acad Sci; 671: 204-16.
• ‘Structural aspects of the gastric H,K-ATPase.’ 1992. (Sachs G; Besancon M; Shin JM; Mercier F; Munson K; Hersey S) J Bioenerg Biomembr; 24 (3): 301-8.

Constantine Boussalis

Empirical Research Fellow, Harvard Law School
Email: cboussalis@law.harvard.edu
Work Phone: (617)­ 495-4068

Constantine primarily studies the impact of political and social institutions on public health, environmental and economic outcomes. He also investigates political psychological aspects of these topics such as public support for regional integration and foreign aid.

His dissertation examined the political-economic and social factors which help minimize the destructive consequences of natural shocks. His systematic cross-national investigation of earthquake risk has yielded empirical evidence which suggests that after accounting for geophysical factors, government capacity and social capital are significantly associated with lower levels of devastation caused by seismic shocks. Other examples of recent work include an investigation of the impact of government capacity on malaria incidence reduction at the state level in India (with Hal Nelson and Siddharth Swaminathan) and an analysis of the determinants of HIV/AIDS foreign aid targeting by donor countries (with Caryn Peiffer).

Constantine's work has appeared in Social Science & Medicine and Journal of Development Studies. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and a M.A. in International Studies from Claremont Graduate University as well as a B.A. in Political Science from California State University, Los Angeles.

Other related research work, publication, websites, and links

  • Towards Comprehensive Malaria Planning: The Effect of Government Capacity, Health Policy, and Land Use Variables on Malaria Incidence in India. (with Hal Nelson and Siddharth Swaminathan) Science & Medicine 75(7), 1213–1221. (October 2012)
     
  • Health, Need and Politics: the Determinants of Bilateral HIV/AIDS Assistance. (with Caryn Peiffer) Journal of Development Studies 47(12), 1798–1825. (December 2011)
     
  • Foreign Assistance and the Struggle against HIV/AIDS in the Developing World. (with Caryn Peiffer) Journal of Development Studies 46(3), 556–573. (March 2010)
     
  • Identity and Public Support for North American Integration (with Jennifer Merolla and Caryn Peiffer). Under Review.
     
  • Love Thy Neighbor: Social Identity and Public Support for Humanitarian Aid (with Linda Alvarez, Jennifer Merolla and Caryn Peiffer). Working Paper.
     
  • Social Capital, Democracy, and Trade Liberalization (with Hal Nelson and Peter Noordijk). Working Paper.
     
  • Doing a Good Turn Daily: Boy and Girl Scouts as a Proxy for Cross-National Social Capital (with Travis Coan and Hal Nelson) Research in progress.
     
  • 'Balance as Bias' Revisited: Harnessing the Power of Text-Mining to Understand Media Coverage of Climate Change (with Travis Coan) Research in progress.

Kristine Webster

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Associate Professor, Accounting, Finance, and Real Estate, La Sierra University

Kristine Webster is an Associate Professor of Accounting, Finance and Real Estate at the Zapara School of Business at La Sierra University and is a doctoral student at Claremont Graduate University. She is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Fraud Examiner, Certified Forensic Accountant, Notary, insurance producer and Realtor with 28 years of accounting, finance, real estate and insurance experience, including 20 years as Chief Financial Officer of both public and private companies. Her public accounting experience includes working for both Ernst & Whinney and Ernst & Young. Kristine has been an IRS VITA Site Coordinator for multi years overseeing and preparing hundreds of returns. She is currently serving as The Transresearch Consortium controller. She has also served as a detail-oriented, hands-on CFO/Vice President Finance for entities including:

• Tapout, LLC, the world’s leading mixed-martial arts apparel, gear and lifestyle brand for men, women and children on the market today;

• San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, one of the largest employers in the Inland Empire encompassing gaming, governmental operations and other enterprises employing over 3,000 people;

• Family Service Association of Western Riverside County, a nationally recognized non-profit agency that has responded to the changing dynamics of families, by expanding the scope of services to include comprehensive care for families in need;

• Shopping.com, among the first and largest online retailers in the dot com era. She took the company public in 1997 and was instrumental in arranging for its sale to Compaq Computer Corporation—for $220 million—via a reverse triangular merger in 1999.

Michelle A. Benson

Department of Political Science at the University at Buffalo

Associate Professor
Email: mbenson2@buffalo.edu

Michelle A. Benson is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University at Buffalo. Her most recent work focuses on the effects of the United Nations on civil war, including sexual violence and conflict outcomes. Her other research focuses on state-to-state ties, trade and intergovernmental organizations and international conflict. Professor Benson is also interested in how state and IGO preferences affect actions in both civil and international war. Her work has been published in such journals as the Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Politics, Comparative Political Studies, the Journal of Peace Research, International Interactions, Social Science Quarterly, Conflict Management and Peace Science, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, and the Journal of Political Science.

Travis G. Coan

Statistician and Lecturer on Law, Harvard Law School
Email: tcoan@law.harvard.edu
Work Phone: (617)­ 495-5268

Travis research examines the influence of environmental, economic, and security crises on political behavior and public policy preferences. His research also investigates topics in international political economy, including the politics of foreign direct investment and the dynamics of international development.

Travis' research spans a wide-range of topics in political science. His most recent work uses experimental methods to explore the relationship between human security crises and political behavior. This research examines a diverse set of crises, from terrorism and economic decline (with Jennifer L. Merolla and Elizabeth J. Zechmeister) to global environmental threats (with Mirya R. Holman). Travis is also involved in an on-going project on the dynamics of human development (with Mark A. Abdollahian and Birol Yesilada) and the political economy of foreign direct investment (with Tadeusz Kugler).

Travis' research has appeared in International Studies Quarterly, International Interactions, Political Psychology, and Social Science Quarterly, among others. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and a M.A. in International Political Economy from Claremont Graduate University, as well as a B.A. in Economics from California State University, Chico. For more information on Travis and links to his research, see  www.travisgcoan.com.

Other related research work, publication, websites, and links

  • Mark Abdollahian, Travis G. Coan, Hana Oh, and Birol Yesilada. 2012. Dynamics of Cultural Change: the Human Development Perspective." International Studies Quarterly: 1-17.
  • Travis G. Coan, Jennifer L. Merolla, Jennifer Ramos, and Elizabeth J. Zechmeister. 2010. Engage Abroad, Protect at Home," in Jennifer Merolla and Elizabeth Zechmeister's Democracy at Risk: How Terrorist Threats Affect the Public. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010.
  • Travis G. Coan and Mirya R. Holman. 2008. "Voting Green." Social Science Quarterly, 89(5): 1121-1135.
  • Travis G. Coan and Tadeusz Kugler. 2008. "The Politics of Foreign Direct Investment: An Interactive Framework." International Interactions, 34: 402-422.
  • Travis G. Coan, Jennifer L. Merolla, Laura Stephenson, and Elizabeth J. Zechmeister. 2008. "It's Not Easy Being Green: Minor Party Labels as Heuristic Aids." Political Psychology, 29(3): 389-405.
  • Travis G. Coan, Jennifer L. Merolla, and Elizabeth J. Zechmeister. "Emotional Responses to Human Security Threats: Evidence from a National Experiment." Working Paper, 2012.
  • Travis G. Coan and Mirya R. Holman. "Evaluating Political and Environmental Behavior in the Face of a Green Crisis: An Experimental Analysis." Under Review, 2012.
  • Constantine Boussalis and Travis G. Coan. "'Balance as Bias' Revisited: Harnessing the Power of Text-Mining to Understand Media Coverage of Climate Change," Working Paper, 2012.
  • Principal Investigator for the World Values Survey in Cyprus.