Project Connect: Dr. Oriana Skylar Mastro The Evolution of Sino-Russian Military Relations (1949-2023)

Dr. Oriana Skylar Mastro
Center Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and Courtesy Assistant Professor of Political Sciences at Stanford University

Oriana Skylar Mastro is a Center Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and Courtesy Assistant Professor of Political Science at Stanford University where her research focuses on Chinese military and security policy, Asia-Pacific security issues, war termination, and coercive diplomacy. She is also a nonresident scholar, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She was previously an assistant professor of security studies at Georgetown University. She continues to serve in the United States Air Force Reserve at the Pentagon. For her contributions to U.S. strategy in Asia, she won the Individual Reservist of the Year Award in 2016 and 2022 (FGO). She has published widely, including in International Security, Security Studies, Foreign Affairs, Journal of Strategic Studies, The Washington Quarterly, the Economist and the New York Times. Her most recent book, Upstart: How China Became a Great Power (Oxford University Press, 2024), evaluates China’s approach to competition. Her book, The Costs of Conversation: Obstacles to Peace Talks in Wartime, (Cornell University Press, 2019), won the 2020 American Political Science Association International Security Section Best Book by an Untenured Faculty Member. She holds a B.A. in East Asian Studies from Stanford University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Politics from Princeton University. Her publications and other commentary can be found at www.orianaskylarmastro.com and on Twitter @osmastro.

Dr. Thomas J. Christensen
James T. Shotwell Professor of International Relations and Director of the China and the World Program at Columbia University

Thomas J. Christensen is Professor of Public and International Affairs and Director of the China and the World Program at Columbia University.  He arrived in 2018 from Princeton University where he was William P. Boswell Professor of World Politics of Peace and War, Director of the Princeton-Harvard China and the World Program, and faculty director of the Masters of Public Policy Program and the Truman Scholars Program. From 2006-2008 he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs with responsibility for relations with China, Taiwan, and Mongolia. His research and teaching focus on China’s foreign relations, the international relations of East Asia, and international security. His most recent book is Lost in the Cold War: The Story of Jack Downey, America’s Longest-Held POW (Columbia Univ. Press, 2022).  His earlier book, The China Challenge: Shaping the Choices of a Rising Power (W.W. Norton) was an editors’ choice at the New York Times Book Review, a “Book of the Week” on CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS, and the Arthur Ross Book Award Silver Medalist for 2016 at the Council on Foreign Relations. Professor Christensen has also taught at Cornell University and MIT. He received his B.A. with honors in History from Haverford College, M.A. in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania, and Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University. He has served on the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, as co-editor of the International History and Politics series at Princeton University Press, and as a member of the Academic Advisory Committee for the Schwarzman Scholars Program. He is currently the Chair of the Editorial Board of the Nancy B. Tucker and Warren I. Cohen Book Series on the United States in Asia at Columbia University Press.  Professor Christensen is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Non-Resident Senior Scholar at the Brookings Institution. He was presented with a Distinguished Public Service Award by the United States Department of State.

Dr. Matthew Kroenig
Senior Fellow in the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security at The Atlantic Council and Professor of Government and Foreign Service at Georgetown University

Matthew Kroenig is a Professor in the Department of Government and the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and a Senior Fellow in the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security at The Atlantic Council. A 2019 study in Perspectives on Politics ranked him as one of the top 25 most-cited political scientists of his generation. Dr. Kroenig is the author or editor of eight books, including The Return of Great Power Rivalry: Democracy versus Autocracy from the Ancient World to the US and China (Oxford University Press, 2020), which was Amazon's #1 New Release in International Relations. The Logic of American Nuclear Strategy: Why Strategic Superiority Matters (Oxford University Press, 2018) was selected by the US Air Force for its professional reading list and was translated into Chinese and Korean. Exporting the Bomb: Technology Transfer and the Spread of Nuclear Weapons (Cornell University Press, 2010) received the International Studies Association Best Book Award, Honorable Mention. His articles have appeared in many publications, including American Political Science Review, Annual Review of Political Science, Foreign Affairs, International Organization, International Security, Journal of Conflict Resolution, among others. He is a columnist at Foreign Policy. Dr. Kroenig provides regular commentary for major media outlets, including PBS, CBS, BBC, CNN, Fox News, NPR, and C-SPAN.

Dr. Kroenig was appointed by the US Congress in 2022 to serve as a commissioner on the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States. He has served in several positions in the U.S. Department of Defense and the intelligence community during the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations, including in the Strategy, Middle East, and Nuclear and Missile Defense offices in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the CIA's Strategic Assessments Group. For this work, he received the Office of the Secretary of Defense's Award for Outstanding Achievement. He was as a national security adviser on the presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney (2012) and Marco Rubio (2016). He has held fellowships at the Council on Foreign Relations, Harvard University, and Stanford University. He is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and holds an MA and PhD in political science from the University of California at Berkeley.

Dr. Eugene Rumer
Senior Fellow and the Director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Eugene Rumer is a senior fellow and director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Prior to joining Carnegie, Rumer served as the national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at the U.S. National Intelligence Council from 2010 to 2014. Earlier, he held research appointments at the National Defense University, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and the RAND Corporation. He has also served on the National Security Council staff and at the State Department, taught at Georgetown University and the George Washington University, and published widely. He holds a BA from Boston University, an MA from Georgetown University, and a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.