The 2016 NextGen Program Participants

Nathan Beauchamp-Mustafaga is a Project Associate at the RAND Corporation, where he focuses on Asian security issues. His research interests include Chinese foreign policy, China–North Korea relations, China’s One Belt, One Road initiative, and Chinese bureaucratic politics. Prior to joining RAND, Mr. Beauchamp-Mustafaga was the editor of China Brief at the Jamestown Foundation, a biweekly publication focusing on strategic China-related issues utilizing indigenous language sources. He has also spent time with the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the Center for International and Strategic Studies at Peking University, and the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

Mr. Beauchamp-Mustafaga graduated from the dual-degree MSc in International Affairs Program at the London School of Economics and Peking University, and earned a bachelor’s degree in international affairs and Chinese language and literature from the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University.

Kent Boydston is a Research Analyst at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, where he works on issues related to economic development and international relations in East Asia. He is also a Non-Resident James A. Kelly Fellow at Pacific Forum, Center for Strategic and International Studies. His research focuses on inter-Korean relations, diplomacy in East Asia, the North Korean economy, and human rights.

Mr. Boydston has three years of experience working and studying throughout Korea. He was recently a David L. Boren fellow at Yonsei University in Seoul and a Rosenthal fellow in international relations at the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Korean Affairs in 2013. Mr. Boydston earned his master’s degree in international affairs from the University of California, San Diego, and his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California, Irvine.

Jessica Brandt is an Associate Fellow in the Foreign Policy Program and Special Assistant to the President in the Executive Office at the Brookings Institution. Her research interests include international security, multilateral institutions, and the geopolitical consequences of state fragility. Her recent work focuses on the refugee crisis in Europe. Ms. Brandt previously served as an international and global affairs fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University, as a consultant in the office of Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and as the director of foreign relations for the Geneva Accord in Tel Aviv.

Ms. Brandt earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations with a concentration in conflict and security studies from Johns Hopkins University and an MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School. She is a term member at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Rachael Burton is a Research Associate at the Project 2049 Institute. In this capacity, she conducts research and analysis on the Chinese Communist Party’s foreign policy, United Front Work Department, and the People’s Liberation Army. Prior to her current position, Ms. Burton spent two years as a Teach for China fellow, during which time she taught English at a remote middle school in rural Yunnan Province. She has also interned at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy and the National Bureau of Asian Research, where she conducted research on energy security and U.S. engagement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Ms. Burton received her bachelor’s degree in international affairs with a minor in Chinese from George Washington University. She also attended Minzu University for an intensive Chinese-language program in 2011.

Harry Krejsa is a Research Associate at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), working in the Asia-Pacific Security Program. Prior to joining CNAS, Mr. Krejsa worked as a policy analyst for the Congressional Joint Economic Committee. He also served as a researcher with the Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs at National Defense University, where he published a report on Chinese investment in the United States and its security implications. Mr. Krejsa has led a field analysis on political transition in Myanmar, piloted anti-terrorism training programs in South Asia, and served as a Fulbright fellow in Taiwan. His policy writings have appeared in War on the Rocks, the National Interest, the Diplomat, and PacNet.

Mr. Krejsa received his master’s degree in international relations from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University. He graduated from Grinnell College with a bachelor’s degree in political science and East Asian studies, for which he also studied at Nanjing University in China.

Edward Linczer is an Asian Studies Research Associate at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he analyzes U.S. defense policy in the Asia-Pacific region and Chinese military modernization. Previously, he was a non-resident junior fellow at the Center for the National Interest, where he provided research support on U.S. maritime security assistance programs with Southeast Asian countries and published Asian security analyses in China-U.S. Focus, the National Interest, and AEIdeas. Mr. Linczer has also spent time working at a nonprofit organization (Hua Dan) in Beijing as an education outreach facilitator. In this role, he facilitated educational workshops for children of migrant workers and created marketing strategies to attract funding from corporate sponsors.

Mr. Linczer holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and Chinese from University of Notre Dame. He also attended Peking University for an intensive mandarin program in 2013.

Satori Shimizu is the Lead Analyst for the Threat Finance Cell at C4ADS, where she manages complex and varying portfolios on topics across Asia and Latin America. Ms. Shimizu was the project manager for the research team that investigated overseas (especially Chinese) networks of North Korea and recently released the report In China’s Shadow. She led the initial research, publication of the report, and briefing of findings to the National Security Council, the deputy assistant secretary of defense, congressional staffers, major financial institutions, and various other agencies. In her role as Lead Analyst for the Threat Finance Cell, Ms. Shimizu has also been a part of the U.S. government’s eight-person delegation for bilateral talks with Vietnam.

Ms. Shimizu received her bachelor’s degree in international relations and history from Tufts University. She has experience as the U.S. Department of State’s Fulbright Fellow and at the Atlantic Council, Global Rescue, and Mercy Corps. She has lived and worked in Tajikistan and speaks fluent Japanese; is proficient in Spanish, Tajik, and Persian; and is learning Russian.

David Thompson is an Analyst at C4ADS in the Threat Finance Cell. His work has focused on mapping and exposing illicit North Korean overseas networks that work to procure proliferation material and hard currency for the Kim Jong-un regime. Mr. Thompson served as the primary researcher and co-author for C4ADS’s most recent report on North Korea, In China’s Shadow. The report exposed more that $600 million in trade between a single Chinese trade conglomerate and North Korea, including in dual-use material. Prior to working on illicit North Korean networks, Mr. Thompson was an analyst for C4ADS’s Environmental Crimes Fusion Cell, which investigates the nexus of transnational organized crime and illicit trade in environmental products, including ivory and rhino horn. While in this position, he focused on illicit trade from Southern Africa to East Asia, namely Hong Kong and southern China.

Mr. Thompson graduated from George Washington University with a double major in political science and Chinese language and literature in 2013.

Maeve Whelan-Wuest is a Research Assistant and Project Coordinator in the Center for East Asia Policy Studies at The Brookings Institution. In this capacity, she conducts research for Dr. Richard Bush on political and security issues pertaining to Taiwan, Hong Kong, and U.S. policy in the Asia Pacific. She also coordinates and edits the Taiwan-U.S. Quarterly Analysis and The Brookings East Asia Commentary. Prior to Brookings, she was the Asia Policy Fellow in the office of U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono, where she provided policy guidance on issues such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership and coordinated meetings for the Senate U.S.-China Working Group.

Whelan-Wuest has lived and worked in China as a research intern at the International Crisis Group and a story producer for “The Amazing Race: China Rush.” She received a master’s degree in International Affairs from the School of Global Policy and Strategy at University of California, San Diego, and a bachelor’s in Geography and Chinese from Middlebury College.