Launched in 2023, the Emerging Technologies Initiative at Johns Hopkins SAIS is dedicated to exploring the transformative realms of technology and their profound implications on global affairs.
Our Mission
Our mission is to drive innovation and understanding at the intersection of emerging technologies, policy-making, and international relations. Building on the heritage of Johns Hopkins University as a beacon of cutting-edge research and pioneering thought, the Emerging Technologies Initiative strives to fuse expertise from a spectrum of fields, including social sciences, engineering, and policy studies and leverage the knowledge housed across Johns Hopkins University institutions and programs. Embracing the ethos of interdisciplinary collaboration, our initiative is dedicated to fostering innovation, policy-making, and training in the domain of emerging technologies.
Olga Belogolova
Director
Olga Belogolova is the Director of the Emerging Technologies Initiative at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). As a professor at the Alperovitch Institute at SAIS, she teaches about trust and safety policy and influence in the digital age. She previously taught at Georgetown University.
During her tenure at Facebook/Meta, Olga led policy for countering influence operations, coordinating the company's IO disruptions effort, and leading the execution and development of policies on coordinated inauthentic behavior, state media capture, and hack-and-leaks within the Trust and Safety team. Prior to that, she was a threat intelligence analyst at Facebook, identifying, tracking, and disrupting coordinated IO campaigns, leading work on Russia and Eastern Europe and in particular, the Internet Research Agency investigations between 2017 and 2019.
Olga previously worked as a journalist and her work has appeared in The Atlantic, National Journal, Inside Defense, and The Globe and Mail, among others. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Journalism and European Studies from Boston University. She is a fellow with the Truman National Security Project, serves on the review board for CYBERWARCON, the Trust & Safety Advisory Group of the Institute for Security and Technology, and is on the board of directors for the Digital Democracy Institute of the Americas (DDIA).
2025-2026 Fellows
M. Wasay Mir
Wasay Mir is a Master of Arts in International Relations candidate at Johns Hopkins SAIS, specializing in International Economics and Finance. He has worked across policy research, international journalism, and strategic communications with organizations including the Pulitzer Center, Al Jazeera English, and BLJ Worldwide. As an Emerging Tech Fellow, he is interested in the intersection of emerging technologies and economic policy, bridging quantitative analysis with geopolitical insights to address complex policy and business challenges. Based between Washington D.C. and Doha, Wasay brings deep regional expertise in the Middle East and Asia-Pacific to his strategic analysis. Wasay holds a Bachelor of Science in Journalism and Strategic Communication from Northwestern University, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude.
Chase Harward
Chase Harward is a first-year Master of Arts in International Relations candidate at SAIS, with a focus on nuclear policy, the U.S.-ROK alliance, and technology cooperation. Chase previously spent two years working for the Project on Nuclear Issues at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where he organized high-level private seminars on the U.S. nuclear enterprise for South Korean and Japanese experts. He has also worked with the U.S. State Department to bring together early-career experts among the P5 nuclear weapon states for dialogues on risk reduction at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Chase has interned with the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Salt Lake County Mayor’s Office, as well as the Intermountain Intelligence, Industry, and Security Consortium. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Economics from Utah State University, with a specialization in Anticipatory Intelligence.
Inesa Sargsyan
Inesa Sargsyan is a Master of Arts in International Relations candidate at Johns Hopkins SAIS, specializing in the intersection of emerging technologies, security, economics and global policy. She has a background in global economics and finance, with experience in risk management and governance. In 2025, she spoke at the World Bank’s Global Forum on Anti-Corruption as a youth leader, presenting her pitch on AI-enabled approaches to combating corruption and strengthening institutional integrity. At SAIS, she serves as Head of Communications for the Technology and Innovation Club and has contributed to the SAIS Observer as both a writer and editor. As an Emerging Tech Fellow, Inesa is particularly interested in how emerging technologies, security, and policy intersect to shape global competitiveness and governance in the digital era. Inesa holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Development and Global Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Róisín Goggin
Róisín is a Master of Arts in International Relations candidate at SAIS, specializing in the impacts of US-China relations on the emerging technology industries. A former intern at the Consulate General of Ireland in San Francisco, Róisín supported diplomatic initiatives at the intersection of technology and international relations. As an Emerging Tech Fellow, she is building relationships across the Johns Hopkins community, with policymakers, and technology leaders to address pressing international challenges. Her current research explores the intersection of emerging technologies and global health security, with a particular interest in the institutional and individual challenges to onboarding emerging tech into established operational workflows.
2024-2025 Fellows
Andrew Bailey
Andrew is a Master of Arts in International Relations candidate at SAIS, specializing in the integration of emerging technologies and their impact on the commercial and defense sectors. A former Signals Intelligence Officer in the United States Army, Andrew directed space-based collection efforts and coordinated intelligence operations across multiple agencies. As an Emerging Tech Fellow, he is focused on advancing his expertise in disruptive technologies and their global applications, with current research exploring the social media landscape and striving to bridge the gap between policy, regulation and product development.
Max Edelstein
Max is a second-year Master of Arts in International Relations candidate at SAIS, specializing in the intersection of technology, national security, and economics. A summa cum laude graduate of Colgate University, Max has conducted research on AI governance and El Salvador's adoption of Bitcoin as a national currency. At SAIS, he is a Reader’s Digest Fellow, a staff writer for the SAIS Observer covering technology and innovation, and a graduate research assistant for the Nexus Award-funded AI for HOPE project, which focuses on addressing health inequities through artificial intelligence.
Nadezhda Ivanova
Nadya is a Master of Arts in International Relations candidate at SAIS, focusing on the intersection of security, emerging technologies, and geopolitical risk. Previously, she conducted research on Russian cyber and disinformation operations in Europe at the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD). While at SAIS Europe, Nadya worked as a teaching assistant for Professor Veronica Anghel’s course on risk in international politics and economics. She was also a research assistant for the Bologna Institute for Policy Research (BIPR), where she managed the publication of the Global Risk Series.
Stavros Piperidis
Stavros is a Master of Arts in International Relations candidate at SAIS, focusing on transatlantic relations and emerging technologies. At SAIS, he is a Public Service Fellow, a Fulbright Fellow in Greece, an Onassis Foundation Scholar, and an A.G. Leventis Foundation Scholar. Having worked for the Permanent Representation of Greece to NATO during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the NATO Rapid Deployable Corps—Greece, and the Hellenic Army, Stavros strives to address conventional, hybrid, and emerging security threats in the Euro-Atlantic space.
2023-2024 Fellows
Alexa Wehsener
Alexa is a Master of Strategy, Cybersecurity, and Intelligence candidate at SAIS, focusing on broadening her understanding of the security environment through historic and regional lenses. Alexa previously led defense research and strategy across lines of effort related to the risks and opportunities ML presents in operational environments, nuclear weapons systems, crisis communication, strategic stability, human cognitive security, democratic institution resiliency, and techno-industrial competition.
Cole Trautman
Cole is a Master of Strategy, Cybersecurity, and Intelligence candidate at SAIS, where he focuses on technology and cybersecurity. He previously wrote cyber threat and global risk briefs for a consulting company and has participated in multiple student research projects for client organizations.
Mariami Tkeshelashvili
Mariami is a Senior Associate for Artificial Intelligence Security Policy at the Institute for Security and Technology (IST), leading the AI Foundation Model Access Initiative and working on AI/Cyber and geopolitics of technology projects. She is also a Fellow at Johns Hopkins University Emerging Technologies Initiative. She previously worked on transatlantic tech policy at CEPA and managed USAID-funded projects at the National Democratic Institute.
Jaehyoung Ju
Jaehyoung is a MAIR candidate at SAIS, focusing on trilateral security policy coordination between Korea, the United States, and Japan. His previous work at Asia Society Policy Institute and the Korea Society explored areas of national industrial competition and economic security in the Indo-Pacific. Jaehyoung is a SAIS Public Service Fellow and a 2024 Munich Security Conference Junior Ambassador.
