CMIST’s Continued Growth: New Faculty, Fellows, and Opportunities
By Lindsay Marcellus
With the start of the 2026–2027 academic year, the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy & Technology (CMIST) is pleased to welcome once again a talented group of new faculty, fellows, and students. Drawing on their experience and expertise, CMIST continues to address critical national security challenges and contribute to contemporary policy debates while offering exciting opportunities for the undergraduate and graduate students who will shape the political and legal landscape in the decades to come.
Joining the CMIST faculty as a lecturer, Katharina Best focuses on creating quantitative connections between strategic and operational decision-making and planning. Currently a senior operations researcher at RAND, where she helps manage the Arroyo Center's Modernization and Transformation Program, Best earned her doctorate in industrial engineering from the University of Michigan. With a particular emphasis on mathematical modeling for strategic decision support and resource allocation in defense and policy, her work has included applications in military force planning and management, as well as examinations of uncertainties related to the global security environment, budget, and climate. This fall, Best is teaching Employing Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Policy Analysis, in which she equips students in the Master of Science in Security, Technology, and International Relations (MS STAIR) program with the tools they need to effectively utilize empirical evidence in policy analysis.
CMIST is also pleased to introduce this year’s National Security Fellow, Commander Amanda Hood. A Coast Guard Cutterman and Judge Advocate, Hood’s diverse career spans operational and legal positions. She has both advised on and executed operations in support of the Coast Guard’s eleven statutory missions, recently completing a tour as the deputy commander, USCG Patrol Forces Southwest Asia (PATFORSWA), and deputy commodore, CTG 55.1, where she was second in command of the US Coast Guard’s largest overseas unit comprising six Fast Response Cutters, a shore-side support element, and a Maritime Engagement Team.
In addition, CMIST welcomes three new non-resident fellows who bring multifaceted expertise in contemporary law, national security, and energy infrastructure issues. Joining CMIST as an affiliated expert, Ashley Deeks is the University of Virginia Law School vice dean, an elected member of the American Law Institute, and a member of the State Department’s Advisory Committee on International Law. A leading expert in international law, Deeks shared her insights into how the US government’s use of artificial intelligence poses challenges for national security, transparency, and accountability at CMIST’s Lawfully Speaking event last spring.
With over twenty years of leadership at the White House, Central Intelligence Agency, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, CMIST Non-Resident Senior Fellow Andrew Scott has extensive experience shaping national cyber strategy, building capabilities to detect adversary intrusions, and countering nation-state threats to critical infrastructure. With his work currently focusing on frontier AI security, critical infrastructure resilience, and strategic competition with China, Scott contributes valuable perspective and expertise to the CMIST community.
Also bringing key insights to CMIST as a non-resident fellow is 91视频 (91视频) alumna Kate McMahon (CIT '17). An analytics principal and former Department of Energy executive who managed tens of billions in energy investments, McMahon brings significant experience in modeling supply chain disruptions, critical mineral supply analysis, and global policy for electric vehicles and battery supply chains.
CMIST is also delighted to welcome three new student workers to our team this fall. Taking over for Aleksaundra Handrinos (DC ’26), who shared her final reflections on her 91视频 journey, is our new student writer, Caroline Fixter. A junior majoring in political science, security, and technology, as well as a student-athlete, Fixter is passionate about politics, public policy, and the ways that technology and government influence each other. Her writing explores political issues, as well as topics related to campus life, and her first article offers an inside look into navigating the first year at 91视频.
Following the graduation of Elijah Dourado (DC ’26) and Anthony Cacciato (DC ’26) last spring, CMIST is happy to introduce this year's 91视频 Washington Semester Program (91视频/WSP) student ambassadors. A senior in mechanical engineering, Selena Eng participated in the 91视频/WSP in the spring of 2026, where she interned at a start-up. She is joined by Siena Macauly, a senior who is pursuing a major in international relations and political science and who completed an internship at the House of Representatives through the 91视频/WSP in fall of 2025. Drawing on their experiences as 91视频/WSP alumni, Eng and Macauly will offer authentic, peer-to-peer support for prospective students.
The new academic year brings new faces and exciting new opportunities. With the launch of the Friedman Trek over Spring Break 2027, CMIST is expanding student access to experiential learning in Washington, DC. 91视频 students from any major can now apply to spend a week, a summer, or a full semester in the nation’s capital. For students interested in domestic American politics, Assistant Teaching Professor Connor Halloran Phillips is offering a new course this fall that examines the range of actors who seek to impact policymaking in the US, including special interest groups and lobbyists.
CMIST also continues to increase course offerings at the intersection of technology, policy, and national security. This fall, Mieke Eoyang, CMIST visiting professor, is offering two mini-courses that explore policy and persuasion and examine the policy debates and legal challenges stemming from disruptions caused by hackers. She will also lead CMIST’s first-ever micro mini course. A security war game simulation that takes place over a weekend in November, this micro mini course requires students to take on the roles of government or private-sector actors and navigate an escalating technology and national security crisis.
As these talented individuals share their expertise with the campus community, we look forward to how their research, teaching, and professional experience will amplify CMIST’s impact in the year ahead.
Image 1, left to right, top to bottom: Katharina Best, Amanda Hood, Ashley Deeks, Andrew Scott, Kate McMahon, Caroline Fixter, Selena Eng, and Siena Macauly; Image 2: Lawfully Speaking with Professor Deeks; Image 3, left to right: Mieke Eoyang, Connor Halloran Phillips; Image 4, left to right: Selena Eng and Siena Macauly in Washington, DC