Rana Alshaeri is a second year graduate student in the ISTP program concentrating in Space Policy. In 2018, she graduated from Dar Al-Hekma University in Saudi Arabia with a Bachelor degree in Law, and pursued a legal career as a lawyer concentrating in contracts and commercial law. In 2021, she graduated from King Abdulaziz University with an L.L.M degree, where her thesis discussed the Intellectual Property of Software. After her L.L.M degree she pursued an academic career in addition to her career as a lawyer, working part-time as a law lecturer in both civil and common law courses at the College of law and Judicial Studies at the University of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. She’s always been interested in space and the legal perspective of space explorations and technologies. With the establishment of the Saudi Space Commission, she knew she wanted to be involved in shaping the Kingdom’s national and international space policies and regulations. She received a scholarship that ends with employment from the Saudi Space Commission to study Space Policy abroad and has the privilege to be amongst the first Saudis to specialize in Space Policy.
Elizabeth Anderson is a second-year graduate student in the International Science and Technology Policy program. Her areas of concentration are space policy and national security. She currently works as an International Program Specialist at NASA’s Office of International and Interagency Relations where her portfolio is focused on Earth science and emerging international partnerships. Elizabeth previously worked at Space Foundation as a government affairs specialist, and interned at NASA’s Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs, the US Department of Defense, and the US Senate. She graduated magna cum laude from American University with a BA in International Studies in 2021. Elizabeth is also a recipient of the Department of State’s Critical Language Scholarship and proficient in three foreign languages. In her free time, she practices jiu jitsu and enjoys playing pool (poorly) at dive bars.
Andrew Basham is a continuing ISTP graduate student at the Space Policy Institute with a background in satellite telecommunications. He works as the Lead for Ground Impact Analysis on Intelsat’s C-Band Transition team and previously contributed to developing architecture for next-generation software-defined satellite networks, operations support systems improvements, and product readiness assurance.He graduated from the University of the Pacific with a B.A. in International Relations & Global Studies and Political Science. As an undergraduate he interned with the Department of State’s Office of Press and Public Diplomacy within the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs and the U.K. House of Commons. He was a 2010 Council of American Ambassadors Walter and Leonore Annenberg Fellow and a 2013 Public Policy Leadership Fellow with The Fund for American Studies.Andrew’s primary professional interests are unlocking the full potential of space to foster global communications and ensuring communications technology provides free and easy access to markets and information worldwide. His research interests include U.S. spectrum policy, privatization in the space industry, and the role of communications technology in diplomacy.
Ruth Cooper is a continuing graduate student in the International Science and Technology Policy
program, with a concentration in global health diplomacy and security. She currently works at
the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine as an Associate Program Officer
in the Health and Medicine Division. She is also a Research Assistant for the 2nd edition of
Beyond Sputnik: U.S. Science Policy in the 21st Century, a science policy textbook. Prior to
joining the National Academies, she spent a year volunteering at Open Arms Home for Children
in South Africa. She also has experience in Arctic science policy, having interned at the U.S.
Arctic Research Commission, and has participated in three Arctic field cruises. She graduated
from the University of Notre Dame in 2017 with a Bachelor of Arts in Neuroscience and
Behavior and a minor in Mediterranean Middle Eastern Studies.
Jessica Denham is a seond-year ISTP graduate student at the Space Policy Institute. She holds a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Oregon. She works at the Aerospace Corporation, where she is a member of the Horizon Scanning Cadre, the Strategic Advisory Council, and the Ideation Dev Team. She also curates a daily tech newsletter that aggregates emerging topics in multiple STEM disciplines. She intends to pursue a career in international space policy, futurism, and strategic foresighting. Jessica is a Distinguished Toastmaster. In her free time, she enjoys word games and backpacking.
Taelor Jones is an incoming first-year graduate student in the International Science and Technology program, with a concentration in Environmental Policy. She currently works at NASA Headquarters in the Office of Technology and Science Policy. Before her start as a full-time employee at NASA, Taelor was an intern from 2018-2021 at NASA Headquarters in the Science Mission Directorate and NASA Langley with research ranging from arctic ice depletion, sea ice albedo, and more. She has presented research at the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) and the Center for Atmospheric Research (CARE) at NASA Langley Research Center. Taelor received her Bachelors of Science from Hampton University, with a major in Marine and Environmental Science. Aside from school & work, Taelor is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.; and enjoys shopping, trying new restaurants, and traveling.
Ryan Puleo is a first-year master’s student at the Elliott School’s Space Policy Institute. Ryan graduated magna cum laude from The George Washington University in 2023 with a B.A. in International Affairs, a concentration in international economics, and a minor in economics. He currently works as an analyst at BryceTech and his work concentrates on financial and economic analysis. Ryan has worked on BryceTech’s annual Start-up Space report for the past three years and has a keen interest in the economics and business of the space industry. During his time at SPI, Ryan will research how the business of the space industry has evolved in recent years, as well as what the future of this field will look like. In his free time, Ryan enjoys playing soccer, reading, and watching GW’s basketball teams.
Rachita Puri is an Aerospace Engineer at the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (FAA AST) in Washington D.C. In her role at AST, she leads the safety authorization for U.S. commercial space operations, specifically as the licensing lead for SpaceX-Dragon and Blue Origin-New Shepard missions. Rachita also engages with other government stakeholders as AST’s licensing liaison to NASA, U.S. Coast Guard, and the U.S. State Department. As a member of the Human Spaceflight team working on regulatory preparation initiatives, she represented AST at the 2022 International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Paris. Rachita is passionate about advancing space exploration through sustained international collaboration, and she is actively involved with the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC) as the Space Safety and Sustainability Project Group Co-Lead. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering with Honors from The Ohio State University, where she specialized in the Global Option in Engineering Concentration to complete aerospace internships in India and Poland. At present, in addition to working at the FAA, Rachita is attending the International Space University’s 2023 Space Studies Program in Brazil, and she will be pursuing a Master’s degree in International Science and Technology with a Space Policy Concentration at the George Washington University starting in Fall 2023.
Charles Smeltzer is an incoming ISTP master’s graduate student whose interests are in science and technology diplomacy, linguistic learning models, behavioral economics, and interactive climate policy simulation. He is driven by environmental science community development and integration. He’s an advocate for STEM and inclusive emotional intelligence best practices. He has broad experience engaging interdisciplinary stakeholders as an academic researcher, as a citizen scientist, as a knowledge broker, and as an IT consultant. Charles has a masters of science from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a bachelors of science from the University of Washington, both in atmospheric chemistry. As a research assistant, he assimilated in-situ and remote sensing observations to study the nitrogen cycle in a performance optimized cloud convective chemical transport model. As a teaching assistant, he instructed on subjects of planetary science and data analysis. As a citizen scientist, Charles voluntarily contributes academic abstracts and peer-review discussions with several international environmental science affiliations: European Geosciences Union, Copernicus Marine Service, Ocean Prediction UN DCC, American Geophysical Union, NASA GES DISC, and American Psychological Association. Charles loves world travel and has completed several linguistic studies and conference tours abroad. He enjoys primitive backpacking, astrophotography, coastal water stand up paddle board camping, reading historical fiction and painting in watercolor.
Adam Stegall is a second-year ISTP graduate student focusing on space policy. He graduated from UNC Charlotte in 2021 with a BS in Computer Science specializing in artificial intelligence & robotics, and a minor in Security & Intelligence Studies. He holds a previous BA in Business Administration/Economics from Warren Wilson College in Asheville, NC. His research interests focus on the intersections of space policy, national security, and artificial intelligence. Adam is continuing a federal internship for a second year, helping to design a neurodiversity program that will be implemented across multiple agencies. Adam is the proud product of a Work College, which instilled a triad of work, service, and academics. He currently serves on the Presidential Selection Committee for Warren Wilson College, as Past-President of the Alumni Board, and recently completed a term on the Board of Trustees. He is an LGBTQ+ youth advocate, and recently served in leadership on the Board of Directors of Time Out Youth, which provides programs and services to over 1,300 LGBTQ+ youth in the greater Charlotte area. Adam is an avid canoeist, seasoned globetrotter, and adventure junkie, and enjoys cooking long, leisurely meals on remote mountaintops.
Sydney Wisnosky is a first-year graduate student with an International Space Policy concentration within the International Science and Technology Policy program. While studying biology and criminology at the University of Miami for her undergraduate degree, she interned on the NASA Ames Extractor for Chemical Analysis of Lipid Biomarkers in Regolith (ExCALiBR) Project through the Axient Corporation. She has presented research at the 2022 Astrobiology Science Conference where she was awarded the NASA Mars Exploration Program Student Travel Grant to attend the conference. As she begins the ISTP program, she is excited to explore her interests in the policy side of planetary exploration as well as combine space with her previous criminology studies to explore the national security aspect of space policy.
Elif Yüksel is a young space professional and a Fulbrighter aiming at specializing in space policy issues at the Space Policy Institute. Connecting diplomacy and cooperation, she makes an effort to facilitate research in policies paving ways to use space applications for their integration into roadmaps. She worked as a long-term research intern at EURISY, European Space Agencies Associations, in the use of space applications for societal benefits. She is an alumnus of International Space University where she participated in the Space Studies Program (SSP’21). She graduated from International Relations BA program, Ankara Yildirim Beyazit University. She has been a Datanaut selected by NASA to work interdisciplinarily for Open NASA’s Datanaut Program as a volunteer in 2018. She also worked as an intern at TUBITAK UZAY, Space Technologies and Research Institute, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Türkiye.
