Through the Fellows Program, graduate students recognized for exceptional writing and scholarship gain an opportunity to participate in the activities and public programs of the Council, developing leadership skills and presenting the conclusions of their scholarly work to a high-level audience of interested actors in the transatlantic relations world. Fellows gain networking opportunities and experience in transforming scholarly proposals into policy-oriented initiatives.

Current Fellows

Sigurd Neubauer started as a research fellow for the Streit Council in March 2008. He has several years of experience in government relations, public policy and advocacy specializing in US foreign policy toward the Europe Union and the Middle East. Through his various professional assignments, Sigurd has published a series of analysis covering a wide range of foreign affairs issues ranging from: European foreign policy, economic and budgetary issues, and European responses to the Iranian presidential election and the issue of proliferation. On a volunteer basis, Sigurd directs the diplomatic outreach program on behalf of Young Professionals in Foreign Policy (YPFP). In 2004, Sigurd served as a political officer at the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Manila, Philippines. Sigurd is fluent in several languages including: French, German, Hebrew, Norwegian and Danish. Sigurd holds M.A. in Modern Jewish history, a B.A. in Political Science and B.A. in French Literature from Yeshiva University in New York. Sigurd’s research focuses on the transatlantic market and multilateral organizations such as the European Union, NATO, IAEA and OECD.



Neil Bhatiya started as a research fellow for the Streit Council in August 2007. He currently is studying for his MA in History at The George Washington University. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in History at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY. While there, he interned at the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, a non-profit organization which endeavors to use the example of the Roosevelts to impact current public policy thinking. His research interests include American foreign policy and military history, especially the Second World War and early Cold War eras.

Innokenty (Kes) Grekov joined the Streit Council in April 2008. He has recently completed his graduate studies at Arizona State University. He is currently working at Human Rights First in New York, where he is looking at the OSCE cooperation in combating racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and xenophobia. Kes has also worked as a research assistant at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, analyzing the role of Islam in the Ciscaucasian resistance to the Russian Imperial Rule. His research interests include NATO, EU expansion, and human rights advocacy. Kes is a native of the Russian Federation.


Former Fellows

Emiliano Alessandri has been interested in enhancing the transatlantic relationship since he first approached the study of international politics at the University of Bologna in Italy, almost ten years ago. Emiliano is currently pursuing a doctorate on the intellectual origins of Atlanticism at the University of Cambridge in the UK and joined the Streit Council in June 2007. Emiliano earned a Master's Degree in American Foreign Policy at the Paul H. Nitze School, Johns Hopkins University (SAIS) in Washington DC, where he focused on the economic dimension of the transatlantic relationship and on the transformation of NATO after the end of the Cold War. His most recent contribution to transatlantic affairs is a dossier prepared for the Italian Senate on the NATO Riga Summit of November 2006.

Riccardo Monaco joined the Streit Council in January 2007. He obtained a Law degree at the University of Rome “La Sapienza,” with a specialization in European Union. In Italy, from 2002 to 2004, he collaborated with the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) and the Archivio Disarmo, leading extensive research on European law and armaments procurement; integration of European industrial/ technological base and defense markets; proliferation of small arms and light weapons (SALW); NATO and American defense & security policy. Riccardo obtained a Master’s degree at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, completing his dissertation on terrorism and the features of a successful counter-terrorism model. Before joining the Streit Council, he worked in the Legal Department of the European Ombudsman in Strasbourg, France.

Serban Popescu joined the Streit Council in January 2007. He is currently a PhD candidate in Philosophy at Central European University, Budapest, Hungary. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from the University of Bucharest and holds a Master’s degree in Philosophy from the University of Bucharest and a Master’s degree in Nationalism Studies from Central European University. Prior to joining the Streit Council, he interned at the Center for Future Security Strategies, Hudson Institute and published a brief EU pre-accession report on Romanian immigration on the website of the Center for European Policy Analysis. His interests include NATO reform, transatlantic security cooperation and American foreign policy.

Maggie Hummel joined the Streit Council in January 2007. She received her Bachelor’s degrees at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in Government and Spanish in May 2005. During her tenure as an undergraduate, she studied in Madrid, Spain, where she gained extensive knowledge and strong interest in Spanish politics in the context of the European Union and transatlantic relations. She is currently a first-year Master’s student in Latin American Studies at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. Concentrating in inter-American relations, she hopes to gain greater understanding of the relationship and roles of experienced democracies in promoting democratization and liberalization in developing countries.

Jason Rubin joined the Streit Council in January 2007. He is currently working on his Master’s degree in International Affairs, with a focus on Europe and Eurasia, at The George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs. He received his undergraduate degree in Sociology with a minor in Italian from the University of California at Los Angeles. He has worked in the private sector and in 2004 was an intern in the regional security office at the U.S. Embassy in Rome, Italy. He has also worked as a research assistant at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC, researching the link between economic aid and trade policy in reducing global poverty. His research interests include European Union integration and the role of intergovernmental institutions in global governance.

Nueteki Akuetteh joined the Streit Council in March of 2006. She received her Bachelor’s degree in History with a minor in French from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. While at JMU, she worked as the assistant to the study abroad program coordinator to France and Switzerland and traveled extensively throughout Europe. It was during her stint in Europe that she became deeply interested in transatlantic relations.
Currently she is continuing her academic career as a second year Master’s candidate at the Center for European Studies at New York University. While at NYU, she worked with the executive director of the Center for Law and Security as a research assistant. Her research focuses on transatlantic security cooperation with a concentration on European security governance. Her research interests include the struggle against terrorism in the context of EU-US relations and French experience with terror as it pertains to European security policy.

Todd Linton joined the Streit Council as a research fellow in June 2006. He is currently completing his Master’s degree in West European Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington. He received his undergraduate degree in History with a minor in French from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has worked as a graduate assistant at Indiana University’s West European Studies National Resource Center, and in 2005, he was an intern in the economic section of the U.S. Embassy in Paris, where he researched the French telecommunications and nuclear energy industries. In the fall, he plans to return to France to work as an English teaching assistant. His interests include U.S.-French bilateral relations, NATO, and American foreign and security policy.

Jolita Zabarauskaite joined the Streit Council in Fall 2005. She is from Lithuania and obtained her Bachelor's Degree in Law from the Concordia International University of Estonia in Tallinn. During that time she also was an Erasmus Exchange student at the University of Helsinki, Finland. She received her LL.M degree from the University of Cambridge, UK as a Chevening Scholar, and her LL.M in International Organizations from the Washington College of Law, American University, Washington DC, as a Fulbright Scholar. At present she is continuing her academic training as part of her graduate studies program. Jolita had worked as Chief Inspector at the International Relations Division at the Customs Department of Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania in 2004. During her LL.M program in DC she became a Peace Fellow at the Public International Law and Policy Group, where she worked on drafting the Kosovo Constitution, preparing legal memoranda on different aspects of international law. She also has interned with Human Rights First at its Washington, DC office. Her main focus is on terrorism and how it relates to other aspects of international law and politics. As a fellow at the Streit Council she is working on a paper on Transatlantic Homeland Security. She is also currently working on her Ph.D. proposal.

Dario Zuddu was born in Genoa, Italy. He joined the Streit Council in 2005. He obtained his first degree in law from the University of Genoa in 2001 and his Master's degree in International Affairs from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of Johns Hopkins University in 2005. He gave up a career as a lawyer to pursue his real passion, the advancement of transatlantic relations. Before undertaking graduate studies, in 2002 he worked at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Italy, dealing with international judicial cooperation. He participated in the negotiation of US-Italy agreements on the transfer of convicted persons. At SAIS he concentrated on American foreign policy and international economics, with a dissertation on U.S. foreign policy toward Cuba and Vietnam. He has also worked as a researcher in US foreign policy at the National Security Archive of George Washington University. His field of expertise includes US-EU security cooperation, the war on terror, US policy on Latin America, and transatlantic trade.

Michal Safianik graduated from the College of Europe – Natolin Campus, Poland in 2005 with a Master of Arts in European Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies. Michal holds also a Master of Arts in European Cultural Studies from the Jagiellonian University, Poland (2003) and a Master in International Relations from Hogskolan Dalarna, Sweden (2003). He is a Visiting Scholar at the George Washington University, The Elliot School of International Affairs, The Institute for European, Russian and Euroasian Studies. He is a co-founder of the Belarus Working Group which implemented a ‘European Belarus’ project in 2004 and 2005. Michal is a Fellow at Warsaw based Center for International Relations, where he worked as a European Program Coordinator in 2005. He interned at the American University of Paris (2004) and at the Atlantic Council of the United States, Office of External Relations (2006). Volunteer at the Polish Humanitarian Organization. Michal speaks Polish, English and French.