Donna Lee | Cyber Policy and Security  

Gwacheon, Republic of Korea
Fun Facts: Published poet and a lover of wombats

When I was growing up, my grandfather told me stories about what it was like to be an evacuee who moved from the northern part of Korea to the south during the Korean War. His desire to live in a more democratic place changed not only his life, but also the lives of my mother and me. His experiences taught me how important democracy is, and why each citizen needs to do their part to support and protect it. My decision to work in public service comes directly from my desire to give back to the society that has given my family so much. 

Through my previous work as a diplomat in Korea, I’ve already had the opportunity to work on issues relating to human rights, culture diplomacy, Indo-Pacific strategy, and even Korea-U.S. defense cooperation. What I’ve seen is that emerging technologies are becoming core to all other aspects of international issues and policies. I want to do my best to help Korea set feasible, forward looking policies, and being here at Stanford is a rare opportunity to gain very hands-on, direct experience with these kinds of technological issues. Not only is the policy expertise here very rigorous because of how close everything is to Silicon Valley, but Stanford is also very interdisciplinary, which is an important aspect of understanding how all of these issues are connected to each other.  

With my prior experience, I am particularly interested in exploring further how AI is changing the global security landscape, and what these changes mean for the Korea-U.S. Alliance. When I worked in the Korea-U.S. Security Cooperation Division, I had the chance to learn from our military personnel about rapidly evolving defense technologies that we would not have been able to imagine even a decade ago, but are going to be a major part of future conflicts. I’m eager to take the quantitative skills and perspectives from experts that I learn here in the MIP program and apply those towards making it easier for Korea to be a stronger partner in developing, using, and coordinating with its ally and partners on these technologies and security areas.
 

Serena Nanji-Totani | Energy, Natural Resources, and the Environment  

Tokyo, Japan and Nairobi, Kenya
Fun Facts: Lifelong globetrotter and international mountaineer 

Growing up, I was fortunate to live in several countries across Asia, Africa, and Europe. Everywhere we moved, I noticed similar patterns of inequality, where some regions are bloated with resources while others struggled to meet basic needs. As extreme weather and concerns about global warming became more common, I became increasingly concerned about how a changing climate will further widen these disparities. These early experiences inspired me to focus on climate mitigation and social equality, driven by an urgent question: How do we solve the climate crisis without leaving the most vulnerable behind?

My career has combined business, climate mitigation, and social impact. I spent several years in management consulting, mainly working on projects with multilateral development banks and corporate social responsibility. After that, I moved into the carbon credits market, helping to finance carbon removal projects around the world, including both engineered and nature-based solutions. Most recently, I worked at Conservation International, an NGO, where I focused on nature financing. There, I helped fund and structure forestry projects globally to sequester carbon, improve ecosystem health and biodiversity, and most importantly, prioritize local communities through payments for ecosystem services and co-benefits.

Working in the nature financing space taught me that there is a way to align financial incentives to protect and restore nature, while also benefiting people. Throughout my career, I have often wondered how we can measure the value of ecosystems and the benefits they provide in a way that encourages private sector investment. How do we get companies, investors, and policymakers to care?

But I have also grown to learn that financial tools alone are not enough without strong governance. We need well-designed policies and regulations to attract investment in solutions that help both people and the climate. That is why I came to Stanford MIP. I want to deepen my understanding of international frameworks and policies for addressing climate change fairly and inclusively. I am also eager to explore how Stanford’s innovative, entrepreneurial spirit can be applied to nature-based solutions. I believe working with nature offers a path forward for adaptation, resilience, and climate change mitigation while supporting people’s livelihoods. Nature can be just as innovative and disruptive as other climate solutions and deserves more attention. I am incredibly excited to dive into these topics more alongside my talented peers in the program! 
 

Danny Vegel | Energy, Natural Resources, and the Environment  

Chagrin Falls, Ohio, U.S.A.
Fun Facts: Underwater photographer and aspiring cold-water surfer

I’m coming to MIP after nine years in the Navy as a nuclear submarine officer. Although I started my career as an engineer, I first developed an interest in international policy after receiving the opportunity to study international relations at Peking University and the London School of Economics. Being in China in particular sparked my interest in achieving a deeper understanding of international relations. From an outside perspective, it’s easy to talk about China as this monolithic competitor to the U.S., but to truly understand its role in global affairs, there is much to be appreciated about its complexities as a vast and dynamic country.

When my time in China came to an end, I left with a meaningful desire to better understand those complexities to inform policy. Moreover, during my last assignment before transitioning out of the Navy, I had the chance to work with many different governments in the East Asia region, and saw an even broader need and opportunity to work across governments to try and solve problems for the future.

When I ultimately was deciding what to do in my post-Navy career, MIP felt like the perfect place to work through that transition, build expertise, and create a new career exploring my interests in international policy. The emphasis this program has on implementation is also something that appealed to me. In the Navy, I learned that while it was always easy to come up with ideas, putting them into practice is much more difficult. With my background in nuclear engineering and international experience, I want to now learn how to implement energy policy that addresses growing energy needs in the face of climate change.

When you’re posted on a submarine, you’re privileged to work with and befriend some of the best and most driven sailors in the Navy. I already feel the same connection with this MIP cohort. Everyone here brings the strengths of their backgrounds together, and the size of the class makes it so you can really work with and learn from each other. In the next two years, I’m excited to get up to speed on international energy dynamics, embrace the policymaking framework, and get hands-on experience, so that wherever I land next, whether that’s in government or in the private sector, I'm able to work confidently and effectively to scale sustainable energy to meet global needs.
 

Mariana Rozo Paz | Cyber Policy and Security  

Bogotá, Colombia
Fun Facts: Budding musical theater actor and future Donna in Mamma Mia

I'm from Colombia. I was profoundly blessed to grow up in a very loving home, but in the broader country, there was a great deal of unrest and uncertainty. I was sixteen when there was a vote on a peace deal with the FARC armed group. I was not old enough to vote, but all of my classmates and peers were so invested and hopeful that it would be adopted. It was a shock when the agreement was rejected. That became the impetus for me to become a lawyer and work on issues around human rights and the rule of law.

It was while I was in law school that I started working with a professor who was researching the impact of algorithms. I became obsessed with understanding more about how these platforms are shaping our economies, politics, and society. During the peace negotiations, I had seen how misinformation and media had contributed to the outcome, so I understood the power data could have for division and confusion. What I want to do is unlock how we can use these capabilities to improve people’s lives and make the world more equitable and inclusive.

My family, and particularly my parents and grandparents, were always reaching out to help people. Even though they have lived through very difficult things, they have always been grounded in hope and optimism. I’m trying to bring their legacy and mindset into my work. It’s true that the world is very complex and that many of the systems we’ve had in global governance and regulation are not keeping pace with how quickly the world is changing. It’s true that much of the technology being developed right now could be extremely disruptive. But we can’t let ourselves be scared of it all or retreat from it. We have to reach out and open space for those hard conversations. We have to keep having hope and optimism like my grandparents taught me. 

As a dear mentor of mine used to say, citing Antoine de Saint Exupéry, “There is no greater mission for humans than uniting humans.” Technology and digital spaces have been dividing us. Now it’s time to find ways for digital technologies to bring us together. That’s going to require new regulations, new tools, new voices, new organizations, and a willingness from governments, companies, philanthropies, and societies to try new things together. I am convinced that we can find ways to responsibly unlock the value of these technologies in a way that benefits everyone. Having the opportunity to be a Stanford and meet people who care as deeply about these things as I do is an incredible gift I’m grateful to unwrap and use fully. 
 

Jonas Lindholm-Uzzi | Governance and Development  

Germantown, New York, U.S.A.
Fun Facts: Transatlantic sailor and devoted New York Jets fan

I grew up in a small town in upstate New York. By the time I was done with college and working my first job as a paralegal at the Department of Justice, I knew a couple of things:  I liked political science and political theory, and I definitely did not want to become a lawyer like I had initially thought. So I joined the Peace Corps to give myself some space to think and experience more of the world firsthand without filters.

I was deployed to Zambia to help lead a fish farming project in a rural village. It was a difficult but extremely eye opening two years. When my time in the Peace Corps was up, I applied for and was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to go and teach English in Timor Leste in Southeast Asia. In both Zambia and Timor, what stuck with me was how bound people’s lives were by the circumstances they were born into. There were talented, gifted people in every community I lived and worked in, but the systems were not set up to help them succeed or step beyond where they already are. Whether it’s from corruption, mismanagement, or inadequate funding, there’s a shocking dearth of functional and responsive institutions in the developing world that can or will serve its citizens well.

Addressing this lack of institutional development is complex and multifaceted, and it’s not going to look the same or follow the same playbook in every single circumstance. We need to be more precise and smarter in how we plan and implement. We need to build in more accountability and feedback. We need to be much more attentive to local culture and politics and listen to the people who actually live in these communities.

I’ve been fortunate to live and work with some of those people and to be part of their lives, hard as they are. But I also had the privilege of being able to leave and go back to a country where the systems work and institutions mean something, and I’m incredibly privileged to make the choices I want about the kind of life I would like to live. I don’t take that for granted. But I also don’t want the people I’ve met and the friends I’ve made abroad to feel apathetic about their futures. The more agency we can give people, the better.

Here at Stanford, there’s such a wealth of expertise in so many areas. There’s access to technological industries, there’s amazing things happening with robotics and engineering. Some of the best scholars are here, whether that’s in history or political science, or economics. All of that is transformative, and all of it has a part to play in shaping policy and practices. I’m excited to be here and soak as much of that up as I can.
 

A Front Line Frozen by Drones

Malik said the front line has barely moved in nearly five years. Drones have extended the “kill zone” to as much as 50 miles, and Ukraine is turning to unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) that commanders believe could replace up to 60% of frontline infantry. By his estimate, Ukraine needs about 500,000 a year and currently produces roughly 20,000. Each of Ukraine’s more than 100 combat brigades now has an unmanned battalion, he said, and those units account for about 80% of Russian casualties.

Cheaper Weapons, Changing Math

Cost is central to that shift. Malik said a Shahed-type attack drone costs between $50,000 and $150,000, while a fighter jet starts around $15 million and a Patriot missile can cost up to $4 million, which makes conventional air defense unsustainable against mass drone attacks. Ukraine answered with its own interceptor drones, he said, and builds a drone-missile hybrid called Flamingo at an unofficial cost of about $600,000, compared with $1.5 million or more for a Tomahawk. A high-intensity war, he argued, is won with cheap systems that can be made in large numbers, not with a few hundred advanced aircraft, and Ukraine’s private defense firms are finding new battlefield uses for the technology nearly every month.

The constraint, both speakers said, is money more than ingenuity. Ukraine spends about 40% of its GDP on defense, compared with roughly 10% in Russia, and 3.5% in the U.S. Vacroux urged Europe to disburse a promised €90 billion loan faster and to resolve the impasse over frozen Russian assets.

A War the World Is Watching

The speakers noted that Ukraine’s rivals are studying the war more closely than its partners. Malik said North Korea has supplied ballistic missiles and soldiers to Russia, and Vacroux said the country is bringing that experience home for a possible fight with South Korea. China, she said, is doing the same as it thinks about Taiwan. The Americans and Europeans, by contrast, are mostly not gaining firsthand experience, and cutting off Ukrainian partnerships cuts off the chance to learn without sending their own troops into that kind of war. Malik predicted that U.S. forces will soon face jet-powered Shaheds in the Middle East, and said neither the United States nor Europe has an affordable way to stop them at scale.

Pressure on Russia, and on Europe

Vacroux said sanctions and Ukrainian strikes on refineries are straining Russia’s economy, though economic pressure alone is “necessary but not sufficient” to end the war. She also described a rise in Russian sub-threshold attacks on Europe, including cyberattacks, arson and drone incursions, which she said test the credibility of NATO’s Article 5.

Peace Talks, Nuclear Threats, and the Will to Keep Fighting

When asked about negotiations, Malik was blunt. “Negotiations are one very big myth,” he said. Vacroux noted that some channels still produce prisoner exchanges. Both viewed Russian nuclear threats as deterrence more than intent. Vacroux said about three-quarters of Ukrainians want elections to wait until the war ends, and 62% say they will keep fighting “as long as it takes.” Malik expected another wave of residents to leave Kyiv this winter.

Vacroux closed by sharing her belief that Ukraine’s only dependable security guarantee is the one it builds itself. “It cannot rely on the United States. It cannot rely on companies like Starlink. It cannot rely on the Europeans.”

View a full recording of the conversation:

*This article was supported by research using Claude. All outputs were reviewed by humans, and the final expression was produced by the author.