Sara is a senior policy analyst at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation and the senior program coordinator for the Fissile Materials Working Group (FMWG), where she focuses on efforts to reduce the risk of nuclear terrorism. She has more than 14 years of experience in nuclear non-proliferation/security. Previously, she was executive director for the Center for International Trade and Security and the director for the master’s program in international policy at the University of Georgia. Sara has also held research positions at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the RAND Corporation, the European Union Institute for Security Studies in Paris, and the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. She holds a PhD in Political Science from University College, London, and is the author of Global Nuclear Order (Routledge: 2019) and Politics and the Bomb: The Role of Experts in the Creation of Cooperative Nuclear Non-Proliferation Agreements (Routledge: 2014).

I am most excited to work on projects that… are multidisciplinary, creative, international in scope, and focused on concrete solutions.

I am looking for partners that can help me… think creatively and differently about how to reduce nuclear risks.

A moment when I felt most inspired in my work was… when a roomful of high-school students asked me how they could pursue careers in the field.

Innovations in my field that I am most excited to work on… are those that bring a diverse set of skills, perspectives, and expertise to the nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear security fields.

Laura has spent the last 15 years making high-impact media and directing groundbreaking cultural campaigns, both as founding cultural and creative director of MoveOn.org and then as founder of the award-winning cultural strategy agency ART NOT WAR. She has written and directed more than 100 online videos and mini-docs in the past two years and has extensive experience in digital strategy, producing more than $1 billion of earned media for social justice campaigns. Laura currently serves as a creative consultant for Fenton Communications, as well as on the advisory boards of not-for-profit organizations including Campaign to Unload, The Climate Mobilization, The Hometown Project, Swayable, Adopt A Kitchen, and Deep State, a progressive training camp for artists and activists. She also founded the Ethical Engine, a new platform that seeks to nudge the public toward more progressive positions by targeted narrowcasting at scale, powered by personalized and emotionally aligned creative media.

Mareena Robinson Snowden is a Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Her research focuses on nuclear arms control sufficiency, nonproliferation, and modernization. Prior to joining Carnegie, she served as a National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Graduate Fellow in the Office of Major Modernization Programs. This office is responsible for the modernization of warhead systems and ensuring access to the strategic materials used in the US stockpile. In 2012, Mareena was awarded the NNSA Stockpile Stewardship Graduate Fellowship (SSGF), which supported her graduate work in the MIT Laboratory for Nuclear Security and Policy. As an SSGF fellow, she conducted verification research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, leading computational and experimental investigations into the feasibility of detecting radiation generated inside of open source warhead designs. In 2017, Mareena became the first black woman to earn a PhD in nuclear engineering from MIT. She also holds a BS in physics from Florida A&M University. Her story in STEM has been featured in MARVEL Comics, CNBC, BET, and other national television, radio, and print media.

I am most excited to work on projects that… are conscious of the realities of today, open to the possibilities of tomorrow, and inclusive of traditionally underrepresented voices in nuclear security.

I am looking for partners that can help me… develop questions that genuinely leverage the interdisciplinary nature of this field.

Innovations in my field that I am most excited to work on… are ones at the intersection of pop culture, technology, and policy.

Lovely manages the nuclear security portfolio at the Stimson Center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, DC. At Stimson, Lovely leads projects that bring governments, industry representatives, and civil society together to discuss how to better secure nuclear materials around the world. She also is the founder of Bombshelltoe, a creative hub linking artists, community organizers, and nuclear experts together to present nuclear policy in a compelling and impactful way to the greater public. Bombshelltoe was the first-prize winner of the US Department of State’s Innovation in Arms Control Challenge in 2013. Currently in development at Bombshelltoe is Ways of Knowing, a multimedia project in partnership with Navajo community members that showcases hope and resilience after decades of uranium mining in the US Southwest. Bombshelltoe recently completed the DC installation of The Color Curtain Project, an art book and culinary experience that examines the origins of the Non-Aligned Movement and the interplay between colonialism, racism, and nuclear weapons. Lovely’s policy research and creative work have been featured in Fast Company, SXSW, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, The Atlantic, Vice, PopTech, The New Republic, MoMA PS1, and Newseum, among others.

I am most excited to work on projects that… make people question the dominant narratives around nuclear weapons being unapproachable and unchanging.

I am looking for partners that can help me… achieve the golden mean in communicating nuclear risks: incorporating play and activating curiosity to get people hooked, while delivering hard-hitting information about challenges that exist today.

A moment when I felt most inspired in my work was… when I hear my non-expert collaborators talk about nuclear policy issues on their own terms to their peers. They may not explain it as an expert would, but it is just as passionate, and I daresay more meaningful.

Innovations in my field that I am most excited to work on… will require deep listening among all stakeholders involved. It’s not just about expressing opinions or conveying information, but also hearing from others what is missing, what isn’t working, and being humble enough to take ownership of it.