Julia is a creative omnivore with a love for new ideas, experiential storytelling, strategy, emerging tech, and the intersectionality of it all. An ​Emmy and World Press Photo award-winning creative and content director, she has worked on everything from the world’s most innovative brands to creative startups and small shaman-led businesses changing the way we express, connect, work, and think today. ​

I am most excited to work on projects that… are playful yet thoughtful, immersive and innovative, beautifully filmed or well designed, and interdisciplinary and collaborative.

I am looking for partners who can help me… develop tech, find funds, connect to brands.

A moment when I felt most inspired in my work was… running a creative lab where I got to invent and develop new ideas with writers, designers, technologists, UX/ UI folks, and more. Like the time with Brian Chirls when we turned a “what if” into an AI tool. Or the time with Altimeter when we created a set of physical objects inspired by digital interfaces as a way to talk about the future of work. Or the time with Nathan Phillips when we crafted a short internet film about the pandemic, and the visual techniques of the film also inspired a virtual camera.

Innovations in my field that I am most excited to work on… involve applying creativity and storytelling to emerging technologies like AI, generative art, Web3, etc.

Brian is an active-duty Army lieutenant colonel and an associate professor at the United States Military Academy at West Point. His professional military experience includes various armor and cavalry command and staff positions from platoon to brigade levels and operational and combat deployments to Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Brian previously served as director of West Point’s Center for Innovation and Engineering, where he coordinated and funded multidisciplinary project-based design education and research efforts for various Army, Department of Defense, and civilian sponsors. Brian holds a PhD in engineering education and is a licensed professional engineer in the Commonwealth of Virginia. He holds leadership positions within the American Society for Engineering Education and is a frequent reviewer for multiple academic journals.

I am most excited to work on projects that… expand my thinking by connecting knowledge in unique ways.

I am looking for partners who can help me… think differently.

A moment when I felt most inspired in my work was… seeing West Point cadets and RISD students connect in powerful ways.

Innovations in my field that I am most excited to work on… include new ways of imagining leadership in creative, complex, and interdependent design settings.

Lyndon is N Square’s inaugural network weaver in residence. He is also a visiting research associate at King’s College London, a Web3 advisor to the Vatican’s New Technologies for Peace working group, and cofounder of PATH Collective, a mission-driven startup aimed at advancing the objectives of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons by combining the power of contemporary art and storytelling with the financial sovereignty of Web3. Previously, Lyndon was civil society advisor to the New Zealand delegation at the 2015 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. He received the McElvany Nonproliferation Prize from the James Martin Center for his essay on a user-pays model for international nuclear risk reduction.

Simone is a program manager and research associate with the Project on Nuclear Issues (PONI) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where she manages the PONI Nuclear Scholars Initiative, the program budget, and ad hoc events. Her interests include nuclear weapons security policy and strategy, budgetary implications, and the role of the public in nuclear policy. Her goal is to advance diversity in the field for herself and others like her with the intention of making decision-making rooms more diverse and representative. Previously, Simone worked with the Smart Women, Smart Power Initiative at CSIS, where she coordinated the planning and execution for the first Future Strategy Forum, a conference on national security issues featuring all women panels. Before moving to DC, she worked as project manager for a healthcare communication company in Chicago. She holds a BA in psychology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an MA in international affairs from American University.

I am most excited to work on projects that… will help create change and make it a little bit easier for the next individual looking to pursue a career in nuclear security studies. 

I am looking for partners who can help me… think outside the box. 

A moment when I felt most inspired in my work was… when my voice is heard.

Cecili is executive director of Beyond the Bomb, leading a team of kickass campaigners and activists to mobilize against the threat of nuclear war and weapons. She has nearly two decades of experience leading mission-driven campaigns with organizations including Amnesty International USA, RESULTS Educational Fund, and the National Partnership for Women & Families. Most recently she founded and served as chief strategist for We Divine Water, a consulting group helping smart and passionate changemakers build strategic and effective campaigns. A strong believer in continually building power and capacity, Cecili has trained thousands of campaigners on how to maximize their impact within their organizations and in the world at large. She also serves as a faculty member at the Center for Social Design at the Maryland Institute College of Arts, where she teaches a graduate seminar on campaign strategy.

I am most excited to work on projects that… are unapologetically visionary and experimental.

I am looking for partners who can help me… be smarter, more effective, and more creative—to see things from new perspectives.

A moment when I felt most inspired in my work was… speaking to the virtual audience at the Hiroshima and Nagasaki 75th anniversary event. It was incredible to participate in that event and get to engage with so many activists.

Innovations in my field that I am most excited to work on… include getting better at crowdsourcing solutions to our most pressing problems (both internal to the field and external in terms of our work). I’m also eager to identify the challenges in our culture that hold us back from maximizing our results.

As a senior project lead at CRDF Global, Timothy helps international partners build their capacity to implement UN Security Council resolutions on North Korea’s WMD program. Since starting in the field with an internship at the Arms Control Association in 2005, Timothy has tried to do his part to lessen nuclear risks in a variety of roles in academia, government, advocacy groups, think tanks, and political campaigns. His research interests include arms control, nuclear testing, verification, and North Korea. Timothy hosts the Super Critical Podcast, which explores the portrayal of nuclear weapons in popular culture and serves as an outlet for experts to discuss how film and other media can help the public better understand nuclear dangers and advance a sane nuclear weapons policy. Timothy holds an MA in security studies from Georgetown and a BA in international relations and history from the University of Redlands. His MA thesis explored how verification requirements constrained and inspired arms control negotiators.

I am most excited to work on projects that… engage experts, the broader public, and people much smarter than me on how to harness popular culture to advance a sane nuclear policy.

I am looking for partners who can help me… show that nuclear war is not just the plot of old movies but a reality we are living today and need to urgently do something about before it is too late.

A moment when I felt most inspired in my work was… debating the merits of nuclear testing treaties with voters in Iowa and seeing that foreign policy mattered when the message connected well to their daily lives.

Innovations in my field that I am most excited to work on… include how a culture of greater diversity and opportunities for young professionals bring fresh perspective to a field that desperately needs it.