2025 Workshop Speaker Bios

Dr. Aaron Bateman is an assistant professor of history and international affairs at George Washington University. He is the author of Weapons in Space: Technology, Politics, and the Rise and Fall of the Strategic Defense Initiative (MIT Press, 2024). He has published extensively on space security during and after the Cold War. His academic research and policy commentary have been published in the Journal of Strategic Studies, Diplomacy and Statecraft, Intelligence and National Security, Foreign Affairs, and Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (among others). He received his PhD in history of science from Johns Hopkins University. Previously he served as a U.S. Air Force intelligence officer.

Dr. Svetla Ben-Itzhak is an Assistant Professor of Space Seminar and International Relations at Air University with the West Space Seminar, Air War College. She has developed and taught classes on space security, international security, global security threats, US politics, and applied linguistics, among others. One of her current research interests is studying current and past power configurations in space politics in order to project their long-term effects on international relations on the ground as well as their future developments in space. Within this general theme, she is building a quantitative database on space power capabilities. She is also completing a book on Space Security (contracted with the MIT Press).

Dr. Magdalena Bogacz is an Assistant Professor of Military and Security Studies, a Course Director for Theory and Philosophy of War, and Ethics Focus Area Director at the United States Space Force Schriever Space Scholars Program within the Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies, in Washington, D.C. She teaches courses on War Theory, Modern Warfighting, and Leadership in the Space Domain. Previously, she worked as a Course Director and an Assistant Professor of Leadership at Ethics at Air University, Maxwell AFB. Dr. Bogacz received her doctorate in global executive education/international studies from University of Southern California (2021) and her master’s in philosophy from KU Leuven in Belgium. (2017). Her multidisciplinary research explores philosophical topics in relation to war and peace, such as just war tradition, professional ethics, and norms formation in space, as well as teaching and learning methodologies within professional military education with a specific focus on the relationship between higher education, innovation, and national security, organizational leadership, ethics education, and women, peace & security. Her most recent research project discusses just war debate between traditionalists and revisionists and its application to laws and norms of space warfare.

Dr. Mariel Borowitz is an Associate Professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology and head of the Nunn School Program on International Affairs, Science, and Technology. Her research deals with international space policy issues, focusing particularly on global developments related to remote sensing satellites and challenges to space security and sustainability. Her book, “Open Space: The Global Effort for Open Access to Environmental Satellite Data," published by MIT Press, examines trends in the development of data sharing policies governing Earth observing satellites, as well as interactions with the growing commercial remote sensing sector. Her work has been published in Science, Strategic Studies Quarterly, Space Policy, Astropolitics, and New Space. Her research has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Dr. Borowitz is also currently detailed to the U.S. Office of Space Commerce in a half-time capacity as the Director of International Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Engagement. In this role, she focuses on the development and implementation of an approach to international coordination on space situational awareness and space traffic coordination. She also works directly with the team developing the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS), which will provide space safety services to civil and commercial users around the world. Dr. Borowitz previously completed a detail as a policy analyst for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC from 2016 to 2018. In 2022, she testified to the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics in a hearing titled, "Space Situational Awareness: Guiding the Transition to a Civil Capability." Dr. Borowitz earned a PhD in Public Policy at the University of Maryland and a Masters degree in International Science and Technology Policy from the George Washington University. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. Namrata Goswami is an author and educator specializing in space policy, international relations, and ethnic identity. Currently, Dr. Goswami teaches at the USSF-Schriever and West Space Scholar Programs, at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. In April 2019, Dr. Goswami testified before the U.S-China Economic and Security Review Commission on China’s space program. Her co-authored book, Scramble for the Skies: The Great Power Competition to Control the Resources of Outer Space was published in 2020 by Lexington Press; Rowman, and Littlefield. She was invited in November 2019 to share her research into space policy at a Tedx event held at the Rosa Parks Museum, in Montgomery, Alabama.

Dr. Ron Gurantz is an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, where he teaches in the U.S. Space Force's West Space Scholars program. He has taught in professional military education for over 8 years and has previously held positions at Army War College and Air War College. His areas of specialization include air & space power, deterrence, crisis decision-making, and the causes of war. He has published articles in The Journal of Politics, Security Studies, The Washington Quarterly, and other academic journals. He received his PhD in Political Science from UCLA and his BA in Political Economy from UC Berkeley.

Michelle Hanlon, a space lawyer, is the Executive Director of the Air and Space Law Program at the University of Mississippi.  She is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Space Law and the Journal of Drone Law and Policy.  Michelle is a Co-Founder, President and CEO of For All Moonkind, Inc., a nonprofit corporation that is the only organization in the world focused on safeguarding cultural heritage in outer space.  She was instrumental in the development and adoption of the One Small Step Act in the United States.  For All Moonkind has been recognized by the United Nations as a Permanent Observer to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and recently launched its Institute on Space Law and Ethics. Michelle is also a founding partner of ABH Space Law and an Advisor at the Beyond Earth Institute and The Hague Institute for Global Justice Off-World Project.

Col Kirk Johnson, US Space Force, is Commandant of Detachment 3, Space Delta 13, in Washington, DC. Embedded in the campus of Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, Detachment 3 is the home for Space Force officer Professional Military Education. The 20 faculty and staff members of Detachment 3 teach and support up to 85 students in the Schriever Space Scholars and West Space Scholars programs, providing Intermediate- and Senior-Level Education, respectively. Col Johnson graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, Massachusetts, earned his commission through the Reserve Officer Training Corps in 2000, and holds graduate degrees from the Air Force Institute of Technology and Texas A&M University. He served as a Minuteman III combat crew commander and instructor, a developmental engineer in the fields of scientific and technical intelligence and ballistic missile defense, and an educator with research specialties in astrodynamics, satellite formation flying, rendezvous and proximity operations, and cislunar space architectures. He has deployed to Baghdad, Iraq, as a Foreign Military Sales case officer in the Office of Security Cooperation - Iraq, and to Kabul, Afghanistan, on the staff of the Combined Security Transition Command – Afghanistan.

Dr. John Klein , callsign “Patsy,” is a subject matter expert on space strategy and also instructs space policy and strategy courses at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctorate levels at several universities in the Washington, DC area. He routinely writes on space strategy, deterrence, and the Law of Armed Conflict. He is the author of the books Understanding Space Strategy: The Art of War in Space (2019), Fight for the Final Frontier: Irregular Warfare in Space (2023), and Space Warfare: Strategy, Principles and Policy (2006 and 2024), along with a score of other book chapters and articles.

Dr. Gregory Miller is Dean of Space Education for the United States Space Force and Professor of Military and Security Studies at Air University. His research interests cover a broad range of topics in the areas of international relations theory and international security (especially reputation, deterrence, and military alliances), terrorism and political violence, strategy formulation and evaluation, and the application of international relations and political violence concepts to spacepower theory.  Hist latest book, Sun Tzu in Space: What International Relations, History, and Science Fiction Teach us about our Future, was released by Naval Institute Press in March 2023.  His writings appear in more than a dozen journals, including recent space-related articles in Astropolitics, Space Policy, The Space Review, and Air and Space Power Journal.

Dr. Teasel Muir-Harmony

Dr. Sterling Michael Pavelec is Professor in the Department of Spacepower at the Air Command and Staff College. He has extensive teaching experience within JPME, including Naval War College, the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies (SAASS), and the Joint Advanced Warfighting School (NDU). He earned his Ph.D. at The Ohio State University in 2004, and teaches the Airpower I, II, and War Theory core courses. He also offers electives on World War I in the Air and The Evolution of Airpower Technology and Theory. A prolific researcher and writer, he has five books in print and another under contract. His most recent book is Airpower Over Gallipoli, 1915-1916 (Naval Institute Press, 2020), in addition to journal articles and book chapters on airpower history and theory, space, and cyber. He can be seen on National Geographic’s TV show Nazi Megastructures and the Science Channel’s What on Earth?

Dr. Saadia Pekkanen is the Job and Gertrud Tamaki Endowed Professor of International Studies, Adjunct Professor of Political Science, and Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Washington in Seattle. She is founding director of the Program on Strategy, Policy, and Diplomacy Research (SPDR) at The Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies and the Founding Director of the Space Law, Data, and Policy Program (SPACE LDP) at the School of Law.  She has published widely, and is most recently co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Space Security (2024). She earned Master’s degrees from Columbia University and Yale Law School, and a doctorate from Harvard University in political science. She is a member of the International Institute of Space Law (IISL) and a lifetime member of the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR).

Dr. Lawrence Rubin is a co-director of the GTDC Pathways to Policy Program and an associate professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology. He is an associate fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He has written and edited books and articles on Middle East politics, international security, and space policy. During the 2017-2018 AY, Rubin served as a senior advisor in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy through a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship. Prior to coming to Georgia Tech in 2010, Rubin was a Research Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs in Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and was lecturer in Arab politics at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies, Brandeis University. Rubin received his PhD in Political Science from UCLA (2009) and earned graduate degrees from University of Oxford, London School of Economics, and an undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley. Rubin is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and has served as a senior advisor on two congressionally mandated task forces.

Lt Col Doug Ruyle is an Instructor of USSF Intermediate Level Education in the Schriever Space Scholars program. He is also an Adjunct Lecturer for Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He was commissioned in 2006 with an Aerospace Engineering degree through the ROTC program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University into the U.S. Air Force and transferred to the Space Force in 2020. He has worked with the Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), Global Positioning System (GPS), and missile warning intelligence analysis. Lt Col Ruyle has a Master's of Science in Administration as well as Space Systems. He earned a doctorate in Space Systems from the Air Force Institute of Technology. His research topics focus on non-traditional space domain awareness.

Gabriel Swiney is the Director of the Office of Space Commerce’s Policy, Advocacy, and International Division. He comes to OSC from NASA, where he was a Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy. While at NASA, he worked on norms of behavior, legal policy, and the interagency authorization and supervision effort. Prior to NASA, Mr. Swiney was an Attorney-Adviser in the State Department’s legal bureau. He led the international space law portfolio at the State Department and the U.S. delegation to the COPUOS Legal Subcommittee. Mr. Swiney was one of the creators of the Artemis Accords and has participated in negotiating dozens of space cooperation arrangements. Before focusing on space issues, Mr. Swiney worked on the use of force, sanctions, and Africa legal issues at State. He holds law degrees from Harvard and Oxford, has taught space policy and law at Harvard Law School, and has published on various issues.

Dr. Samantha Taylor currently serves is an Assistant Professor of Military and Security Strategies for the United States Space Force Schriever Space Scholars and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at SAIS-Johns Hopkins University in Washington DC. She previously taught at the United States Army War College and the Naval War College. Dr. Taylor received her Ph.D. from the University of Southern Mississippi in military, diplomatic, national security, and cultural historian with a focus on World War II, the Cold War, and the post-Cold War period. She is completing her first manuscript on US national security policy making after the Cold War.

Dr. Brian Weeden is a systems director for the Center for Space Policy and Strategy at The Aerospace Corporation, where he leads the team that focuses on civil and commercial space policy and regulatory issues. A highly respected and connected professional with more than two decades of experience in space operations and space policy analysis, Weeden specializes in the integration and advancement of technical, policy, legal, security, commercial, and international aspects of space activities. Weeden is a former member and chair of the World Economic Forum’s Council on the Future of Space Technologies, a former member of the Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing (ACCRES) to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the former executive director of the Consortium for Execution of Rendezvous and Servicing Operations (CONFERS). Prior to joining Aerospace, Weeden was the chief program officer for Secure World Foundation, where he directed strategic planning for future-year projects to meet the Foundation’s goals and objectives and conducted research on space sustainability issues. Weeden also served nine years on active duty as an officer in the United States Air Force in space and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) operations. Weeden earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Clarkson University, a master’s degree in space studies from the University of North Dakota, and a doctorate in public policy and administration from The George Washington University in the field of science and technology policy.