Erik Sand

 

AWC Predoctoral Fellow

Biography

Erik Sand is an America in the World Predoctoral Fellow at the Kissinger Center and a PhD candidate in the Security Studies Program at MIT. His dissertation discusses why countries choose to transfer advanced military technology to other countries. Prior to beginning his current studies, Erik spent eight years on active duty with the U.S. Navy. During that time, he served aboard a Japan-based destroyer, as a nuclear propulsion officer on an aircraft carrier, an Admiral’s aide, and on the staff  of the  Deputy Under Secretary of the Navy (Policy). He remains a Reserve officer and has led a Naval War College wargame, a riverine boat platoon, and detachment of Sailors deployed to an expeditionary fast transport in the Mediterranean Sea. He is a Harry S. Truman Scholar and holds an A.B. in History from Harvard University, and a Masters of Engineering Management from Old Dominion University. Erik’s work has been published in the Texas National Security Review, the Washington Post, and the Proceedings of the U.S. Naval Institute. His broader research interests include great power dynamics including grand strategy, escalation, and limited war; maritime issues; bureaucratic politics; and naval readiness.