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Elly Rostoum

Elly Rostoum

Administrative Director, Alperovitch Institute

Adjunct Lecturer

About

Elly Rostoum is the Administrative Director of the Alperovitch Institute for Cybersecurity Studies, and an Adjunct Lecturer at Johns Hopkins SAIS. She was formerly the Associate Director of the SAIS China Global Research Center. Elly is a former U.S. intelligence analyst, and National Security Council staffer at the White House. She is a Hans J. Morgenthau Fellow in U.S. Grand Strategy.

Elly’s research examines American national security vulnerabilities of foreign direct investment, with a focus on foundational and emerging technologies in the AI, finance, biotech, and IoT sectors. Elly is an expert on CFIUS governance, and she specializes regionally on China and the Middle East. Methodologically, Elly specializes in forecasting, scenario planning, commodity modeling, and crisis simulation gaming. She has conducted field research (and lived for many years) throughout Europe and the Middle East. Elly speaks five languages, and 22 dialects.

Prior to academia and public service, Elly began her career in management consulting and advisory research, forecasting oil prices and consulting for C-suite executives in the energy sector. She has published extensively on topics covering the intersection of energy, geopolitics, and policy, including above-ground risk management, global investment trends analysis, energy R&D spending, and the electrification of the global drivetrain. Elly previously served as a member of the MIT Climate Change Conversation Committee, and she has led a pioneering U.S. State Department funded public diplomacy experiential program between American and Arab elected officials in the Middle East and North Africa.

As a graduate student, Elly was a White House Intern with the Office of Science and Technology Policy, assisting on issues ranging from the cybersecurity National Action Plan, climate change as a national security issue, precision medicine, and diversity inclusion in STEM fields. She has also worked with the office of the White House Chief Technology Officer on a joint White House-Silicon Valley Artificial Intelligence initiative. Elly has also been awarded the Central Intelligence Agency’s graduate fellowship in energy markets, and she was formerly a fellow with the U.S. Department of Energy, covering electric systems and grid flexibility issues.

Elly holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Bates College, a Master’s degree in Liberal Arts in Government from Harvard University, a Certificate in Decision Analysis and Risk Management from Stanford University, and she is currently finishing her PhD in Global Governance and Human Security from the University of Massachusetts.
Spring 2015 
Spring 2015 

Expertise

Regions

  • China
  • Middle East

Topics

  • CFIUS
  • Economic Statecraft
  • U.S. Grand Strategy
  • Emerging & Foundational technologies
  • US National Security
  • Foreign Direct Investment
  • Intelligence
  • Gaming
  • Scenario planning
  • Energy & Environmental Security

Languages

  • Arabic
  • French