Interdisciplinary and International by Design

Raghav Aggarwal is a junior triple-majoring in International Relations & Global Studies, Economics, and Asian Studies, with a specialization in international security. Throughout his time at UT, he has developed his interest in political and social interactions between China, India, and the United States, from historical and contemporary perspectives. As a TTL in GDIL, Raghav helped publish two intelligence briefings for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency about the Ukraine Refugee Crisis. Raghav is also an Undergraduate Fellow at the Clements Center for National Security. After graduation, he hopes to attend graduate school for security studies, later embarking on a career of furthering U.S. engagement in the Asia Pacific. In his free time, Raghav likes to practice his Hindi and Mandarin language skills, dance and sing to Bollywood music, or play too many video games.

Kevin Lentz is a dual master’s degree student at the LBJ School of Public Affairs studying Global Policy and Asian Studies. His current research interest is the role of US military alliances in cyberspace in the Indo-Pacific theatre. Prior to LBJ he lived in Sydney, Australia for two years working in restaurants and pursuing the study of Political Economy at the University of Sydney.

Ryan Williams is a PhD student at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. He is passionate about research that develops understanding at the intersection of emerging technology and global policy. Ryan researches how information disorders affect global policy. Ryan received his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Russian from Texas A&M University. In 2018 Ryan was awarded an MA in Global Policy Studies from the LBJ School of Public Affairs and an MA in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies. While at UT, Ryan specialized in emerging technology policy. He contributed to research as a graduate research fellow with Innovations for Peace and Development and as a Research Delegate to the Stanford US Russia Forum. Ryan also helped launch the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies digital humanities lab, the Fusion Room. After completing his MA program, Ryan joined New Knowledge as a Computational Disinformation Analyst and Data Science Team Lead. While at New Knowledge, he conducted information operations investigations and developed tools and procedures for studying narratives and affinity groups online.

Cullan is a dual-degree master’s student with the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies. He is interested in digital nationalism and the ways that new media shapes public historical memory.

Erica joined GDIL in Spring 2022 and is a senior at The University of Texas at Austin pursuing a B.A. in Psychology and Security Studies. She also works as a research assistant in the Anxiety and Health Behaviors lab. Additionally, Erica is conducting a departmental honors thesis exploring the affective and cognitive impact of uncertainty language in Russian disinformation.