Our Scholars
AEI scholars are committed to making the intellectual, moral, and practical case for expanding freedom, increasing individual opportunity, and strengthening the free enterprise system in America and around the world. Our work explores ideas that further these goals, and AEI scholars take part in this pursuit with academic freedom. AEI operates independently of any political party and has no institutional positions. Our scholars’ conclusions are fueled by rigorous, data-driven research and broad-ranging evidence.
Find a scholar by policy area:
Senior Fellow
Leon Aron
Research Areas
- Russian domestic politics
- Russian foreign policy
- US-Russian relations
- Post-Soviet evolution: social
- cultural
- and economic aspects
Nonresident Senior Fellow
Michael Beckley
Research Areas
- US-China relations
- US-China competition
- American grand strategy
- US defense policy
- US alliances
- US-Asia relations
- China
Jeane Kirkpatrick Visiting Research Fellow
Jason Blessing
Research Areas
- Cybersecurity
- Military technological transformation
- US cyber defense policy
- NATO Transatlantic relations
Senior Fellow
Hal Brands
Research Areas
- US defense strategy and policy
- US grand strategy
- US foreign policy
Senior Fellow
Elisabeth Braw
Research Areas
- Hybrid and gray-zone threats
- Non-kinetic threats
- Nordic/Baltic countries
- Germany
- United Kingdom
Senior Fellow
Zack Cooper
Research Areas
- US defense strategy in Asia
- US alliances and partnerships in Asia
- US-China strategic competition
- Chinese economic statecraft and coercion
Senior Fellow
Sadanand Dhume
Research Areas
- India and Pakistan
- South Asian political economy
- South Asian business
- South Asian security
- Radical Islam in South and Southeast Asia
Senior Fellow
Giselle Donnelly
Research Areas
- National security
- Military strategy
- operations
- and programs
- Defense budgets
- American strategic culture
Nonresident Senior Fellow
Colin Dueck
Research Areas
- Political influences on US national security strategies
Senior Fellow
Mackenzie Eaglen
Research Areas
- Defense strategy
- Defense budgets
- Military readiness
- US military
Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy
Nicholas Eberstadt
Research Areas
- Demographics
- Economic development policy
- Poverty
- The unemployed
- International security in Asia
- North and South Korea
- Global health
- Foreign aid
Nonresident Senior Fellow
John G. Ferrari
Research Areas
- Defense budget
- US military
- Data analytics and defense
- Defense reform and acquisition
- Security force assistance programs
Nonresident Senior Fellow
Aaron Friedberg
Research Areas
- China
- US-China relations
- Great-power competition
- US foreign and defense policy
Nonresident Senior Fellow
William C. Greenwalt
Research Areas
- Defense industrial base
- Defense management issues
- Defense acquisition & procurement reform
- Export control reform
- Defense technology policy & innovation
Jeane Kirkpatrick Visiting Fellow
Sheena Chestnut Greitens
Research Areas
- China and East Asia
- Indo-Pacific security
- Authoritarianism & democracy in Asia
Senior Fellow and Director of the Critical Threats Project
Frederick W. Kagan
Research Areas
- Defense and national security issues
- American military
- Afghanistan
- Iraq
Nonresident Senior Fellow
Klon Kitchen
Research Areas
- National security and defense technology
- Defense innovation
- Cybersecurity
- Artificial intelligence
- Quantum sciences
- Robotics
Senior Fellow
Paul Lettow
Research Areas
- US grand strategy
- US foreign policy
- US-China strategic competition
Nonresident Senior Fellow
Oriana Skylar Mastro
Research Areas
- China
- Asia-Pacific
- Military operations and strategy in the Asia-Pacific
Nonresident Fellow
John D. Maurer
Research Areas
- Arms control
- Nuclear weapons
- National security process
- US diplomatic history
- US Grand strategy
Nonresident Fellow
Michael Mazza
Research Areas
- US defense policy in Asia-Pacific
- Chinese military modernization
- Cross–Taiwan Strait relations
- Korean Peninsula security
- US interests in Southeast Asia
Senior Fellow
Elaine McCusker
Research Areas
- Defense strategy
- Defense budget
- US military
- Defense innovation
- National security
Jeane Kirkpatrick Visiting Fellow
Chris Miller
Research Areas
- Russia
- Russia and Ukraine
- Russian-European relations
- Eurasia
- Geopolitics of technology
- Semiconductors