Katherine Kjellström Elgin is a Fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments and an expert in defense and foreign policy analysis, particularly regarding NATO and Russia. She earned her Ph.D. in Public Affairs (Security Studies) from Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs. Her research interests include U.S. and allied defense strategy, great power relations, alliance management, transatlantic relations, grand strategy, and national security decision-making processes. Her Ph.D. dissertation examined contemporary Russian grand strategy and in particular the U.S.-Russian and the Sino-Russian relationships. Regionally, Katherine follows European and Eurasian geopolitics and has an interest in Nordic - and especially Swedish - security issues. She has a deep interest in wargames and other simulations for educational, research, and planning purposes.

Katherine strives to bring rigorous research to the policy-making environment. Prior to joining CSBA, she served as a DAAD Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). She also worked for the Brookings Institution, consulted with the Long Term Strategy Group, conducted research as a visiting fellow at Stockholm’s Institute for Security and Development Policy, and served as an adviser for a fp21, a think tank which aims to improve the mechanisms of the U.S. foreign policy decision-making process.

At Princeton, Katherine served as the director of the Center for International Security Studies' Strategic Education Initiative. The Center for International Security Studies (CISS), directed by Professors Aaron L. Friedberg and G. John Ikenberry, provides a home for the study and debate of national and international security at Princeton University and supports a variety of educational, research, enrichment, and outreach activities with the intent of generating new knowledge on issues of fundamental importance and educating the next generation of strategic thinkers and decision makers. CISS's Strategic Education Initiative (SEI) is the focal point for Princeton students interested in learning more about international security.

She earned her A.B. in Politics cum laude from Princeton University in 2013.

Outside of her research, Katherine (who personally goes by "Kaki," pronounced like khaki pants) enjoys photography, tennis, the outdoors, traveling, and orchestral music. Katherine speaks Russian, French, and Swedish, and she grew up on a family farm in Virginia.

Katherine can be reached here.