Nitsan Shakked holds a BSc in Earth Sciences from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an MSc in Environmental Engineering from Tübingen University in Germany. She has worked at the Israeli Ministry of Energy and Water Resources and as a consultant in various geo-engineering projects internationally, collaborating with the Dead Sea Conservation Company, the Israeli Ministry of the Environment, and USAID. Before Yale, Nitsan directed an EU-funded project that developed a small-scale inland desalination technology running solely on renewable energy. The plant grants access to safe drinking water in off-grid remote locations in small islands and developing countries. Nitsan was raised in Israel and is a first-generation immigrant from Iranian Kurdistan and Morocco. She speaks Hebrew and German, and is a translator of Arabic and Yiddish prose and poetry. Nitsan was a civil society activist in Israel/Palestine. In addition, she has researched clandestine immigration following the Arab Spring in Lampedusa, Italy, and forced migration resulting from the Syrian civil war. At Jackson, Nitsan focused on the intersection between security and the environment. She is interested in applying her scientific knowledge to the creation of sound environmental policy, thus negotiating between cutting-edge scientific innovation, international development, and human security.