Jackson graduate student Alexander Nassikas has been named to the 2019-2020 class of Climate and Security Advisory Group (CSAG) Fellows. He is one of 21 fellows selected for the program.

The CSAG Climate and Security Fellowship program is the first professional organization for emerging leaders seeking meaningful careers at the intersection of climate change and security. The program connects established climate security experts with prospective future leaders through a year-long mentorship program. CSAG Climate Security Fellows gain experience through research and writing, field trips and outings, and networking with experts and practitioners. 

CSAG is a voluntary, non-partisan group of U.S.-based military, national security, homeland security, intelligence and foreign policy experts from a broad range of institutions, focused on developing policies for addressing the security implications of climate change. The CSAG is chaired by the Center for Climate and Security in partnership with the George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs.

Nassikas, a second-year MA student at Jackson, graduated from Wesleyan University in 2014 with a degree in neuroscience and immediately went to work for the Woods Hole Research Center, a climate change think tank in Massachusetts. As a research assistant to Dr. Richard Houghton, he investigated the impact of deforestation and agriculture on the global carbon cycle and co-authored several peer-reviewed publications quantifying the role forests can play in stabilizing atmospheric carbon dioxide and global climate change. In his most recent role as communications coordinator for the same think tank, he helped to prepare his executive director for a testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology for a hearing on climate change. In the summer of 2018, he traveled to the Peruvian Amazon to support a climate and forest-monitoring workshop designed to deliver the latest science into the hands of Amazonian land managers. At Yale, he is focused on the study and design of effective climate policy.