A Focus on Security and Strategy

Holly Geffs
MAIR '21

As a graduate student at Johns Hopkins SAIS, Holly has been focused on building her expertise in Strategic, Strategy, and Statecraft and European and Eurasian studies. During her first year of study, she was granted the valuable opportunity to continue developing her skillset as a Strategic Studies Fellow, a new flagship merit scholarship program at the school, which she will pursue through her final year at the school. 

Before attending the school, Holly received her BA with Honors from Yale University, where she studied Global Affairs and International Security. She also worked as a Research Assistant for the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Europe Program. In this role, she co-authored analytical publications on transatlantic defense cooperation, Russian hybrid aggression, European/Eurasian regional security, and great power competition in the Arctic. This past summer, Holly interned in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, European and NATO Policy - a position she started in January.

During her second year of study Holly is excited to serve as Professors LTG (R.) David Barno and Dr. Nora Bensahel’s Research Assistant. In this role, she will support their renowned scholarship by analyzing U.S. military modernization, the future of war, and evolving international security challenges.
 
Outside of her professional and academic pursuits, Holly is personally passionate about intersectional feminism, trying to convince her friends of the importance of Arctic security, and cultivating her Dupont Circle dog walking empire.

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