Clements Center Welcomes 2026–27 Academic and Resident Military Fellows

The Clements Center for National Security at The University of Texas at Austin has welcomed its 2026–27 class of academic and resident military fellows. The class includes five postdoctoral fellows, two predoctoral fellows, and four resident military fellows from the U.S. Army and the North Dakota Army National Guard. Three of the postdoctoral fellows and one predoctoral fellow are appointed through the America in the World Consortium.

Postdoctoral Fellows

Doron Feldman returns for a second year as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the America in the World Consortium. He completed his PhD at the School of Political Science, Government and International Affairs at Tel Aviv University under Prof. Azar Gat. His dissertation examined the soft power strategies of small, threatened states, with comparative case studies of Israel, Taiwan, Singapore, Estonia, and Finland. Read Feldman’s full profile.

Brian Leung is a Postdoctoral Fellow with the America in the World Consortium. His research examines the political economy of industrial policy, business influence on foreign policymaking, and geoeconomic competition, with a focus on U.S.–China relations. His current book project traces how China’s industrial policies fractured the American business coalition that had long anchored engagement in Washington. A second project examines the politics of rights-based economic restrictions. Read Leung’s full profile.

Tomer Nisimov is a Postdoctoral Fellow with the America in the World Consortium. He received his PhD in history from Princeton University, where he studied under Stephen Kotkin. His research examines the political, military, and ethnopolitical history of twentieth-century Eurasia, with particular attention to Northeast Asia, the Second World War, China’s Civil War, the Korean War, the Cold War, and the Sino-Soviet split. Read Nisimov’s full profile.

Kunal Singh is a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Clements Center. A political scientist specializing in nuclear weapons and international security, he earned his PhD from MIT’s Security Studies Program in the Department of Political Science. Before joining UT Austin, he was a Stanton Nuclear Security Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Read Singh’s full profile.

Wendy Wagner is a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Clements Center. A political scientist specializing in international security, conflict processes, and foreign intervention, she earned her PhD from the University of California San Diego. She also holds an M.A. in Government, Conflict Studies, and Counterterrorism from Reichman University in Israel. Read Wagner’s full profile.

Predoctoral Fellows

Mina Rigby-Thompson is a Predoctoral Fellow with the Clements Center. She is a PhD candidate in international history at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where her dissertation focuses on U.S. foreign policy responses and decision-making during the 1974 Cyprus Crisis. Her broader research interests include American foreign policy, postcolonial international relations, and the nature of inter-alliance conflict. Read Rigby-Thompson’s full profile.

Luke Schumacher is a nonresident Predoctoral Fellow with the America in the World Consortium. He is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Politics at the University of Virginia and a nonresident Hans J. Morgenthau Fellow at the University of Notre Dame. His research explores grand strategy and constitutional law, with an emphasis on U.S. foreign policy. Read Schumacher’s full profile.

Resident Military Fellows

Col. Sean Castilla began his assignment as a U.S. Army War College Fellow at The University of Texas in July 2026. A native of McAllen, Texas, he commissioned as an Armor officer in May 2006 through the ROTC program at St. Mary’s University. Before the fellowship, he served at U.S. Southern Command in Doral, Florida, as Chief of the J39 Division for Information Operations and as a planner in the J35 Future Operations Division. Read Castilla’s full profile.

Lt. Col. Timothy J. Martin, a native of Midland, Michigan, commissioned as a Field Artillery officer through Officer Candidate School in December 2005. After Officer Basic Course, he served as a platoon leader with 1-38 Field Artillery at Camp Casey, Korea, and later as a platoon leader and battery commander with 1-21 Field Artillery, 41st Field Artillery Brigade, at Fort Hood, Texas. Read Martin’s full profile.

Lt. Col. Ariel M. Schuetz, a native of Powder Springs, Georgia, commissioned through Tulane University ROTC in 2005. She served as a UH-60 Black Hawk pilot before becoming a Military Intelligence aviator in 2012. Her staff and leadership assignments include company executive officer, platoon leader, and assistant operations officer in the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade. Read Schuetz’s full profile.

Lt. Col. Waylon Tomac enlisted in the North Dakota Army National Guard in July 2002 with the 957th Multi-Role Bridge Company and commissioned as a Medical Service Corps officer in December 2005. He served as the North Dakota Medical Detachment’s occupational health manager and patient administration officer, as Deputy State Surgeon from 2009 to 2010, and with the 81st Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team as Nuclear Medicine Science Officer and, from 2017 to 2020, as deputy commander. Read Tomac’s full profile.