Lindsay Rand is a postdoctoral fellow at the Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) and a research associate at CISSM. She completed her PhD in international security and economic policy at the UMD School of Public Policy in 2023. Her dissertation, titled “Schrodinger’s Technology is Here and Not: A Socio-Technical Evaluation of Quantum Sensing Implications for Nuclear Deterrence,” examined the social, technical, and strategic factors that shape perceptions of new technologies and their consequences for deterrence and strategic stability.
Prior to CISAC, Lindsay was a Stanton predoctoral fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Lindsay also has experience working as an adjunct research associate at the RAND Corporation, a research associate at the Center for Global Security Research at Lawrence Livermore National Lab, a NSF fellow on the DHS Science and Technology Directorate quantum technology task force, and a research intern at the Naval Research Laboratory. In her time at UMD, she was also the instructor of record for an undergraduate nuclear policy course and the Catherine Kelleher research fellow.
Her current research extends her dissertation work in two key areas. First, she is continuing to monitor the evolution of quantum technology R&D and is using this background to produce a primer for policymakers on the implications of quantum technology for international security. Second, she is applying her sociotechnical framework to explore how social, political, and technological changes have contributed to the cyclical reconception of “vulnerability” in nuclear strategy and policymaking.
Achieving nuclear security requires fundamental changes in international relationships, the reduction of risks associated with nuclear weapons programs, and new systems to manage and secure civilian nuclear materials and facilities.
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