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About the Event:

Zach Zwald joins our Woodlands Chapter for a program on Russian president Vladimir Putin, the West’s response and deterrence, as well as the growing threat of Russia’s nuclear arsenal and what that means for the future of Europe’s security and beyond.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Zachary J. Zwald is on the faculty in the Department of Political Science at the University of Houston. He serves as director of the UH Center for International and Comparative Studies and director of UH’s degree minor in National Security Studies. Previously, Dr. Zwald was an Assistant Professor jointly appointed in the US Air War College and the USAF Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies, where he held a TS-SCI (CNWDI) clearance. In that capacity, he oversaw nuclear and deterrence curriculum at the Air University and directed a year-long group research seminar of MA students on nuclear weapons policy, technology and strategy. Dr. Zwald has published his research on nuclear deterrence policy preference formation, the malleability of risk propensity during multi-domain deterrence crises, judgment and decision-making during military technology innovation, and trust dynamics in human-machine teaming on the battlefield. He has presented his research to various U.S. government audiences, including USSTRATCOM, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, OSD Policy, J-5, Headquarters Air Force/A10, and the CIA. Zwald’s research has been funded by a grant from the US Department of Defense’s  Project on Advanced Systems and Concepts for Countering WMD (PASCC), a Junior Faculty Fellowship at MIT’s Security Studies Program, and a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Mershon Center at the Ohio State University. Dr. Zwald received his PhD in Political Science from UC Berkeley.