Areas of Expertise: arms control and nonproliferation, emerging and evolving weapons and dual-use technologies, the defense trade, transatlantic relations, negotiation under uncertainty, and nuclear security.
Dr. Nelson was previously Robert Bosch Foundation Fellow in residence at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) in Berlin, Germany. Her work there explored the current state of German and European military and dual-use innovation and prospects for transatlantic competition and regulatory cooperation in this area. She was also a Research Associate at the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland, a Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and a policy analyst in the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Directorate of Defense Trade Controls in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Nelson held pre-doctoral fellowships at the Stimson Center and SIPRI North America, and conducted dissertation research as a member of the U.S. arms control delegation to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which maintains the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty.
Dr. Nelson's writings have appeared in Foreign Affairs, the National Interest, the Washington Post, War on the Rocks, the International Business Times, the Millennium Journal of International Studies, Political Psychology and the Journal of Neurophysiology. She received an A.B. with honors in Philosophy from Stanford University, M.A in Intellectual History from Columbia University, and M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley.
Publications
- Nelson, Amy J. “New European Defense Initiatives,” Looking Ahead, Forum for the Arms Trade Blog, December 19, 2017.
- Nelson, Amy J. "Digital Dilemmas: Nuclear Weapons, Emerging Technologies, and Global Governance. Stanley Foundation Commissioned Research Paper, June 2017.
- Nelson, Amy J. "Nuclear Arms Control for the 21st Century," The National Interest, March 25, 2016.
- Amy Nelson and Ashlyn Anderson. "How to Build an Alliance: U.S-Indian Defense Cooperation and the Rise of China," Foreign Affairs, February 11, 2016.
- Nelson, Amy J. "The Logic of North Korea's Nuclear Ambitions," CFR.org, January 12, 2016.
- Nelson, Amy J. "The Truth about 3-D Printing and Nuclear Proliferation," War on the Rocks, December 14, 2015.
- Nelson, Amy J. "The Iran Deal is Actually Far from Over," The Monkey Cage, The Washington Post, December 5, 2015.
- Nelson, Amy J. "Is the Nonproliferation Agenda Stuck in the Cold War?" The Monkey Cage, The Washington Post, October 29, 2013.
- Nelson, Amy J. "What are the Arms Control Implications of Syria's Chemical Weapons Deal?" International Business Times, October 7, 2013.
- Nelson, Amy J. "U.S. and Russia at Odds over European Treaty," International Business Times, August 8, 2013.
- Amy J. Nelson and Alexander G. Theodoridis. "Of BOLD Claims and Excessive Fears: A Call for Caution and Patience Regarding Political Neuroscience," Political Psychology (special issue) 33:1, February 2012.
- Stephen J. Collier, Andrew Lakoff, and Amy J. Nelson. "Book Review: Biosecurity Interventions,' Millennium Journal of International Studies, December 39:585-588, 2010.
- Ifat Levy, Paul Glimcher, Aldo Rustichini, Amy J. Nelson, and Jason Snell. "Neural Representation of Subjective Value under Risk and Ambiguity," Journal of Neurophysiology, 103: 1036-1047, 2010.