Alumnus Aaron Stein Named FPRI Middle East Director

In the announcement from FPRI it says that effective on January 2nd, 2019, Stein will succeed Tally Helfont as Middle East Director.

Previously, Dr. Stein was a resident senior fellow of the Atlantic Council, where he managed their Turkey-related research program, oversaw work on nonproliferation in the Middle East with a focus on Iran, and researched non-state actors in the Middle East, with a particular focus on Kurdish groups in Syria and Iraq.  

He was a doctoral fellow at the Geneva Center for Security Policy (Switzerland), an Associate Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute (London), and Nonproliferation Program Manager at the Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (Istanbul).

Stein has maintained strong ties to the Institute since graduating, including collaborating with Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, adjunct professor and director of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies East Asia Nonproliferation Program on the Arms Control Wonk podcast. Stein also hosts the Turkey Wonk podcast. Furthermore, Stein has co-authored several articles with Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies Professor Philipp Bleek, including “Turkey and America Face Iran” and Turkish-Iranian Relations: From “Friends with Benefits” to “It’s Complicated”.

He holds a BA in politics from the University of San Francisco and an MA in international policy studies with a specialization in nonproliferation from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. Dr. Stein received his PhD in Middle East and Mediterranean studies at Kings College, London.