The Combating Terrorism Center is proud to introduce the summer cohort of its internship program. These four outstanding students, who each possess stellar academic credentials and research experience (see below), are assisting with various CTC research projects this summer and additionally are contributing to the editorial process for the Center’s monthly publication, CTC Sentinel. We are looking forward to the tremendous impact these young scholars will have on our efforts in the terrorism studies field. Welcome Marley, Anyssia, Kevin, and Stephanie!
Marley Carroll is a rising senior at Brown University concentrating in Middle East Studies. She previously attended George Washington University and studied abroad in Spain at the University of Granada, where she engaged in research on the portrayal of Moroccans in Spanish media. Along those lines, her research focuses on media (particularly social media) as a radicalization tool for both the Islamic State and domestic far-right groups. She also studies jihadi networks in Southeast Asia and the Islamic State’s affiliates across Asia. After graduation, she hopes to work as a defense or intelligence analyst and to pursue a graduate degree in a terrorism/security-related field.
Anyssia Kokinos is a rising senior at Washington University in St. Louis. She is double majoring in Political Science with a concentration in International Studies and Arabic. Her research interests focus on the intersection of terrorism and different legal systems as well as the changing radicalization landscape. Prior to joining the CTC as an intern, she spent her junior year studying Arabic at the Middlebury Language School in Amman, Jordan. Over the summers, she has worked as a research intern on the Global Terrorism Database at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) and on the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s new Foreign Influence Election Project. In the future, she hopes to work for the government in a capacity that combines her interests in both law and political violence.
Kevin Laiveling is entering his second year as a Master of Public Policy student in the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy. At UMD, he is involved with research programs examining the determinants of insurgent battlefield effectiveness and investigating the reasons that government and rebel groups attack health and aid workers in civil conflict. Kevin is interested in studying the effectiveness of counterterrorism policies such as leadership targeting and the role of pro-government militias in counterinsurgency efforts. As an intern with the Stimson Center’s South Asia Program, he examined the impact of leadership decapitation on patterns of Taliban violence in Afghanistan. Kevin is from Cincinnati, Ohio, where he attended the University of Cincinnati and received BAs in both international affairs and Arabic.
Stephanie Lizzo is a rising senior at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is pursuing a dual degree in International Relations and Economics as well as a minor in Global Terrorism Studies. Her research interests focus on terrorist groups operating in Africa, and she hopes to continue to develop this regional expertise throughout her time at CTC. At UMD, she is a member of the Government and Politics Honors Program, through which she is writing her thesis on how rebel leader dynamics influence the likelihood of receiving external support during conflict with the group’s host state. Outside of school, she has interned with the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Africa Program and the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism. In the future, she hopes to work as a political analyst within the intelligence community.
