FIU experts available to discuss Ukraine-Russia conflict and related topics

Following the one year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, FIU has experts available to discuss a variety of topics surrounding the crisis.

The list will be continuously updated as the situation unfolds.

For help reaching any of our experts, please contact the Office of Media Relations:

• Maydel Santana, associate vice president: 305-348 -1555, santanam@fiu.edu
• Madeline Baro, director of media relations: 305-348-2234, mbaro@fiu.edu
• Dianne Fernandez, director, broadcast media : 305-608-4870, dfernand37@fiu.edu 
• JoAnn Adkins, director of marketing & PR, College of Arts, Sciences & Education: 305-348-0398, jadkins@fiu.edu
• Cynthia Corzo, assistant director of media relations and communications, College of Business: 305-348-1664, ccorzo@fiu.edu
  

Russia-Ukraine Relations

Galina Bogatova
Ph.D. candidate, Department of Politics and International Relations
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs 

Bogatova is a doctoral candidate in international relations focusing on gender and security studies, with an emphasis on Russian regional politics. Born in Russia, she completed her bachelor’s degree in economics at the International Banking Institute (St. Petersburg, Russia) in 2011 and her master’s degree in international relations at St. Petersburg State University (Russia) in 2015. Most of her work concerns ideational, sentimental and strategical dynamics in Eastern Europe and Middle Asia with a focus on Russian foreign policy. Galina has collaborated with researchers in economics, sociology, anthropology and psychology to explain ideological frameworks of states’ militaristic sentiments, revisionist foreign policy and aggression. Bogatova is an alum of The Washington Center, during which time she interned with the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training and participated in civic engagement projects targeting immigrant women, which prompted her interest in gender implications in international law. Galina’s research interests lie in the area of international political economy and gender dynamics in security studies.  

Cell: 786-720-9342
Email:gboga002@fiu.edu

Tatiana Kostadinova
Professor
Department of Politics and International Relations
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs

Kostadinova’s expertise is in post-Communist Europe, including Central Eastern Europe, Ukraine and Russia. Her research focuses on political institutions with a special emphasis on electoral systems and reform, as well as East European democratic transition. She teaches courses in Russian politics and has lived and conducted research in Eastern Europe, including Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria and Northern Macedonia.

Cell: 786-247-9816
Email: Tatiana.Kostadinova@fiu.edu 

Besiki Kutateladz
Associate Director, Prosecutorial Policy Programming
Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy
Associate Professor, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs

Born in the Republic of Georgia, Kutateladze can speak about Russian aggression against Georgia during the 2008 war, as well as Georgians' warnings about possible future aggression from the Putin regime. From 2008 to 2013, he played a crucial role in the development of the United Nations Rule of Law Indicators and their field testing in Haiti and Liberia. In 2002, he was the U.S. State Department Fellow from the Republic of Georgia. He holds a Ph.D. in criminal justice from the CUNY Graduate Center and a law degree from the Republic of Georgia.

Cell: 917-637-0844
Email:bkutatel@fiu.edu

Mario Loyola
Research Assistant Professor
Director, Environmental Finance & Risk Management
FIU Institute of Environment
College of Arts, Sciences & Education

Loyola is a former defense policy adviser at the Pentagon and in the U.S. Senate. He has written several opinion pieces on Russia-Ukraine relations and can speak to the historical, strategic, diplomatic and military dimensions of this situation.

Loyola is also available for Spanish language interviews.

Office: 202-539-4499
Email:mloyola@fiu.edu

Cybersecurity

Yan Chen
Faculty Director, Master of Science in Information Systems (MSIS)
Department of Information Systems and Business Analytics
College of Business

Chen is an associate professor and faculty director for the Master of Science in Information Systems and will be a professor in the Cybersecurity Risk Management MBA which launches in Fall 2023. Professor Chen’s research focuses on information security and online fraud, security management, information privacy, and social media. Several of her papers have looked closely at phishing, illustrating how so often a psychological phenomenon leads to a major cybersecurity failure, as well as understanding how to ensure cybersecurity compliance, and how insiders’ negligence or abuse is considered a leading cause for information security breaches in organizations.

Office: 305-348-6377
Email: yachen@fiu.edu

Alexander Crowther
Visiting Research Professor
Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy
Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs

Crowther can discuss cyber policy, national security policy, Russia, NATO, and counterterrorism. Crowther is currently a Cyber Policy specialist in the Expert Consultant program at the Center for Technology and National Security Policy (CTNSP) at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C, as well as a non-resident senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis. He is also an adjunct senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation and an adjunct research professor of national security studies at the Strategic Studies Institute. 

Crowther is available for interviews in Spanish and English.

Email: gcrowthe@fiu.edu

Brian Fonseca
Director, Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy
Executive Director, Cybersecurity@FIU
Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs

Fonseca can discuss cybersecurity and Russian relations with Latin America. Fonseca serves as a Cybersecurity Policy fellow at the D.C.-based think tank New America and is co-author of “The New US Security Agenda: Trends and Emerging Threats”. His technical expertise and publications focus largely on national security and foreign policies, with particular focus on cyberspace. Fonseca can speak on cybersecurity and emerging threats, among other topics.

Office: 305-348-7420
Cell: 305-218-6323
Email:fonsecab@fiu.edu

Robert Peacock
Senior Fellow, Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy
Assistant Professor, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs 

Peacock's research examines enforcement agency policies and practices in relation to cybersecurity and personnel misconduct and corruption. From 2000 to 2003, as Second Secretary of the US Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, he was responsible for the relationship with Russia and neighboring states. He is currently directing USAID cybersecurity support to higher education in Ukraine. For 10 years, he ran the Department of Justice’s law enforcement reform program office in Kyiv and the former Soviet region. Peacock previously served eleven years as a grey arms and money-laundering analyst including two years as the Libyan Sanctions Report Editor in the US Department of State. His areas of expertise include cybercrime and security, criminal justice reform, officer integrity, grey arms and money laundering and UN sanctions enforcement.  

Cell: 305-216-4801
Email: rpeacock@fiu.edu

Randy Pestana
Assistant Director, Cyber Policy Programming
Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy
Director, Workforce Development and Capacity Building
Cybersecurity@FIU

Randy Pestana serves as Assistant Director of Cyber Policy Programming at FIU’s Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy, where he manages the institute’s partnerships with U.S. Departments of Commerce, Defense, and State. Mr. Pestana also serves as Director of Workforce Development and Capacity Building at Cybersecurity@FIU, a designated Emerging Preeminent Program. He is currently engaged in training and education programming in Ukraine and Northern Macedonia.

Cell: 305-348-2977
Email: rpestana@fiu.edu

Sebastian Schuetz
Assistant Professor, Department of Information Systems and Business Analytics
College of Business

Schuetz’s areas of expertise are data breaches, security controls, security education, awareness and training, His  primary research is in the management of information security. One of his recent research papers examined how stock markets are relatively unresponsive to announcements of data breaches at companies. He also analyzed the efficacy of fear appeals to elicit security-enhancing behaviors from users as well as Information security (ISec), is a pervasive concern of individuals, organizations, and governments, and how to encourage individuals to engage in and learn about secure behaviors.

Office: 305-348-4356
Email: sschuetz@fiu.edu

Nuclear Power

Konstantinos Kavallieratos
Professor
Biomolecular Sciences Institute
College of Arts, Sciences & Education

Kavallieratos can discuss the concern related to the safety of nuclear materials and proper maintenance of nuclear power stations in a war situation. He is a professor and director of the FIU Nuclear Graduate Research Fellowship and FIU-Nuclear Energy Scholarship and Fellowship Programs in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. His areas of expertise include inorganic chemistry and radiochemistry.

Phone: 305-348-6034
Email: kavallie@fiu.edu

David Roelant
Director 
Interdisciplinary Nuclear Research and Education Program
College of Arts, Sciences & Education

Roelant can discuss issues related to nuclear power plant maintenance and operations and the Chernobyl nuclear site. He has a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from the University of Michigan and 40+ years of nuclear experience and expertise. He is FIU’s Radiation Safety Officer and teaches tadiochemistry labs and nuclear radiation detection and measurement labs.

Office: 305-348-6625   
Email: roelantd@fiu.edu

Human Rights 

Martin Palouš
Director
Vaclav Havel Program for Human Rights and Diplomacy
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs

Palouš is the former Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the United States and the United Nations. One of the first signatories of Charter 77, Palouš served as spokesman for the dissident human rights group before serving as the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the newly formed Czech Republic. Palo uš is a noted expert on democracy in Central and Eastern Europe, authoring the chapter on the Czech Republic in the European Commission report, Democratization in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as Totalitarianism and Authoritarianism in the Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace and Conflict and The Revolutions of 1989 and their Aftermath.

Phone: 347-366-1248 (via Whatsapp after 2/24/22)
Email:  martin.palous@gmail.com

War Crimes 

Stefan Schmitt 
Project Lead
International Technical Forensic Services
National Forensic Science and Technology Center

Schmitt is a forensic scientist with a background in crime scene investigations and forensic anthropology at Florida International University’s Global Forensic and Justice Center. His work focuses on training international agencies in the forensic documentation and investigation of crime scenes, and forensic laboratory accreditation. He has provided forensic expertise and training in the documentation of crime scenes for Human Rights organizations, the United Nations, and national authorities around the world in countries such as Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Colombia, Algeria, Libya, Mali, South Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Russia.

Read Schmitt's article published by The Conversation on proving war crimes »

Email:  sschmitt@fiu.edu

History

Rebecca Friedman
Associate Professor
Department of History
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs

Friedman’s research focuses on gender and the family in modern Russian in the context of Russia's relationship to modern European institutions and ideologies, with a special emphasis on masculinity, domestic interiors and childhood. She is the author of Masculinity, Autocracy and the Russian University, 1804-1863 (Palgrave/MacMillan, 2005) and (with Barbara Clements and Dan Healy) the collection Russian Masculinities in History and Culture (Palgrave, 2002), which is the first volume in English to focus on the growing field of Russian masculinity studies. She is currently working on a monographic study of gender, childhood and the domestic interior from the middle of the 19th century through the first decades of Bolshevik rule.

Cell:  305-333-1542
Email:  Rebecca.Friedman@fiu.edu

Economy & Business 

Deanne Butchey
Teaching Professor
Department of Finance
College of Business

Butchey can discuss stock prices, financial markets, gasoline prices, impact on personal finances, among other topics. Before joining FIU Business, professor Butchey worked as an Investment Banker and Financial Services Stock Research Analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston in their Toronto offices. Prior to this, she was a stock broker at Scotia McLeod and Merrill Lynch in Toronto.

Cell: 954-257-4911
Email:butcheyd@fiu.edu  

Edgardo Pappacena
Adjunct Professor of Strategy & International Business
Department of International Business
College of Business

Pappacena has extensive experience in global strategic issues at the intersection of economic, geopolitical, and technological megatrends. His research focuses on how leaders need to evolve their strategic thinking skills to deal with a complex and volatile environment shaped by the convergence of global trends and transitions. He is currently CEO of Cani Investments and previously was a member of PwC’s global leadership team, overseeing strategic acquisitions and investments, global brand positioning, and business model transformation. Earlier in his career he was a client service partner at Arthur Andersen for 37 years and worked with global and multinational clients in North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Oceania. 

Cell: 954-445-9543
Office: 305-348-2791
Email:epappace@fiu.edu

Communications & Linguistics 

Alejandro Alvarado Bremer
Director, Spanish-Language Journalism Master's Program
Associate Clinical Professor
School of Communication
College of Communication, Architecture & the Arts

Bremer has more than 20 years of experience as a broadcast and digital journalist, with a master's and a Ph.D. in International Studies from the University of Miami. Areas of specialization: Hispanic media; investigative journalism; media ethics; misinformation and disinformation; media management and entrepreneurship, native digital news media and crisis communications.

Email: jalvarad@fiu.edu

Phillip M. Carter
Assistant Professor of Linguistics
Director of the Center for Humanities in an Urban Environment
College of Arts, Sciences & Education

Carter is available to speak about linguistic issues pertaining to the Ukraine-Russia conflict, including how certain areas of Ukraine have switched to speaking Russian. His research has been published in the top journals in linguistics and related fields, including Language in Society, Journal of Sociolinguistics, Latino Studies, Language and Communication, and American Speech. With Julie Tetel Andresen. He is co-author of the cutting edge book Languages in the World: How History, Culture, and Politics Shape Language. 

Office: 305-348-1149
Cell: 213-359-6215
Email: pmcarter@fiu.edu

Davina Clarke
Assistant Teaching Professor
College of Communication, Architecture & The Arts

Clarke has over 15 years of teaching experience covering a variety of communication courses, and is the course director for Business Communication at FIU. Clarke’s areas of expertise include advanced business communications, nonverbal communications, and conflict management.

Email:daclarke@fiu.edu 

Maria Ines Marino
Associate Teaching Professor
School of Communication
College of Communication, Architecture & the Arts

Marino is a non-verbal communication specialist who can address cues and body language from those involved in and speaking on the conflict. Her research interests include emerging technologies that unite the fields of non-verbal communication and intercultural communication.

Marino is also available for interviews in Spanish.

Email: mmari006@fiu.edu 

Aileen Izquierdo
Associate Teaching Professor
Chair, Communication Department
College of Communication, Architecture & the Arts

Izquierdo specializes in crisis communications and is a communications professional with more than 20 years of strategic communications, branding and crisis communications experience. She has held executive, management positions as vice president for communications at Broward College and Florida Atlantic University.

Email:aiizquie@fiu.edu

Hugo Ottolenghi
Assistant Teaching Professor
School of Communication
College of Communication, Architecture & the Arts

Ottolenghi is an expert in political communications. He can address how the Russia-Ukraine conflict can impact midterm elections and those who are campaigning now.

Email: ottoleng@fiu.edu

Health

Alena Prikhidko
Assistant Professor
Department of Counseling, Recreation and School Psychology — Counselor Education program
College of Arts, Sciences & Education

Prikhidko is an Assistant Professor in FIU’s Department of Counseling, Recreation and School. She previously worked as an Assistant Professor of Social Psychology at the Russian State University for the Humanities, specializing in Social Psychology of Emotions and Group Counseling. She obtained her Ph.D. in Counselor Education at the University of Florida. Prikhidko worked as a Mental Health and Marriage and Family counselor in Russia and in the United States. Her research interests include emotion regulation, emotion socialization, ethics in counseling and counselors' development. She can speak about the mental health toll of this crisis and what therapists may do to help.

Email: aprikhid@fiu.edu 

Art

Lea Nickless
Curator
The Wolfsonian–FIU

Lea Nickless is the curator of Plotting Power: Maps and the Modern Age, currently on exhibition at The Wolfsonian–Florida International University. Never timelier, as the Ukraine invasion’s one-year anniversary approaches this week, Plotting Power examines maps and the related abuse of power during times of conflict. Nickless has worked closely with founder Micky Wolfson for almost forty years assisting in building the museum collection, developing educational programming, and managing and researching collections and holds a B.A. in Studio Art from Scripps College.

Cell: 305-903-8988
Email: lea@thewolf.fiu.edu