Hilary Reininger

Hilary Reininger (recently Smith) is a doctoral student at Pardee RAND Graduate School and an assistant policy analyst at the RAND Corporation. Her dissertation research is on increasing social media users' resilience to false information.

Reininger has research experience and interests in innovative approaches to non-traditional conflicts, including information warfare, political warfare, and insurgency. She has conducted research and analysis on contemporary information operations, truth decay, and deception practices. She has also researched school shooting prevention and military and government staffing, workflows, and organizational structures. In studying these various conflicts and various defense organizations, she is discovering at least one missing piece and is newly interested in the impact community and public discourse have on national security and societal health in a democracy.

Reininger has studied abroad in Serbia, Kosovo, the United Kingdom, Israel and the Palestinian Territories, and twice in Jordan. She has studied and speaks both Arabic and Spanish. She has an M.S. in conflict analysis and resolution from George Mason University and a B.A. in Middle East studies and Arabic from Brigham Young University.