Assistant Policy Researcher, RAND; Ph.D. Student, Pardee RAND Graduate School
Will Shumate is a Ph.D. student in the Research, Analysis, and Design stream at the Pardee RAND Graduate School and an assistant policy researcher at RAND. He studies China and the nexus of technology, security, and development in strategic competition. His dissertation examines the future of export controls for AI-enabled Unmanned Aerial Systems.
His work at RAND includes examining emerging technologies, capability gap analysis of current VTOL aircraft in prepartion for missions in the Indopacific, net technical assessments of technology industrial bases, future uses of AI-enabled Unmanned Aerial Systems and AI-enabled biological and chemical weapons, the development of hypersonic systems, and analysis of Chinese policy environments such as the regulation of fentanyl exports to the US.
Other projects include DEI work for the DoD, improving DCSA's Criminal History Reporting Information system, and creating an algorithm to identify racially motivated violent extremism language on social media sites to better predict violent, racially motivated events.
Prior to joining Pardee RAND, he was a research analyst for TechPolis where he worked on technology-related projects, including a lobbying campaign for 5G rollout. He also worked as graduate student researcher at U.C. San Diego with the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, the Laboratory on International Law and Regulation, and the U.S. Mayors and City Managers project. He has experience in healthcare and with the California state government.
He has a Masters in International Affairs from U.C. San Diego, and a B.A. in political science from California State Northridge. He also attended Pierce Community College.
M.Phil. in policy analysis, Pardee RAND Graduate School; M.I.A. in China, University of California, San Diego; B.A. in political science, California State University, Northridge
