Sydney Brashears serves as an intern with NTI’s Nuclear Material Security (NMS) team. In this role, she supports NTI’s efforts to strengthen global nuclear security and verifiably prevent the spread of nuclear materials that could be used to create a nuclear bomb. In doing so she contributes to several NMS projects including the International Partnership for Nuclear Disarmament Verification (IPNDV) and the Nuclear Scaling Initiative (NSI).
Before joining NTI, Sydney worked as a research associate for the Center for Global Security Research (CGSR) at Lawrence Livermore National Lab where she contributed to the Center’s research on The Future of Cooperative Measures to Reduce Global Dangers. Prior to that, she was a graduate assistant for the Center for International Trade and Security. She also interned with the U.S. Department of Commerce, assisting small business owners in Georgia navigate U.S. export controls and licensing applications.
Sydney received a Master of International Policy from the University of Georgia, specializing in nonproliferation and energy security. Her graduate capstone project was entitled “Prospects and Perils: Evaluating SMR Challenges to the International Nuclear Safeguards Regime.” During graduate school, she also completed nuclear nonproliferation and safeguards courses through Brookhaven National Lab and Oak Ridge National Lab. She received her Bachelor of Arts in political science and psychology from Auburn University.