MA – Ohio State University, 2012 BA – Claremont McKenna College, 2009

Born in Edina, Minnesota, Ian received his BA with honors in History and Government from Claremont McKenna College in 2009. His senior thesis, entitled “The Wrath of God: Genghis Khan and Imperiogenesis,” received the Best Thesis Award in the Government Department. Before entering graduate school in 2010, Ian worked as a cartographer and consultant for the Rose Institute of State and Local Government. Entering Ohio State in 2010, Ian completed his Master’s Degree, entitled “Sowing the Wind: German-Soviet Cooperation at Kama, 1926-1933.” His dissertation will cover Soviet and German military cooperation in the interwar period, focusing on four secret facilities built in Russia in the 1920s and operated jointly until 1933. He has published or presented papers on military, diplomatic and intelligence history in Eastern and Central Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.