NTI Welcomes New Experts and Scoville Fellow to Nuclear Teams

NTI is pleased to announce the appointment of Ross Matzkin-Bridger as a senior director on the Nuclear Materials Security (NMS) team, Ananya Agustin Malhotra as program officer with the Global Nuclear Policy Program (GNPP), and Sydney Kakuk as a resident Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellow, who will support NTI’s global nuclear risk-reduction work. We also welcome Keirstin Anderson, a graduate student in International Affairs Policy and Analysis at American University, who joins NTI as an office assistant and receptionist.

“Ross bring a wealth of experience and expertise to NTI from years of government service in the United States and abroad, working at the intersection of nuclear security and clean energy.  Ananya is a young talent, fresh off a Rhodes Scholarship and sure to become a big asset to the field,” said NTI Senior Vice President Carmen MacDougall. “We also welcome Keirstin, who will work closely with all of our staff, and Sydney, who combines a passion for nuclear disarmament with training as an opera singer—a great combination!”

Prior to joining NTI, Matzkin-Bridger served as senior advisor for international affairs at the U.S. Department of Energy. From 2016-2021, he served as energy attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo and director of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Japan office.  In that role, he advised the U.S. ambassador on policy issues relating to energy, science, and nonproliferation. He also represented the U.S. government in a broad array of bilateral and multilateral engagements and negotiations. Previously, he worked at the DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration, where he was responsible for negotiating agreements and managing projects to remove weapons-usable nuclear material from vulnerable locations around the world. From 2010-2016, he helped eliminate more than 1,000 kilograms of highly enriched uranium and plutonium from 10 countries.

Malhotra previously worked with NTI as a consultant. She also has worked at Logische Phantasie Lab, UN Women in New York, and the European Roma Rights Centre in Budapest, Hungary. She graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, where her senior thesis research focused on the legacies of the Manhattan Project and the Trinity Test. She has worked on several projects with Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security, and she holds an MPhil in History (with Distinction) from the University of Oxford, where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar.

Scoville Fellow Kakuk graduated from the University of Minnesota with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance for operatic singing. Her political science studies focused on nuclear weapons and security. While an undergraduate, Kakuk served as a teaching assistant and gained a Certificate in International Nuclear Safeguards from the Monterey Institute of International Studies. She hopes to combine her two passions to explore new approaches to arms control that are crafted through a human-centered lens.