The School of Public Policy has selected Samantha Custer as the seventh recipient of the Kelleher Fellowship for International Security Studies. The fellowship honors emeritus professor Catherine M. Kelleher, a founding faculty member and the first director of the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM). Established to continue Kelleher’s legacy, the fellowship supports the next generation of scholars committed to finding creative, cooperative approaches to reducing international security risks.
“Samantha’s bridge-building instincts embody the spirit of Catherine’s work,” said CISSM Director Nancy Gallagher. “Much like Catherine, Samantha is strongly committed to producing rigorous research that traverses traditional disciplinary boundaries and improves the caliber of evidence available to policymakers.”
Custer’s research examines how development investments, public diplomacy, and security cooperation shape global influence dynamics—particularly among the United States, China, and Russia in the Global South. She employs novel data and mixed methods to quantify how external ideas and financial flows affect domestic policy reforms in low- and middle-income countries.
Before joining the School of Public Policy, Custer directed a team of interdisciplinary researchers at William & Mary’s AidData lab, producing more than 60 applied policy studies at the intersection of development, diplomacy, and security. She has collaborated with a wide range of government agencies, international organizations, think tanks, and private philanthropies. A personal highlight in Custer’s career was providing research and teaching support to two former U.S. cabinet officials—Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates. Prior to her time at AidData, she held leadership and program management roles with SIL International, and Save the Children. U.S. Custer holds a Master of Science in Foreign Service and a Master of Public Policy from Georgetown University, as well as a graduate certificate in survey research from the University of Connecticut.
“Joining CISSM’s thriving intellectual community was a major attraction for me in coming to the School of Public Policy,” said Custer. “I am inspired and challenged by the opportunity to continue Dr. Kelleher’s path-breaking legacy—pushing boundaries for women in international security, for practitioners preserving space for countries to cooperate on shared interests, and for scholars advancing knowledge across disciplines.”
Past recipients of the Kelleher Fellowship include Sarah Erickson, Sanjana Gogna, Samuel Hickey, Lauren Samuelsen, and Lindsay Rand.
