Hamzah is a co-terminal MIP student. Alongside his first year in the MIP program, he will be completing his senior year of undergrad, studying international relations and computer science, also at Stanford. Hamzah has a diverse background in the public and private sector, working at the intersection of security, management, and global finance. He worked in Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation at the U.S. State Department focusing on nuclear security and weapons of mass destruction terrorism. Prior to the State Department, he conducted research on nuclear security issues with Professor Scott Sagan. Hamzah also has a background in mathematics and computer science, particularly probability, financial modeling, and cybersecurity. He interned at Goldman Sachs where he worked on projects to optimize internal business management and automated several technical and oversight processes. Alongside this work, he also has experience building a fintech startup in Silicon Valley. Hamzah plans to specialize in cyber policy, with focusses on nuclear weapons, industrial cybersecurity, and economic warfare. He likes to move often and live in new cultures. He spent 8 years of his childhood in Karachi, Pakistan. And last fall, he studied abroad in Florence, Italy—the highlight of his Stanford career so far. He also loves racing cars, listening to Eminem, and is a huge Formula 1 fan.

Sara is a Master’s in International Policy candidate at Stanford, where she focuses on global tech policy and online harm through work with the Stanford Internet Observatory and Stanford HAI. She most recently served in the Biden-Harris administration as Special Assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security. At DHS, Sara played a central role in the Department’s efforts to support the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and prepare the nation’s cyber defenses in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Her portfolio included national security, cybersecurity, foreign policy, privacy, civil rights and civil liberties, influence operations, child sexual exploitation and abuse online, and international migration. 

Prior to her time in the Biden-Harris administration, Sara worked for several years at the Council on Foreign Relations and Albright Stonebridge Group. 

Sara holds a BA in international studies from Johns Hopkins University, where she sang a cappella and studied voice at the Peabody Institute of Music. Her thesis exposed cleavages within ISIS’ global female recruitment strategies on social media. She speaks barely passable Arabic, Gujarati, and Hindi and enjoys film, pop culture, and the works of Ocean Vuong.

Tabatha comes to Stanford after half a decade of working in think tanks as a China-focused analyst. In her role at The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), Tabatha provided core research and writing support for the Geo-Economics and Strategy Programme's mega-project on the Belt and Road Initiative. Prior to her time at IISS, Tabatha conducted research on China's emergence as a global power with the Center for Strategic Studies (CSIS) and the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). As a first-generation student, she holds two bachelor's degrees: one in Mandarin Chinese and one in Government and Politics, both from the University of Maryland, College Park. Tabatha has studied abroad in China and Taiwan with support from the US Department of State's Critical Language Scholarship and the Huayu Enrichment Scholarship, respectively.

Elliot comes to Stanford after seven years in the private sector. Most recently, he led the development of an AI-enabled open-source analytics platform leveraged by government, legal, and public health actors. His work has supported global efforts to counter the spread of harmful misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic, understand the proliferation of state-directed propaganda, and monitor the behavior of cyber threat actors. Prior to this role, Elliot worked as a Middle East analyst focused on militant groups in Iraq and Syria. In the MIP program, he hopes to explore how China’s rise and the emergence of transformative technologies are combining to reshape the international system. Elliot earned a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities.

Poramin is the co-founder of Firo, a privacy-focused cryptocurrency, and Satang, the oldest digital asset exchange regulated under the Ministry of Finance, Thailand. He received a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering magna cum laude from the King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang. He then worked in technical roles for several entities, including Microsoft and Accenture. Later, he earned a master’s degree in security informatics from Johns Hopkins University and then joined the cyberwarfare unit of the Royal Thai Armed Forces. After leaving the armed forces, he and his team from Firo created the platform using blockchain- based technology for one of the largest primary elections for the Democrat Party, Thailand. Building on that event, he foresees the importance of the policy side for technological advancement. In the MIP program, Poramin plans to focus on cyber policy and security, especially on electronic voting, to create a new startup in the future. In his spare time, he is interested in Anapanasati meditation, wine tasting, space technology (both upstream and downstream), and advanced cryptography.

Tara manages communications for the Cyber Policy Center, supporting its six programs with graphic design support, social media, print and digital publishing, special events, video editing and other communication needs. Prior to the Cyber Policy Center, Tara was the Communications Manager for the MBA Program at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. Previous to that, she worked at a number of start ups around the Bay Area. She has a Masters in Creative Writing. 

As Tara Cottrell, she is the co-author of Buddha's Diet (Hachette) that has been translated into eight languages, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Czech, Vietnamese, German and Polish. Her fiction has appeared in print in ZYZZYVA, Missouri Review, Indiana Review, Zoetrope and others.