Michaela Bendikova is a student in the Master of Science in Defense and Strategic Studies program at Missouri State University and a Research Assistant for Missile Defense and Foreign Policy at The Heritage Foundation. She has worked as an intern at the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance and a Research Fellow at the International Institute of Political Science in the Czech Republic. Ms. Bendikova holds a Bachelor's degree in International Relations & Security and Strategic Studies from Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic.

Richard "Duke" Cheston is a writer and reporter for the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy in Raleigh, North Carolina, and a contributor to the Carolina Journal. While an undergraduate, Mr. Cheston was a staff writer for the Carolina Review, where he received, among other honors, the "Article of the Year" award. He holds a B.S. in Biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Kody Cooper is pursuing a Ph.D. in Government at the University of Texas at Austin. He has been the recipient of numerous fellowships, including one from the Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, NJ, where he was also a Research Scholar, and a Weaver Fellowship from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. Mr. Cooper has published in The Review of Politics, and holds a B.A. in Political Science and Spanish from Kansas State University.

Fred Hadra is the Marketing Manager for Hillsdale College, where he works with the College's national advertising campaign and their civic education and outreach programs, including online webcast seminars and Imprimis, their national speech digest. Prior to his time at Hillsdale, Mr. Hadra was a Communications Specialist at NewPage Corporation in Dayton, Ohio. He has written for Human Events, and holds a B.A. in English from Hillsdale College.

Annie Hsiao is Director of Education Policy at the American Action Forum, a policy institute in Washington, D.C. Previously, she was Director of Government and Community Relations and Special Assistant to the Chairman at the National Endowment for the Humanities and Education Coordinator at the American Revolution Center. Ms. Hsiao has also held internships at the White House Office of Public Liaison and the Organization of Chinese Americans. She holds a Masters in Education Policy and Management from Harvard, and a Bachelors in Political Science and Asian American Studies from UCLA, where she was a contributing writer for The Daily Bruin.

Joseph Malarney is a Development Assistant at the American Enterprise Institute. He has held internships in the offices of Massachusetts House of Representatives Minority Leader Bradley Jones, DebraLee Hovey of the Connecticut General Assembly, and with U.S. Senator Scott Brown's Washington office. Mr. Malarney holds a B.A. in History and Political Science from Trinity College, where he was named a Presidential Fellow in the Political Science Department. He is also a Presidential Fellow for the Center of the Study of the American Presidency and Congress in Washington D.C.

Mary McCleary is a Policy Analyst at the Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions. In addition to publishing policy reports on state finances and public employee compensation for the institute, she has written numerous opinion editorials for Ohio newspapers, including The Toledo Blade, The Columbus Dispatch, and The Cincinnati Enquirer. Ms. McCleary holds a B.A. in Economics from Hillsdale College, and plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Economics or Public Policy.

Evan O'Brien is an alumnus of Regis High School and Harvard College, where he majored in History, wrote for the Harvard Political Review, and ran the Supreme Court committee of Harvard Model Congress. He has taught history at his high school alma mater, worked as a paralegal at a law firm in Manhattan, and been the Robert Lewit Fellow at the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. He will start law school at the University of Virginia in August.

Nathaniel Peters is currently a student in the Master of Theological Studies program at the University of Notre Dame. He has worked as a junior fellow and assistant editor at First Things, and has also written for Touchstone and Books & Culture. Mr. Peters holds a B.A. in Linguistics with Languages from Swarthmore College, and is the recipient of a Rumsfeld Foundation graduate fellowship.

Kyle Peterson is a Staff Writer for The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette in South Carolina. He worked as a Florida Election Reporter and Franklin Center Fellow for National Review Online during the 2010 congressional elections, and was a Reporting Intern for The Daily Caller in Washington, D.C. Mr. Peterson received his B.S. in Journalism and a B.S. in Marketing from Iowa State University.

Jordan Raney is a Ph.D. candidate in Materials Science at the California Institute of Technology and holds a National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate Fellowship from the Department of Defense. He has held positions as an intern and writer for The New Atlantis, a Fellow of the John Jay Institute, and Assistant Technical Staff at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory, where he worked on systems analysis and feasibility studies with the U.S. government. Mr. Raney holds a B.S. in Physics and Computer Science from the University of Minnesota, and an M.S. in Materials Science from Caltech.

Marion Smith is a Graduate Fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a National Review Institute Washington Fellow. He is the Founder and President of the Common Sense Society, a non-profit in Hungary that promotes civic engagement, entrepreneurship, and ordered liberty. Mr. Smith writes frequently on diplomacy and international relations for Heritage. He holds a B.A. in Government from Wofford College in his home state of South Carolina, and an M.A. in International Relations and European Studies from Central European University.

Jason Stevens is a Ph.D. candidate and Adjunct Instructor of Politics at the University of Dallas, teaching Principles of American Politics. He has been active in local Ohio politics, including an internship with the office of the Ohio Secretary of State. Mr. Stevens's research interests include classical and American political thought; he holds a B.A. in Political Science and History from Ashland University, where he was also an Ashbrook Scholar, and an M.A. in Politics from the University of Dallas.

Karthik Venkatraj is a Second Lieutenant and Platoon Leader in the U.S. Army National Guard, Corps of Engineers. He has held positions as a Fellow of the John Jay Institute, as staff assistant to the Director and Chairman at Colorado Christian University's Centennial Institute, and as Assistant to the Senior Advisor to the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness in the Department of Defense. Mr. Venkatraj holds a B.A. in International Studies from Texas A&M University, where he was a Distinguished Military Graduate.