Perry World House Names Temple University's Jane Vaynman as 2021-22 Lightning Scholar

Perry World House, the University of Pennsylvania’s hub for global affairs, has announced that Jane Vaynman, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Temple University, will be the 2021-22 Lightning Scholar.  Since 2018, Perry World House’s Lightning Scholars Program has brought some of the most accomplished junior scholars working in global affairs to Penn to continue their research amid the unique interdisciplinary, policy-relevant environment on Locust Walk.

“We are delighted to welcome Jane Vaynman, a world-class scholar with deep policy experience, to our community as the 2021-22 Lightning Scholar,” said Perry World House Director Michael Horowitz. “The unique depth of Vaynman’s experience in the academy and policy community will further our work to bridge the gap between these two worlds.  And as a scholar at a neighbor institution, Vaynman will help us to build stronger connections with those working on global policy issues here in Philadelphia.”

Vaynman researches security cooperation between adversarial states, the design of arms control agreements, and the effects of emerging technology on international institutions. Before joining Temple, Vaynman was a Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C.  She has also held positions at the Elliott School of International Affairs, the U.S. Department of State, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.  From 2006-2007, Vaynman was a Fulbright Fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center.

Each Lightning Scholar spends a semester or full academic year in residence, working on a book or other major research output.  Alongside their research, the Lightning Scholar engages with Perry World House’s diverse and vibrant community of scholars and practitioners.  Previous scholars include Melissa Lee, Assistant Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University; Sarah Bush, Associate Professor of Political Science at Yale University; and Cosette Creamer, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Minnesota and affiliated faculty at the University of Minnesota Law School.

Vaynman, who received her Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University and a B.A. in International Relations from Stanford University, is the co-founder of the Nuclear Studies Research Initiative at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies’ Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs, a project that promotes intellectual exchange and cross-fertilization for emerging nuclear research in policy, history, and political science.