Elly Rostoum

At Johns Hopkins, Elly Rostoum is a lecturer for the MA in Global Security Studies program and a adjunct professor at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Rostoum teaches courses on national security vulnerabilities of critical and emerging technologies, public policy, strategic studies, and energy markets; with a regional expertise covering China and the Middle East.

Rostoum is a former U.S. Intelligence Analyst and National Security Council staffer at the White House, covering the Middle East. She is currently the Managing Director of the Alperovitch Institute for Cybersecurity Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

Rostoum research examines American national security vulnerabilities of foreign direct investment, with a focus on foundational and critical and emerging technologies in the AI, finance, biotech, and IoT sectors. Rostoum is an expert on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States’ (CFIUS) governance. Her current book project, CFIUS in the 21st Century The Guardian of the Technology Revolution, examines the American and the Chinese conceptualizations of national security, and their implications on how each nation defines their grand strategies vis-à-vis one another. Elly was the recipient of the 2024 Johns Hopkins Nexus Award in Teaching for the course: Biotech, Health Security, and Artificial Intelligence. She was also the recipient of the 2023 Johns Hopkins University Discovery Awards, which recognize researchers who are poised to arrive at important discoveries or creative works. She is one of co-founders of the Johns Hopkins RUBICON Symposium, a joint partnership with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab. Elly was formerly the founding Associate Director of the China Global Research Center at Johns Hopkins University, and a Hans J. Morgenthau Fellow in U.S. Grand Strategy at Notre Dame University.

Rostoum is fluent in classical Arabic, the 22 Arabic dialects, and French. She has lived and traveled extensively throughout Europe and the Middle East, and has done field research in Austria, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Lebanon, Tunisia, and Morocco. Methodologically, Elly specializes in gaming, and scenario planning and modeling.
Rostoum began her career in the private sector, forecasting oil prices and advising C-suite executives in the energy sector, covering supply and demand trends, geopolitics, above-ground risk management, and the electrification of the global drivetrain. Her research has been prolifically published in industry and policymaking circles.

As a graduate student, Rostoum was awarded the White House Internship, the CIA’s graduate fellowship in energy markets, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s fellowship in energy policy & electric systems analysis.

Rostoum holds an Elly holds a PhD in Global Governance and Human Security from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, a Master’s degree in liberal arts in government from Harvard University, a Certificate in Decision Analysis & Risk Management from Stanford University, a Certificate in Energy Modeling from the International Energy Agency, and a Bachelor’s degree in political science from Bates College.