Biography of Sarah Burkhard
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) joined the Institute in 2015. She is a co-author and lead researcher on the Institute’s Peddling Peril Index (PPI), which ranks countries’ export control systems and how well they perform at preventing trafficking in nuclear and other strategic commodities. Burkhard writes and contributes to Institute technical publications. She co-authored the Institute studies, Saudi Arabia’s Nuclear Ambitions and Proliferation Risks, and Nuclear Infrastructure and Proliferation Risks of the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and Egypt, 2017. She also researched the existence and implications of dangerous radioactive sources in Mosul, Iraq while the territory was under the control of Daesh, an effort covered by a front page Washington Post story.
Burkhard manages the Institute’s acquisition of satellite imagery of nuclear-related sites. She is co-author of a review of how satellite imagery is used to support nuclear non-proliferation efforts in Earth and Planetary Sciences Letters’ 2018 Annual Review. She contributes to the Institute’s satellite imagery analysis and monitoring of nuclear sites in countries such as North Korea, Iran, and Pakistan.
Burkhard holds a BS in Chemistry from American University. At American University, she received several awards, including one for Outstanding Achievements in Mathematics and a College Chemistry Achievement Award presented by the Chemical Society of Washington. Burkhard speaks fluent German and conversational French.