The Wonk Room

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Editor

Faiz Shakir is the Research Director at the Center for American Progress and serves as Editor-in-Chief of ThinkProgress.org and The Progress Report. He holds a B.A. degree in Government from Harvard University and a J.D. degree from the Georgetown Law Center. Faiz has previously worked as a Research Associate for the Democratic National Committee, as a Legislative Aide to Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL) on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, and as a communications aide in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Faiz is co-author of Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform. He also authored a chapter entitled “Blogging the election” in The Change We Need: What Britain Can Learn from Obama’s Victory. His writings have been published in the Jerusalem Post, Florida Today, and Salon. Faiz has appeared on MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, and CNBC television, among other places, and has been a guest on many radio shows. (E-mail Faiz HERE.)

The Wonk Room is produced with editorial assistance from the staff of ThinkProgress.

Writers

Brad Johnson is a Climate Researcher/Blogger for ThinkProgress.org and The Progress Report at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Brad holds a bachelor’s degree in math and physics from Amherst College and master’s degree in geosciences from the Massachusetts Institute for Technology. He is the co-author of Technomanifestos and the founder of HillHeat.com. Prior to joining the Center, he worked as a developer for Saatchi & Saatchi, Lextranet, and the Democratic National Committee. Brad grew up in Boston, Massachusetts.


Matthew Duss is a National Security Researcher/Blogger for ThinkProgress.org and The Progress Report at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Matthew holds a master’s degree in Middle East Studies from the University of Washington. Prior to joining the center, he was a research intern for the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a blogger for The American Prospect. Matthew grew up in Nyack, New York.


Igor Volsky is a Health Care Researcher/Blogger for ThinkProgress.org and The Progress Report at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Igor is co-author of Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform. Prior to joining the Center, Igor blogged at BodyPolitik.org and interned with ThinkProgress, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), and the Hudson River Valley Institute at Marist College. Igor grew up in Russia, Israel, and New Jersey. Igor has appeared on MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, and CNBC television, and has been a guest on many radio shows.


Pat Garofalo is an Economics Researcher/Blogger for ThinkProgress.org and The Progress Report at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Pat graduated in 2008 from Brandeis University with a bachelor’s degree in history. He was the editor-in-chief of The Brandeis Hoot, Brandeis’ community newspaper, and worked for the International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life. Pat’s work has also appeared in The Nation, The Guardian, the Washington Examiner and at New Deal 2.0, and he has been a guest on many radio shows.

Andrea Nill is an Immigration Researcher/Blogger for ThinkProgress.org and The Progress Report at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Andrea holds a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in Political Science with a concentration in Latin American Studies and Law and Society. Prior to joining the center, Andrea was a Communications Associate at the Immigration Policy Center where she founded the blog, Immigration Impact. Andrea was also a Communications Specialist at the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), specializing in bilingual public relations. Andrea was born in Guatemala and grew-up in upstate New York.

Max Bergmann is a Policy Analyst and Nonproliferation Blogger at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. He is also a non-resident fellow at the National Security Network (NSN). From 2007 to 2009, Max was the Deputy Policy Director at NSN, where he worked under Rand Beers. Prior to joining NSN, Max was a Research Associate for National Security at the Center for American Progress from 2004 to 2007. Max has been published by The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The New Republic, The American Prospect, World Politics Review Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Times, and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. While at the Center for American Progress, Max co-authored the reports: Restoring American Military Power: Toward a New Progressive Defense Strategy; How to Redeploy: Implementing a Responsible Drawdown of U.S. Forces from Iraq; Marine Corps Equipment After Iraq; and Beyond the Call of Duty: A Comprehensive Review of the Overuse of the U.S. Army in Iraq. Max received his MA in Comparative Politics with a concentration on Ethnic Conflict Regulation and the European Union from the London School of Economics. He is from Gainesville, Florida, and received his BA from Bates College.

Lee Fang is a Research Assistant for The Progress Report and ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Lee is a lifelong resident of Prince George’s County, Maryland, and holds a B.A. in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland, College Park. Previously, Lee interned with ThinkProgress and worked as a researcher for Progressive Accountability. In college, Lee held internships with Media Matters for America, Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, and Westin Rinehart.

Ian Millhiser is a Legal Research Analyst for ThinkProgress.org. He received a B.A. in Philosophy from Kenyon College and a J.D., magna cum laude, from Duke University. Ian clerked for Judge Eric L. Clay of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and has worked as an attorney with the National Senior Citizens Law Center’s Federal Rights Project, and as Assistant Director for Communications with the American Constitution Society. His writings have appeared in a diversity of legal and mainstream publications, including The Guardian, Huffington Post and the Duke Law Journal; and he is a frequent radio and television commentator on legal issues.

Peter Juul is a Research Associate at American Progress, where he specializes in the Middle East, military affairs, and U.S. national security policy. He holds degrees in international relations from Carleton College and security studies from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. Peter hails from the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul in Minnesota.

Rebecca Buckwalter-Poza is a Summer Fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Rebecca studies Government and Health Policy at Harvard University and is a 2009 Harry S. Truman Scholar. She served as Deputy Press Secretary at the Democratic National Committee and Director of Special Projects at Progressive Accountability during the 2008 presidential election. Previously, Rebecca worked in the office of political consultant James Carville. Over the last four years, she has also been part of progressive political campaigns in Europe, Africa, and Latin America. Rebecca served as a researcher for Third Term: Why George W. Bush ♥ John McCain, by Paul Begala, and is the co-author of Carville’s latest book, Forty More Years: How Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation. Rebecca grew up in Durham, North Carolina.