James Platte, PhD, USA
“Coming from the nuclear engineering field, I switched to the policy field because I wanted to study the connections between nuclear energy and proliferation and felt that policy decisions in these fields are too often made by people without technical training. On the other hand, I knew that I needed to get a better sense of the political, cultural, and historical aspects of the countries and regions of the world where nuclear issues are most salient in order to make good policy decisions. I felt that Fletcher provided with me the opportunity to immerse myself in a wonderful academic environment to do just that while still allowing me to use my technical background.”
"For all the individual accolades bestowed upon the faculty at Fletcher, they are still always willing to meet with students out of honest concern for and interest in our development. This is a quality not to be ignored or discounted, as it is not always easy to find in academia.”
"The breadth and diversity of the student body found at Fletcher is as stimulating as the courses themselves. For example, if I have a question about the culture or politics of a particular country or region in the world, rest assured that all I have to do is find a classmate from that country or region who is always more than willing to engage me in conversation in order to answer my question. The element of realness gained from such interactions is an invaluable compliment and supplement to lectures and course readings.”
Education before Fletcher:
BSE and MSE, Nuclear Engineering, University of Michigan;
MA, Science, Technology, and Public Policy, George Washington University
Fields of Study:
International Security Studies;
Southwest Asia and Islamic Civilization;
Development Economics
Experience before Fletcher:
U.S. Department of Energy;
Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control
Languages:
English;
Korean
Summer Internship:
Received a Critical Language Scholarship from the U.S. Department of State and spent the summer studying Korean in South Korea.