Perry World House Announces Additional Distinguished Visiting Fellows for 2024-25 Academic Year
Perry World House (PWH), the University of Pennsylvania’s home for global policy engagement, is delighted to announce the addition of three distinguished visiting fellows for the 2024 – 2025 and 2025 – 2026 academic years. PWH fellows engage with Penn students, staff, faculty, and other members of the PWH community to tackle some of the most urgent challenges facing our world today.
“Perry World House is proud to welcome Sue Biniaz, Aditi Kumar, and Radha Iyengar Plumb to our cadre of experts,” said PWH Executive Director Marie Harf. “They bring a wealth of knowledge from both the public and private sectors that will enrich our work in the areas of emerging technologies, climate change, and international security. Our students, faculty, staff, and broader community will benefit from having these three leaders on campus.”
Perry World House’s Visitors Program has brought thoughts and policy leaders from around the world to Penn’s campus since 2016. As part of their time on campus, fellows provide input to PWH’s programmatic work, guest lecture in classes, and meet with Penn students to explore foreign policy issues in depth and discuss careers on the world stage.
“Perry World House is thrilled to add the knowledge, experience, and expertise of Sue Biniaz, Aditi Kumar, and Radha Iyengar Plumb to our cohort of distinguished visitors,” said Perry World House Faculty Director Michael C. Horowitz. “Their work and insights show Perry World House’s continuing commitment to bridging the gap between academia and the global policy world. These fellows will enhance our community and contribute to Perry World House’s research and programming.”
Joining PWH’s 2024 – 2025 cohort of distinguished visiting fellows are:
Susan Biniaz most recently served as the principal deputy special envoy for climate at the U.S. State Department, where, among other things, she led the U.S. team on international climate negotiations. From 1989 to 2017, she was the State Department’s lead climate lawyer and played a role in the development of all the major climate agreements, including the Paris Agreement. As deputy legal advisor and in other positions, she was responsible for legal issues related to U.S. treaty practice, the environment, oceans, outer space, the Western Hemisphere, Europe, Asia, Somali piracy, human rights, law enforcement, and private international law. She is a senior fellow and lecturer at the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs.
Aditi Kumar is the former principal deputy director of the Defense Innovation Unit within the U.S. Department of Defense. In this role, she led numerous initiatives focused on the accelerated acquisition and fielding of commercial technologies in response to urgent military needs. Prior to joining DIU, Aditi served as the senior advisor to the undersecretary of defense for acquisition & sustainment, leading efforts related to industrial production expansion and acceleration. Aditi was previously the executive director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School. She also led the Belfer Center’s Economic Diplomacy Initiative, focused on research and expertise at the intersection of international affairs and economic policy. Prior to her time at Harvard, she was a principal at management consultancy Oliver Wyman in the financial services and public policy practices. Aditi holds a BS in economics and a BA in international studies from the University of Pennsylvania’s Huntsman Program, an MBA from the Harvard Business School, and a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School.
Radha Iyengar Plumb has extensive leadership experience at the senior most levels of government, industry, and academia. In addition to being a distinguished visiting fellow at Perry World House, she is a senior fellow at the Wharton Accountable Artificial Intelligence Lab at the University of Pennsylvania. Previously, she served as the U.S. Department of Defense chief digital and artificial intelligence officer. In that role she led the Pentagon’s AI, data, and analytics adoption efforts, and created innovative pathways to acquire and scale digital technology across the Department of Defense. Radha’s previous government roles include the deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment—the department’s number two official overseeing procurement, logistics, maintenance, and Industrial Base Policy. Prior to that role she served as chief of staff to the deputy secretary of defense, and in senior staff roles at the U.S. Department of Energy and National Security Council. In industry, she was director of research & insights for trust & safety at Google and global head of policy analysis at Facebook, leading data-driven security, reliability, and transparency related work to improve products and business operations. Earlier in her career she was a senior economist at the RAND Corporation and an assistant professor at the London School of Economics. She holds a PhD in economics from Princeton and a BS from MIT.
