Samuel Leiter

Welcome to my website.

I am a Political Science Ph.D. Candidate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology specializing in international relations and security studies with a focus on East Asia. In the 2026-27 academic year, I will be a pre-doctoral fellow at the George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs Institute for Security and Conflict Studies.

I have previously conducted research to support local government reform in Chicago and US foreign policy with the RAND Corporation. I am proficient in Japanese. I graduated with general and departmental honors from the University of Chicago with a BA in Political Science.