CREEES MA Students

Blake Cheater, originally from Meridian, Mississippi, is a lieutenant in the United States Air Force. Blake graduated from the United States Air Force Academy where he earned his B.S. in Foreign Area Studies with minors in the Russian Language and Nuclear Weapons and Strategy. While there, Blake served as a flight instructor for the TG-16A aircraft. Blake has also studied at the NATO School Oberammergau in Germany, Charles University in Prague, and conducted field research on language and identity in the Baltics. He has written research papers on the effect of Russian economic influence on NATO decision making, extended nuclear deterrence under the Trump Administration, and presented his work on novel language policy in the Baltics at the NYU Undergraduate Research Symposium. He plans to continue studying Russian and language-identity dynamics in post-Soviet states at Stanford. After graduation, Blake will attend pilot training, and he hopes to continue promoting greater collaboration with Eurasian allies and partners.

Grace Skaggs Kędziora graduated from Brown University in 2025 with a B.A in Economics and Slavic Studies. Her honors thesis, For Your Freedom and Ours: Poland’s Reaction to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine, received the Pushkin Prize for distinguished scholarship. As an undergraduate, she served as President of the Polish American Club and sat on the executive board of the Slavic Studies Undergraduate Group. Her essay “From Warsaw to Kyiv: A Comparative Analysis of Russian Responses to the Polish and Ukrainian Questions” was published in the Spring 2024 issue of The Birch, Columbia University’s Undergraduate Journal of Slavic Studies. She has interned with the Defense Intelligence Agency at United States Central Command and with Kirkland & Ellis’ Litigation Practice Group in Washington, D.C. Her research interests focus on how societies define, negotiate, and institutionalize concepts of security and freedom. At Stanford, she looks forward to continuing her study of Polish and exploring contemporary political, legal, and intellectual developments in Central and Eastern Europe, particularly in relation to Russian aggression and the increasing influence of nationalist and illiberal movements. A former Division I ice hockey goaltender, Grace continues to coach hockey in her hometown of Chicago.

Julia Lasiota is a coterminal student in the CREEES program, having completed a double major in History and International Relations at Stanford. Her undergraduate research has focused on Polish identity-making among refugee communities in the Middle East and Africa during World War II, as well as the wartime experiences of women in Eastern Europe. Julia has also worked on projects related to great power competition in East Asia, including U.S.-China ideological rivalry in Central and Eastern Europe. She has assisted with Slavic-language materials at the Hoover Institution Library and Archives and has pursued a side interest in international space law. In 2025–26, she will conduct research as a Presidential Fellow at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, examining how presidential and congressional leadership has shaped American foreign policy toward Eastern Europe over the past century. At CREEES, Julia looks forward to deepening her understanding of the geopolitical legacies of the Soviet Union and further exploring how contemporary Russia interacts with other critical regions such as the Middle East and East Asia, while honing her relevant language skills.

Charlie Sagner earned his BA in Slavic Studies & Political Science at Columbia, where he was a research assistant for Columbia Law School’s National Security Law Program and an Undergraduate Student Scholar at Columbia SIPA’s Arnold A. Saltzman Institute for War and Peace Studies. Charlie has worked as an analyst for the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab’s National Security Analysis Department since May 2025, and has completed past internships with the Council on Foreign Relations, the Department of Defense, and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. At Stanford, Charlie plans to study Russian strategic thinking and state violence, ultranationalist political movements, and non-state armed actors. In his free time, Charlie enjoys photography, cycling, and spending time with his dog.