El Centro

SWJ–El Centro Announces New Slate of Fellows/Associates for 2022

New Senior Fellow, Fellows, Associate, and Intern

Small Wars Journal-El Centro (SWJ–El Centro) is pleased to announce the Class of Fellows and Associates for 2022. Senior Fellows are active in managing El Centro. Fellows have already made significant and distinguished contributions to the field through the course of their career. Associates are actively engaged in research or practice in the region and in transnational organized crime or insurgency. Interns are emerging scholars and practitioners.

The new El Centro Senior Fellow is Dr. Nathan P. Jones:

• Dr. Nathan P. Jones is an Associate Professor of Security Studies at Sam Houston State University and a Non-resident Scholar for Rice University’s Baker Institute Mexico Center. He holds a PhD from the University of California, Irvine Jones published Mexico's Illicit Drug Networks and the State Reaction (Georgetown University Press, 2016). He is a Fellow of the Institute of Strategic Risk Management (ISRM) and has served as An El Centro Fellow since June 2012.

New El Centro Fellows are Dr. Pablo A. Baisotti, Dr. Patricia H. Escamilla-Hamm, Stephen M. Noguera, and Dr. Jonathan D. Rosen:

• Dr. Pablo A. Baisotti is Associate Researcher at the Department of Latin American Studies University of Brasilia, and External Lecturer at the Institute of Iberian and Ibero-American Studies, Warsaw University. He holds a PhD in Politics, Institutions and History from the University of Bologna, an M.Phil. in International Relations Europe-Latin America from the University of Bologna, and an M.A. in Law and Economic Integration from the University Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne and University del Salvador. As editor or author he has published more than 20 books on Latin American history, politics, literature and economic policy.
• Dr. Patricia H. Escamilla-Hamm  is a scholar and independent consultant and former Associate Professor of National Security Affairs at the William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies, National Defense University in Washington, DC. She taught at the University of California at Irvine (UCI), and was assistant professor at Iowa State University (ISU) and El Colegio de la Frontera Norte (Colef, Tijuana, Mexico). Dr. Escamilla has a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California; M.A. in Latin American Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); and a PhD in Political Science from the University of California, Irvine (UCI).
• Stephen M. Noguera, CFE serves as the US Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Chair and Professor of National Security Studies at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, College of International and Security Studies in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. He also serves as a Deputy Program Director for the Countering Transnational Organized Crime (CTOC) Program. Stephen holds an M.A. in Management, a Diploma from the US Naval War College and is currently a PhD candidate in Criminal Justice. Following 14 years of service in local law enforcement, Stephen joined the US Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) in 2001.
• Dr. Jonathan D. Rosen is Assistant Professor in the Professional Security Studies Department at New Jersey City University. Dr. Rosen earned his Master’s in political science from Columbia University and received his PhD in international studies from the University of Miami in 2012. Dr. Rosen’s research focuses on drug trafficking, organized crime, and security. He has published 20 books with Routledge, Lexington Books, Palgrave Macmillan, the University of Florida, and the State University Press of New York. He has published journal articles in Trends in Organized Crime, the Journal of Criminal Justice, Deviant Behavior, International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, and Contexto Internacional, Revista CS, among other journals.

The new El Centro Associates are David A. Kuhn and Marisa Mendoza:

• David A. Kuhn is an Associate with C/O Futures, LLC and the Principal of VTAC Training Solutions. He has over 3200 hours in the planning and execution of complex and hazardous underwater operations along with extensive training and certification in HAZMAT, WMD, IED, and incident and project management from US military and related entities. He provides specialized law enforcement and first responder training throughout the United States, focusing on terrorism incident response, threat mitigation, and interdiction.  He is a recognized authority in the area of military standoff weapons and deployment, MANPADS (Man-Portable Air Defense Systems), and forensic analysis of incident areas where such weapons or explosives have been deployed.
• Marisa Mendoza is a PhD student in Political Science (Politics and Policy Concentration) at Claremont Graduate University. Ms Mendoza holds an Executive MBA from the Drucker School of Management, Claremont Graduate University and a Master of Social Work (MSW) and BS in General Studies (English concentration) from the University of Southern California.

The El Centro Intern for 2021-2022 is Issac Poritzky:

• Isaac Poritzky is a senior at the College of William & Mary. He is graduating in May 2022 with a B.A. in Government and a minor in Religious Studies.  Isaac’s research interests lie at the intersection of Middle East security studies, (mainly Iran and Israel), influence operations and counter-terrorism. This past year, during an internship at the US Army Training and Doctrine Command where he analyzed emerging terrorist threats and foreign influence operations to inform policy.

SWJ–El Centro wishes departing Intern Anibal Serrano Godspeed as he pursues his academic career.

Dr. Robert J. Bunker 

Dr. John P. Sullivan 

Senior Fellows, SWJ–El Centro