Wargaming and Crisis Simulation Initiative About

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The vision of the Hoover Wargaming and Crisis Simulation Initiative is to advance wargames, simulations, and their data as analytic tools and learning resources for academia, policy, and industry. WCSI plays a unique role in the wargaming community, serving as a data-centered bridge between traditional wargaming and academia with the aim of expanding the use of wargaming beyond traditional communities and in catalyzing wargaming innovations for both academia and policy.

Leadership

Jacquelyn Schneider

Hoover Fellow

Jacquelyn Schneider is a Hoover Fellow at the Hoover Institution, the Director of the Hoover Wargaming and Crisis Simulation Initiative, and an affiliate with Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation. Her research focuses on the intersection of technology, national security, and political psychology with a special interest in cybersecurity, autonomous technologies, wargames, and Northeast Asia. She was previously an Assistant Professor at the Naval War College as well as a senior policy advisor to the Cyberspace Solarium Commission.

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Team

Jacob Ganz

Program Manager

Jacob Ganz is the Program Manager for the Wargaming and Crisis Simulation Initiative at the Hoover Institution. His research focuses on the history of wargames and their present-day influences on American foreign policy. Ganz wrote his master’s dissertation on the 1964 Sigma Wargames and their impact on the Vietnam War decision-making process. Ganz holds an MA/MSc in international and world history from Columbia University and the London School of Economics. He graduated with a BA from the University of California, Davis, where he received highest honors for his thesis on the history of the Phil Burton-Willie Brown political machine.

Emma Barrosa

Undergraduate Research Fellow

Emma Barrosa is a senior at Stanford University, studying international relations and data science. Emma is involved in the Hoover Institution’s Wargaming and Crisis Simulation Initiative where her interests lie in wargaming history and archival research. Emma is a 2024-2025 CISAC Honors student in which her thesis tests how private and public wargaming environments influence participants’ behavior.

Valencia Xu

Student Fellow

Valencia Xu is a Student Fellow for the Wargaming and Crisis Simulation Initiative at the Hoover Institution, as part of the Hoover Student Fellowship Program (HSFP) for 2024-25. She is a current undergraduate student pursuing a bachelor's degree in International Relations, with specializations in International Security and Social Development, as well as a minor in Sociology. Her research interests lie mostly at the intersections of international affairs, law, and political psychology and sociology.

Jonathan Pan

Visiting Fellow

Jonathan Pan is a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he focuses on the intersection of national security, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), and video games. Pan served from 2005 to 2010 in the US Army as an infantry officer with a combat tour in Afghanistan. Pan is particularly interested in enhancing wargames and simulations with AI/ML. He is also the chief executive officer at Exia Games, a defense AI startup.

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