Elizabeth Stanley, ScD, MSc

Professor, School of Foreign Service

Elizabeth A. Stanley, PhD, is a Professor of Security Studies with joint appointments in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and the Department of Government at Georgetown University. A former U.S. Army intelligence officer, she served in South Korea, Germany, and on peacekeeping deployments to the Balkans, leaving the service as a captain. She is the creator of Mindfulness-based Mind Fitness Training (MMFT), tested in neuroscience research studies with the U.S. military and taught to thousands in civilian and military high-stress environments. Dr. Stanley is also a certified practitioner of Somatic Experiencing, a body-based trauma therapy.

Her research and teaching focus on resilience, decision-making, political psychology, civil-military relations, and international security. She is the author of Paths to Peace, which won the 2009 Edgar S. Furniss Award for an exceptional contribution to the field of national and international security. She has served on the boards of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, the U.S. Army Science Board, and Women in International Security (WIIS), and is the founder of the nonprofit Mind Fitness Training Institute. Her work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, and Sandia National Laboratories, among other funders.

Featured Books and Publications:

• "Widen the Window: Training Your Brain and Body to Thrive during Stress and Recover from Trauma." 

• "Mindfulness-training in high-demand cohorts alters resting-state electroencephalography: an exploratory investigation of individual alpha frequency, aperiodic 1/f activity, and microstates."

• "How Stress, Trauma, And Emotion May Shape Post-conflict Environments – With Implications For International Peacekeeping."