Fellowship Program

One of the Center’s cornerstone programs is the Resident Fellowship.  This unique and multidisciplinary fellowship brings together civilian academics and military professionals to study a timely topic relevant to military operations.  The fellows participate in a weekly research seminar, conduct independent and joint research, serve as guest instructors to the Midshipmen, travel to meet with other experts in the field, publish their analyses in journals and books, produce instructional materials for the Academy curriculum, and make presentations at the Academy and other national and international forums.

The Center advertises widely each year for Resident Fellowship candidates, and the Center’s Dean of Research and Director of the Office of Research and Scholarship in Ethics review all submitted applications.  The Center selects three to four Resident Fellows each year.

The Stockdale Center Resident Fellowship has helped launch academic careers for several of its newly-minted Ph.D. fellows, including: Dr. Alycia LaGuardia-LoBianco (Grand Valley State University), Dr. Adam Betts (Bloomsburg University), Dr. Doyle Hodges (Texas National Security Review), Dr. Andrew Bell (Indiana University), Dr. Michael Robillard (University of Notre Dame), Dr. Ashleen Bagnulo (Texas State University), Dr. Jesse Kirkpatrick (George Mason University), Dr. Bradley Strawser (Naval Postgraduate School) and Dr. Valerie Morkevicius (Colgate University).

 Apply to the Fellowship Program

Academic Year 2025-26 Research Effort

The 2026 McCain Conference will focus on the topic of Great Powers Conflict .

In addition to this year's fellows, the following Stockdale staff are participating in this year’s work:

• Dr. Ed Barrett, Director of Strategy and Research, Stockdale Center, U.S. Naval Academy
• Dr. Michael Robillard, Special Ethics Instructor, Stockdale Center, U.S. Naval Academy
• Mr. Mitt Regan, Senior Research Fellow, Stockdale Center, U.S. Naval Academy    

Current Fellows

Generously funded by USNA Classes of 1958 1962, 1973 and by a 10 year gift of support from Donald and Beverly Freeman. 

Dr. Reuben Sass - Donald and Beverly Freeman Fellow

Dr. Reuben Sass studies AI ethics and policy, along with related topics in normative ethics and the
philosophy of science. His current research addresses the ethical use of AI for decision support,
with an emphasis on preserving users’ autonomy and decision-making competence. He is
especially interested in governance strategies for mitigating the systemic risks of advanced AI,
including value-impact assessment and incentives for developing resilient AI architectures. His
articles and opinion pieces are published or forthcoming in journals including AI and Society,
Mind, Synthese, AI and Ethics, Utilitas, Philosophy and Technology, and The American Journal
of Bioethics. He received a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Rice University in May 2025, and also
holds an M.A. in Bioethics from Case Western Reserve University.

Dr. Alex Macartney - USNA Class of 1973 Fred Minier Resident Ethics Fellow

Dr. Alex Finn Macartney is a historian of Modern Germany, Modern Japan, and a professor of International Affairs. Currently, he is a Research Professor at the Institute for Security and Conflict Studies at George Washington University’s Elliott School for International Affairs. Dr. Macartney's current research focuses on the legacies of the fascist past, the Vietnam War, and use of political violence in both states in the 1960s and 1970s. He has also published on the Japanese anti-imperialist movement in the Vietnam War era and protests against the Japanese Emperor Hirohito’s state visit to Europe in 1971.

Previously, he served as an Assistant Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at the Elliott School where he acted as the Associate Director for the Foreign Area Officer Regional Sustainment Initiative at George Washington University - a Department of Defense funded executive education program for mid-career FAOs across all military branches. Dr. Macartney has been a postdoc at Yale University’s Council on East Asian studies and a visiting researcher at the Freie Universität Berlin and Waseda University in Tokyo.

Dr. Elisabeth Parish - USNA Class of 1964 Fellow

Dr. Elisabeth Parish graduated from The Catholic University of America in May 2025 with a Ph.D. in Philosophy. Her dissertation focused on the metaphysics of living things in Aristotelian and Neo-Aristotelian philosophy. She has published papers in bioethics, challenging the metaphysical basis for thinking about bioethical problems.

Dr. Isabel Canfield - USNA Class of 1962 Fellow

Dr. Isbel Canfield recently completed a Ph.D. in Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame.  Her central interests are in ethics and action theory, with an emphasis on applied ethics in medicine and armed conflict.  Before graduate school, she served two years at Baylor College of Medicine’s Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy.  As an undergraduate philosophy major at Oberlin College, she supported research projects in the Bioethics Departments at Johns Hopkins, the NIH, and Cleveland Clinic.