Elise Thorsen

To paraphrase Winston Churchill, Russia is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key: area studies expertise and well-curated data. Drawing on these resources, I lead reporting for an advanced analytics project monitoring the impact of strategic communications campaigns regarding Russia and its interests in the European information environment. I also provide subject matter expertise and project design and management services for other advanced analytics projects within Next-Gen Mission Analytics at Accenture Federal Services. In this role, I provide tailored, disinterested, data-informed analyses responding to customer requirements for assessment and predictions. I arrived at this role because I have loved the particularities and ambivalences of Russian culture for a long time. A never-ending puzzle to be solved, indeed! I earned a PhD in Russian Literature in 2016 with a dissertation on empire and space in Russian-language Soviet poetry of the 1920s and 1930s. As I learned to conduct research, I was privileged to enjoy a number of extended stays in Russia. This included a year on a Fulbright research grant in Kazan, one of the first non-Slavic cities to be incorporated into the Russian empire and a beautiful mosaic of Tatar identity and Russian and Soviet imperial projects where I could begin to internalize the postcolonial dynamics that are in play throughout the former Soviet Union, especially in the current war in Ukraine. In my studies, I also came to appreciate data -- especially the importance of high-quality data sets! -- inquiring what could be learned about texts with computational assistance in digital humanities. I have moved out of academia and into shorter turn analyses on a smaller set of priority questions, but I will never move away from a sense of the rigor, deep knowledge, and variety of approaches I must take to every problem. Enigmas and puzzles may be fun, but the meaningfulness of solving them comes from a strong sense of my values. I try to make my commitments and core values no mystery at all: contributing to resilient, sustainable, and just communities in which every person can realize their full potential. In my everyday life, this comes through most strongly in volunteering as a gleaner, where I help to thicken the relationships within the local food system and make sure nutritious food gets to the tables of those who need it, and as a Toastmaster, helping those around me to be leaders and speak up for what is important to them.