Florence O. Akinyemi received her PhD in Political Science in 2015 at the University of California, Los Angeles, her Master of Arts degree in Political Science (UCLA) in 2008, and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at the State University of New York, Binghamton University, graduating magna cum laude. There, she majored in Political Science and Africana studies, with a minor in Economics. At UCLA, Florence was awarded: the Eugene V. Cota-Robles Graduate Fellowship, the UCLA International Institute Alice Belkin Memorial Scholarship, the American Political Science Association Minority Fellowship, the UCLA Center for Primary Research and Training Student Fellowship, the UC Diversity Initiative for Graduate Study in the Social Sciences Fellowship, and four research fellowships by the UCLA Graduate Division. She served as a teaching assistant, associate, and fellow on a wide range of courses including: Introduction to American Politics, International Relations, Political Theory, Comparative Politics, and most recently, Communities and Nations in Conflict: Theory and Practice of International Conflict Resolution. With the support of the National Security Education Program David L. Boren Fellowship for International Study, she conducted dissertation field research on ethno-religious conflict in Nigeria, examining the work of “Peace Entrepreneurs.” Her interests include ethnicity, development, conflict, and religion and their impact on security. Before coming to the State Department, she served as a Presidential Management Fellow at the Department of Homeland Security focusing on biometrics, cybersecurity, and infrastructure protection. Florence is now the desk officer for NATO’s newest ally, Montenegro, and covers counterterrorism and cyber issues for the Office of South Central European Affairs.