Kenton Thibaut is a resident China fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab), where her research focuses on Chinese influence operations. Prior to joining the DFRLab, she served in the private sector working on Chinese government relations. She also previously worked as a research assistant to Cheng Li at the Brooking’s Institution’s John L. Thornton China Center, where she focused on Chinese elite politics. Thibaut is currently a PhD candidate at Georgetown University, where she focuses on China’s role in the global information environment. She has been the recipient of various research fellowships, including a Fulbright Fellowship, Blakemore Freeman Fellowship, and Boren National Security Fellowship. She was also named as a 2021 security fellow at the Truman National Security Project. 

Thibaut holds a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and completed a graduate certificate in Chinese Studies at the Hopkins Nanjing Center in Nanjing, China. Thibaut also currently serves as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s Security Studies Program, where she co-teaches a graduate-level course on global information operations.