Tamara Patton completed her PhD in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs in September 2021. Tamara is currently a Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow at MIT's Security Studies Program. Prior to coming to Princeton, she worked as a researcher at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation on emerging technologies for nuclear verification, including in the areas of satellite imagery analysis and virtual reality. She has also been a researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, focusing on nuclear, conventional and humanitarian arms control issues. Her other appointments have included the US Naval Postgraduate School’s Common Operational Research Environment (CORE) Laboratory and Remote Sensing Center. She also has an MA in nonproliferation studies from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies and a BA in international studies from the University of Washington.
Research Interests
My dissertation research examines the role of satellite technology in arms control, disarmament and nonproliferation, including identifying the capabilities and information types that matter in decision-making and verification contexts. The research centers on understanding ways technology has transcended politics in the past, and how further advances in satellite technology, including in the areas of optical systems, radar, and deep learning methods, may impact existing and future treaties. My research agenda also includes policy-relevant projects related to nuclear treaties and verification. One project employs virtual reality (VR) to help facilitate new forms of government cooperation on verification, and it does so through creating virtual nuclear facility environments where inspection approaches can be designed, simulated and refined. I’m also interested in the implementation of international humanitarian law, having worked on issues related to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.
Publications
T. Patton, S. Philippe, Z. Mian, Fit for Purpose: An Evolutionary Strategy for the Implementation and Verification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, Journal for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament, 2019.
T. Patton and A. Glaser, Deferred Verification: The Role of New Verification Technologies and Approaches, Nonproliferation Review, 26 (3-4), 2019.
M. Kütt, T. Patton, A. Glaser, and M. Göttsche, Nuclear Inspections in the Matrix: Virtual Reality for the Development of Inspection Approaches in New Facility Types, Symposium on International Safeguards: Building Future Safeguards Capabilities, International Atomic Energy Agency, November 5-8, 2018, Vienna, Austria.
T. Patton, An International Monitoring System for Verification to Support Both the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and the Nonproliferation Treaty, Global Change, Peace & Security, 2018, 30 (2), pp. 187-207.
T. Patton and A. Glaser, Mapping Nuclear Verification, 58th INMM Annual Meeting, Indian Wells, CA, July 2017.
L. Petruzzi, B. Cogswell, A. Glaser, M. Goettsche, T. Patton, and D. Wallace, Nuclear Inspections in the Matrix: Working with Radiation Detectors in Virtual Reality, 58th INMM Annual Meeting, Indian Wells, CA, July 2017.
T. Patton, B. Cogswell, M. Kütt, and A. Glaser: Full-Motion Virtual Reality for Nuclear Arms Control, 57th Annual INMM Meeting, July 24-28, 2016, Atlanta, Georgia.
T. Patton, Emerging Satellites for Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Verification, Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation, January 2016.
T. Patton, Virtual Reality for Verification with the Unity Game Engine, International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Safeguards Symposium, October 2014.
L. Grip and T. Patton, The Humanitarian and Developmental Impact of Anti-Vehicle Mines, Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, September 2014.
T. Patton, Policy Paper: Governing Uranium in China, Danish Institute for International Studies and Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, March 2014.
L. Grip and T. Patton, Humanitarian arms control initiatives, SIPRI Yearbook 2013, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Oxford University Press, 2013.
T. Patton, P. Podvig, and P. Schell, A New START Model for Transparency in Nuclear Disarmament, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, April 2013.
T. Patton, P. Podvig, and P. Schell, Individual Country Reports – A New START Model for Transparency in Nuclear Disarmament, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, April 2013.
T. Patton, Combining Satellite Imagery and 3D Drawing Tools for Nonproliferation Analysis: A Case Study of Pakistan’s Khushab Plutonium Production Reactors, Science & Global Security, 20 (2-3), 2012, pp. 117-140.
Teaching
Assistant in Instruction (AI), Science and Global Security: From Nuclear Weapons to Cyberwarfare and Artificial Intelligence (WWS/MAE 353, Spring 2018 and Spring 2019). This course provides students with a basic technical understanding of some of the critical technologies that are relevant to national and global security and will equip students with the skills to better assess the challenge of developing effective policies to manage such technologies. Case studies include nuclear weapons and their proliferation, nuclear and radiological terrorism, space weapons, biosecurity and cyberwarfare.
Talks
Panel Discussion: Narrative and the Power of Virtual Reality, Games for Change Festival, Parsons School of Design, June 2019.
Examining the Risks of Nuclear Weapons: A Pacific Perspective, Pacific Conference & Global Youth Forum Auckland, New Zealand, December 2018.
Enabling Arms Control and Disarmament Verification - The Role of Commercial Satellite Technology, Stockholm Security Conference on Emerging Technologies: Unseen connections, missing players, absent solutions, Stockholm, Sweden, 20 September 2018.
Virtual Reality for Nuclear Disarmament Verification, Games for Change Festival, Parsons School of Design, June 2018.
Virtual Reality for Nuclear Disarmament Verification, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, United Nations Office at Geneva, May 2018.
Mapping and Monitoring Nuclear Weapon Program Indicators, 16th ROK UN Joint Conference on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Issues, Jeju, South Korea, November 2017.
Panel Discussion: Arms Control and the Challenges of New Technologies, American Society of International Law Annual Meeting, Washington DC, April 2017.
Full-Motion Virtual Reality for Nuclear Arms Control (with A. Glaser), 57th Annual INMM Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia, July 2016.
Full Motion Virtual Reality for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Arms Control, NNSA’s Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development (DNN R&D) University & Industry Technical Interchange (UITI) Program & Technical Review Meeting, June 2016.
Emerging Commercial Small Satellites for Verification Support, Consortium on Verification Technology Workshop on Nuclear Verification at Low Numbers, December 2015.
New Technologies and Opportunities for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Verification, Seminar at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation, Vienna, Austria, June 2015.
Virtual Reality for Verification with the Unity Game Engine, International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Safeguards Symposium, October 2014.
New Technologies for Verification in the Context of the CTBT, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization’s (CTBTO) Public Policy Course, 4 September 2014.
International Technical Means of Verification, Presentation at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Scientific Advisory Board, Temporary Working Group on Verification, The Hague, Netherlands, 9 April 2014.
The Humanitarian and Developmental Impact of Anti-Vehicle Mines, United Nations Office at Geneva, Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, 2013 Meeting of States Parties, 15 November 2014.