Eric Keels

Eric Keels is the Assistant Director of the Center for National Security and Foreign Affairs
(NSFA) at the Baker School of Public Policy.

Prior to joining the Baker School, he served as curriculum coordinator and associate professor at the U.S. Air Force’s Center for Strategy and Technology (known colloquially as Blue Horizons) located within the Air War College. While there, he oversaw the implementation of the center’s academic mission and development of new projects. Operating both as an accredited academic program and the “think and do” tank for the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, his unit leveraged over $3.5 million in annual R&D seed-funding to develop impactful technology that addressed US strategic threats. While working with the Air Force, he managed interdisciplinary teams responsible for projects involving carbon capture for synthetic jet fuel generation, the
development of new non-kinetic effects, using AI to redesign talent management for the Air Force, and the rapid manufacturing of mission-defined drones for special operations units.

Prior to working at Blue Horizons, he coordinated stakeholder-driven research on political violence at the One Earth Future Foundation and was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in Global Security at the Howard H. Baker Center for Public Policy, University of Tennessee. His academic research has been published in International Studies Quarterly, European Journal of International Relations, Journal of Conflict Resolution, as well as other outlets. He has previously been awarded the Department of the Air Force’s Award for Meritorious Civilian Service and the Fairchild Award for Innovation in Air Force Education.