Leslie Moeller is committed to strengthening the Department of State as an institution for the benefit of U.S. foreign policy and the colleagues who implement it. In an era of increasing globalization and citizen empowerment, there is an enormous amount of cultural, financial, and political exchange occurring at the state and local level outside traditional bilateral and multilateral channels.  The need to bolster subnational ties has taken on even greater importance in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through her fellowship, Leslie will examine U.S. municipalities’ foreign outreach and identify concrete steps that our embassies and consulates can take to better facilitate relationships between U.S. cities and their counterparts abroad.  She likewise intends for these recommendations to enable individual Foreign Service officers to foster new connections across the United States. Leslie joined the Foreign Service in 2006 and has participated in several Department-wide and management reform efforts over the course of her career.  Her work with large teams of both U.S. and foreign nationals in crisis and non-crisis situations has shown her both the practical and human impacts of organizational inefficiencies and the successes dedicated colleagues can achieve despite them.  She has served in Washington, D.C., as well as in Mali, Afghanistan, India, South Africa, and Saudi Arabia.

Sandy Jacobs received her first telescope in 1986 to search for Halley's Comet in the night sky. While the Challenger explosion tempered her early interest in space exploration, it reemerged when NASA's New Horizons mission captured her own children's imagination. Sandy then led the development of the Department's first space diplomacy slate of expert speakers and facilitated U.S. Speaker Programs at diplomatic missions around the world to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo moon landing. During her Cox Fellowship, Sandy looks forward to exploring the work of public and private sector “space ambassadors,” using digital storytelling to augment the contributions of past, present, and future leaders of space exploration and commercialization. She also looks forward to connecting with educators and university students interested in foreign affairs. Sandy's Foreign Service career, which includes assignments in India, Tajikistan, Estonia, Washington, and Uzbekistan, has focused on bridging the gap between public diplomacy and policy advocacy - especially in exchange programs, cybersecurity, and human rights. She began her career at Citigroup as a Leadership Development Associate and later Assistant Vice President, then answered a personal call to public service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine and a Program and Training Officer at Peace Corps HQ.