Dr. Magen Nix has recently joined Virginia Tech Applied Research Corporation as the Deputy Director of the Information Sciences & Analytics Division. Dr. Nix is an expert in asymmetric and grey zone operations. She was previously at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and led numerous program portfolios related to irregular warfare and insurgencies, cybersecurity, critical infrastructure security, national communications, autonomous systems, and intelligence. Dr. Nix established foundational research and development initiatives at John Hopkins regarding information operations, countering foreign influence, and supply chain analytics. She has also led interagency wargames for regional and functional combatant commands and served as the Chief of Staff for the Lab’s 1200-person organization focused on asymmetric operations.
Dr. Nix is a veteran and a former intelligence officer with 25 years of experience in the national security community and academia. She has developed curriculum, taught, and lectured at numerous defense and civilian institutions, to include the United States Naval Academy, the Joint Counterintelligence
Training Academy, the United States Army Special Warfare Center and School, the Defense Science Board, St. John’s College, and Vanderbilt University. She earned a Ph.D. in government and politics from the University of Maryland, an M.A. in political science from Virginia Tech and a B.S. in political science from the U.S. Naval Academy.