Around the Table with Michelle Grisé

Around the Table is a three-question interview series from the Make Room email newsletter. Each edition features a conversation with a peer in the national security community to learn about their expertise and experience in the sector.

Dr. Michelle Grisé is a Senior Policy Researcher at the RAND Corporation and a 2023 Next Gen National Security Fellow. The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the position of the RAND Corporation.

1. What are the most valuable lessons learned from your experience as a Fulbright fellow?

I was a Fulbright fellow in Israel from 2009 to 2010. My research examined the role and status of Southeast Asian migrant workers in Israel—an issue that has been highlighted in recent weeks. I also studied Hebrew and Arabic during my time there and traveled around Israel and the West Bank and the broader region. Before my Fulbright, I had studied the history and politics of the Middle East in the abstract, but these experiences left me with vivid memories that underscored the practical challenges and complex realities shaping U.S. policy toward the region.

2. How has mentorship influenced your career?

Throughout my education and career, I’ve been lucky to benefit from the guidance of great mentors—from professors at the University of Chicago, Michigan Law, and Yale who helped me see how my interests and skills might translate into a fulfilling career, to more senior colleagues who showed me the ropes when I was starting out at RAND. My mother, who became a lawyer at a time when that was a less common choice for women, has also been a key source of support and advice as I’ve progressed in my career.

What these mentors have in common is that they made me feel like my ideas had merit and my contributions were valuable. They encouraged me to take on new challenges while making sure I had the tools necessary to succeed.

3. What led you to pursue a PhD? Do you have any advice for current PhD candidates?

When I was a third year at the University of Chicago, one of my professors asked me if I had ever considered pursuing a PhD in history. I had already decided to go to law school, but the idea stuck with me. I found that studying law brought up questions I had to turn to history to answer: where did certain ideas about democracy and equality come from? How did the legal norms underpinning the post-Cold War international system emerge? I ended up starting a PhD program at Yale a few months before I graduated from law school.

Historical research is like detective work. You take as your starting point a version of a story and then you dig into primary sources—including archival records and firsthand accounts from people who played a role in that story—to figure out whether it’s true, or whether there are facets of the story that deserve more attention or change our understanding of what happened. Being able to rethink common assumptions about the past allows us to be more purposeful in how we shape the future—how we organize our society, how we engage with both our allies and our adversaries, and how we confront the domestic and foreign policy challenges that we are facing. I feel fortunate to have been able to apply my historical training in this way over the last five years at RAND. I’d remind history PhD candidates in particular that there are so many ways in which their substantive and methodological expertise will be valuable in addressing the big challenges of our time, both inside and outside academia.

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