An Ivy League-educated cultural anthropologist who employs her knowledge in U.S. defense and security, Montgomery "Mitzy" McFate currently serves as the Minerva Chair of the Strategic Research Department at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. Montgomery McFate pursued an extensive graduate education and currently bears a Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences from the University of California, Berkeley; a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Yale University; and a Juris Doctorate from Harvard University. Throughout her high-profile career, Montgomery McFate secured a string of demanding positions, including serving as Social Scientist with the recognized global policy think tank RAND Corporation, Professorial Instructor at the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace, and Research Staff Member with the Joint Advanced Warfighting Division of the Institute for Defense Analyses. Prior to assuming her current position, Montgomery McFate acted as Supervisory Social Scientist with the U.S. Army Human Terrain System (HTS). Passionate about bettering overseas operations by improving socio-cultural knowledge, Montgomery McFate contributed to the initial planning for the program and helped guide the project from its nascent stages to program with a $151 million budget; under her watch, HTS deployed nearly 30 teams throughout Iraq and Afghanistan. An agile communicator, Montgomery McFate maintained close relations with the Department of Defense and developed a host of program elements and strategies, including supervising the revision of the Team Handbook and Commanders’ Handbook, leading part of a multi-phase curriculum design initiative, and founding the Social Science Directorate. Montgomery McFate conducted public relations efforts with a host of large media entities, including NPR, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Wired, and The Atlantic. In her current role, Montgomery McFate conducts a host of research projects designed to inform the decisions made about national security issues. Montgomery McFate’s efforts consistently earn her recognition, including the Roosevelt Science Award from the New York Council of the Navy League and the Distinguished Public Service Award from the Secretary of the Navy.