Codirector, Project 6633
Dr. Ryan Burke is an associate professor and curriculum director in the Department of Military & Strategic Studies at the US Air Force Academy and codirector of MWI’s Project 6633. Ryan came to USAFA after completing a Department of Defense–funded postdoctoral fellowship in the University of Delaware’s Joseph R. Biden School of Public Policy and Administration, where he also earned his PhD. He is a co-principal investigator on a DoD Minerva-funded project examining foreign military training in the Middle East and the Sahel. He is also funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research to examine US military posture toward the polar regions. Ryan has generated over $600,000 in research funding, has authored dozens of publications in myriad forms and venues, and regularly engages with national and international news media outlets about his research.
Prior to academia, Ryan was a US Marine Corps officer, serving as a platoon commander, operations officer, and company commander during his fleet tour. He then served as the deputy Marine officer instructor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Naval ROTC unit teaching naval science courses. After the Marines, he worked as a defense analyst for Booz Allen Hamilton supporting DoD projects in the Pentagon and with the Marine Corps Combat Development Command. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Penn State University—which he attended on a Marine-Option Naval ROTC scholarship—and his master’s degree from Saint Joseph’s University prior to earning his doctorate at the University of Delaware.