Stephanie Young

Stephanie Young is a Professor of Policy Analysis at the RAND School of Public Policy, a Senior Political Scientist at the RAND Corporation, and Director of the Resource Management Program at RAND Project AIR FORCE. She is based at RAND, a leading nonprofit research institution supporting U.S. and allied defense and security policy. Her work centers on defense resource allocation, acquisition, and strategic planning for the Department of the Air Force and broader Department of Defense.

• Ph.D. in History, University of California, Berkeley
• M.A. in History, University of California, Berkeley
• B.A. in Physics, Astrophysics, and History, University of California, Berkeley

Her research focuses on defense acquisition, military budgeting, and the Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) system. She explores broader resource allocation decisionmaking, strategic competition, security cooperation, building partner capacity, countering weapons of mass destruction, and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and South Asia. Her interdisciplinary background in history and science enables nuanced analysis of policy evolution and institutional dynamics.

The 15 most recent publications highlight a consistent focus on PPBE reform, comparative defense budgeting across allied and adversarial nations (e.g., China, Russia, NATO members), space acquisition, and multinational defense collaboration. Her work increasingly integrates historical analysis with contemporary policy challenges, particularly in response to geopolitical competition and budgetary constraints.

Stephanie Young has no listed scientific awards in the provided text, though her leadership and scholarly output suggest recognition within policy and defense communities.

She has advised and led research teams at RAND, including serving as associate research department director. She taught a Ph.D.-level course on the U.S. defense budget at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. While specific grants are not detailed, her research is largely funded by U.S. defense and security agencies. She spent three months embedded with Special Operations Joint Task Force–Afghanistan in Kabul, demonstrating field engagement with military operations.

She leads the Resource Management Program at RAND Project AIR FORCE, which conducts research on defense acquisition, logistics, industrial base, sustainment, infrastructure, and organizational design. Her team supports high-level decisionmaking within the Department of the Air Force and contributes to national security strategy through evidence-based analysis.