Lisa Langdon Koch

Lisa Langdon Koch is Associate Professor of Government at Claremont McKenna College, specializing in international relations with expertise in American Foreign Policy, Nuclear Weapons, and Security Studies. She received the Glenn R. Huntoon Award for Superior Teaching in 2023 and is renowned for her scholarly contributions to nuclear proliferation studies.

Her research focuses on nuclear decision-making processes, proliferation pathways, and security policy. Koch's work reveals that nuclear weapons programs follow multiple paths shaped by political decisions rather than a single predictable trajectory. Her research demonstrates how domestic experts and international political conditions interact to influence states' nuclear choices across different historical periods.

Koch's influential 2023 book Nuclear Decisions: Changing the Course of Nuclear Weapons Programs won the Robert Jervis Best International Security Book Award. Her publications span nuclear crisis management, citizens' attitudes toward nuclear weapons, supply-side proliferation controls, and historical analysis of nuclear programs across multiple countries and eras.

• Robert Jervis Best International Security Book Award (2023)
• Glenn R. Huntoon Award for Superior Teaching (2023)
• Stanton Foundation Nuclear Security Grant Program winner (2021)
• Harry S. Truman Scholar (2000)

Professor Koch's research has received significant funding from prestigious organizations including the Stanton Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. She is currently on research sabbatical during the spring 2025 semester but will resume office hours in August 2025. Her work bridges theoretical insights with practical implications for nuclear nonproliferation policy.