Barbara Del Castello (she/her) is an associate physical scientist at RAND working predominately with the Meselson Center. She previously was the first Technology and Security Policy (TASP) fellow.
Del Castello is an expert in the fields of biosecurity and science diplomacy. Her research interests in the fields range from how emerging technologies (such as AI) impact biological risk and bioterrorism to how science can play a role in track II diplomacy. She has previously conducted research on topics such as the impacts of science diaspora networks in diplomacy and the public perception of biological weapons post-COVID.
For her work in biosecurity, she was awarded the 2024 ELBI Fellowship from Johns Hopkins University. She was awarded the 2019 American Institute of Biological Sciences Emerging Public Policy Leadership Award and the 2020 National Science Policy Network Science Diplomacy Fellowship. She also volunteered as the Global Focal Point for the Science Policy Interface at the UN Major Group for Children and Youth, where she spoke at the Leadership Dialogue at the UN General Assembly in 2023.
Del Castello has always been interested in the intersection of science and security, pursuing both her Ph.D. in genetics and Master of International Policy at the University of Georgia simultaneously. Her Ph.D. dissertation was on the genetics involved in the development of the parathyroid and thymus.
B.A. in biology, Eckerd College; M.A. in international policy, University of Georgia; Ph.D. in genetics, University of Georgia
