Olivia Yansaneh

Congressional Fellow

She/her/hers

Area of Discipline: Aerospace

Olivia Yansaneh is from the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area, born and raised in Montgomery County, Maryland. She completed her undergraduate degree in International Studies with a minor in Justice and Law from American University. Olivia has always had a passion for learning about how global systems work in our complex world. Coming from African roots, she has actively sought to understand the customs and cultures of regions within the African continent and around the world. She then continued her studies and received her Master of Science in Global Security, Conflict, and Cybercrime from New York University (NYU).

Aside from her studies, Olivia has devoted herself to aiding marginalized communities, people of color, and immigrant populations; making sure they receive needed services through government processes. Olivia’s involvement with immigration also made her an avid learner of intelligence agencies, cyber-defense infrastructure, AI systems, and tech literacy. She has emphasized these concepts in her previous work at American University’s Law Clinic and the Ethiopian Community Development Council in Silver Spring, MD.

While Olivia has a vast interest in government service, she also has an interest in outer space. She actively worked at the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum on the National Mall and participated in classes on the geopolitics of space. She has deeply researched different space technologies and their effects on rural, urban, developed, and developing environments. Some of Olivia’s goals are to be fluent in French and Mandarin, and to become a true polyglot. She also strives to improve her Geographic Information Systems skills to complement her love for maps. Overall, Olivia believes with hard work and a positive (yet realistic) outlook on life, you can attain success even in hard circumstances. Olivia’s aspiration post-CBCF Fellowship is to obtain her Doctor of Jurisprudence, and to continue advocacy for populations in need, whether in the public or private sector.