Staff

Program Manager
Phone: (202) 289-3332
Email: sarah dot catanzaro at c4ads dot org

Sarah Catanzaro received her undergraduate degree in International Relations and Art History from Stanford University. Prior to her employment at the Center for Advanced Studies (CADS), she studied terrorism in various capacities. While at Stanford, she worked with Martha Crenshaw to investigate anti-American terrorist attacks and assisted Jacob Shapiro, a former postgraduate fellow at Stanford, in performing an analysis of terrorist groups based on organizational theory. As an Honors Scholar at the Center for International Security and Cooperation and the recipient of the William J. Perry Prize for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Studies, she examined the incentives and responsibilities of local terrorist group leaders who adapt their organizations to Al Qa’ida’s program of global jihad. In addition, she served as the President of the Stanford Public Health Initiative for three years. In this capacity, she organized fundraisers to benefit the Friends of the World Food Program, an organization dedicated to mobilizing support for hunger relief efforts and planned events in conjunction with the Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), a global program of scientific collaboration that helps coordinate, support and influence global efforts to combat major diseases of the poor and disadvantaged.

Chief Technology Officer
Phone: (202) 289-3332
Email: mark dot atallah at c4ads dot org

Mark joined CADS in 2008 as the research and development lead associate. At CADS his primary focus was developing and maintaining research activities within areas of interest to the center and emerging technologies worldwide. As CTO, he is responsible for building, maintaining and optimizing the center’s information technology infrastructure, while developing and integrating standards and policies that pertain to the center's IT infrastructure. Mark has an MS in Electrical Engineering, BS in Computer Engineering, all from the University of California where he was the Engineering Graduate Organization President. Mark has conducted many research activities in the area of signal processing and produced several projects in the realm of Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) and Noise Cancelation devices for Mobile Phones. Additionally, he received the emerging leader's award for best senior design for his bachelor's thesis. Previously, Mark was a field engineer at the oil and gas service provider Schlumberger, where he worked in the logging technology department. Recently, he worked with the Director of political psychology at the George Washington University, Dr. Jerrold Post, in profiling and analysis foreign leaders.

Fellow & Government Liaison
Email: james dot oneill at c4ads dot org

Mr. O'Neill has served in all aspects of the criminal justice system and has interacted with government agencies throughout the world. He served for over 20 years in the NYPD finishing within the Intelligence Division while working with Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. The Federal Government sector came next where he served for many years as a United States Congressional Aide. Mr. O'Neill has consulted extensively in the arena of counterterrorism for various corporate and government entities and is a member of A.S.L.E.T. (American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers). He also presently serves as the Vice-President of the NY State Fraternal Order of Police, which includes over 20,000 members from the federal, state and local levels. Mr. O'Neill is responsible for CADS government relations and is involved in multiple training initiatives.

Program Director
Phone: (202) 289-3332
Email: dan dot lawner at c4ads dot org

Dan Lawner is director of the Initiative for a Comprehensive Approach to National Security (ICANS) at CADS. He specializes primarily in African Security issues, most recently on the U.S. Africa Command and African perceptions of AFRICOM. Dan joined the CADS team as a researcher in 2007, becoming a Program Director in 2008. In addition to ICANS, he co-founded the Center’s Emerging Technology Initiative (ETI) and Global Security Monitor (GSM).

A graduate of Northwestern University, Dan specialized in British colonial African History and conducted research under the Herskovits Research Grant. The grant allowed him to study an array of colonial documents in the British National Archives in London, and his research culminated in a paper entitled “Gateway to Africa: Exoticism, Commercialism, and British Perceptions of Colonial Zanzibar.” He also conducted Psychology research focusing on attention, specifically reading comprehension in situations of elevated stress. At Northwestern, Dan served on a committee to allocate the school’s million dollar annual activities fund to student organizations. He also served as liaison between several community service groups, including Habitat for Humanity, and the funding committee.