Lihau Jackson is a 2007 NSEP Boren Graduate Fellow (Georgia/Russia) and a master's candidate in the School of International Service at American University in Washington D.C. There, his specialization is in the international affairs of Russia and the South Caucasus/Black Sea region. While in Georgia he is studying Georgian and Russian and based at GFSIS where he is researching the role of nationalism in post-Soviet Georgian-Russian relations. He received his bachelor's degree in political science from Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo, California.