Elisabeth Nielsen ’27 had very limited screen time growing up, except on Sundays. That day each week, she had three options: watch football, “The Amazing Race” or “Meet the Press.”
“I hated football,” Nielsen said. “I knew I liked ‘The Amazing Race,’ but I sat down to ‘Meet the Press’ every week with my parents and just became so fascinated with politics.”
Those Sundays became a foundational part of what brought Nielsen to William & Mary. In addition to double majoring in international relations and public policy, she is a global scholar at the Global Research Institute, the head of game development at the Wargaming Lab and the co-president of the William & Mary Global Innovation Challenge (WMGIC).
This April, Nielsen represented William & Mary and WMGIC at the 2025 NATO Youth Summit in Budva, Montenegro. Students and security professionals from across the world participated in the summit, which featured various panels on the current state of national security and the pressing challenges facing the profession today.
“It was a really cool experience,” Nielsen said. “You’d be in the conference hearing these high-level discussions about partnerships and how NATO forces are integrated, and then you’d go out and walk onto this veranda with a beautiful view of the ocean.”
A campus leader
In just a few short years, Nielsen has built a strong portfolio focused on international relations. Currently, she serves as the co-president of WGMIC, an undergraduate organization that hosts premier case competitions in which students tackle global issues through open discussion with peers, faculty and other professionals to create scalable solutions.
Nielsen played a vital role in WMGIC’s NATO Countering Disinformation Challenge, a flagship event for the organization that happens once each semester. Hundreds of undergraduate students compete to propose the best way for NATO to counter disinformation from a public policy perspective, on topics ranging from artificial intelligence to public health. Panels of expert judges then evaluate the proposals and select one winner from each stream.
When she was the director of recruitment in the fall, Nielsen was in charge of the “entire competition.” More than 200 teams signed up, totaling around 400-500 students.
“I had this massive spreadsheet that I think gave our entire team a heart attack,” she said.
On top of her WMGIC responsibilities, Nielsen participates in the Wargaming Lab, described as a “student-led, crisis simulation-focused powerhouse.” The organization aims to examine current and emerging challenges in global security. Nielsen was inspired to join after taking Innovation for Defense with Air Force Gen. Mark Matthews, where she said she fell in love with defense and strategic studies.
With the Wargaming Lab, she worked as a game designer, collaborating with a postdoctoral fellow to create an “influence game” about Chinese and American influence in the South China Sea, specifically Southeast Asian nations. Next year, she’ll take over as head of game development, working alongside the lab director on that year’s project.
Nielsen says William & Mary offers a unique opportunity for students interested in national security and international relations as a career.
“Your ability to get involved in research starts the day you walk on campus,” she said. “(Professors) care what undergraduates think. You have the opportunity to try a ton of different things. … When it comes to international relations or public policy or government, we really do have something for everyone here.”
WGC’s unparalleled opportunity
That opportunity is by design, thanks in part to the university’s Whole of Government Center of Excellence (WGC). Established in 2018, WGC serves as a national security hub for the university and a key pillar of William & Mary’s Military & Veteran Affairs program.
WGC is unparalleled across the nation, according to the center’s leaders. There are other academic institutions looking at national security challenges, but WGC is the only university center specifically devoted to whole-of-government solutions.
While WGC is not directly affiliated with a military academy or Department of Defense site, they can thank the military for the initial idea. The 2015 Virginia Commission on Military Installation and Defense Activities proposed the creation of WGC at William & Mary to meet the needs of the Commonwealth and nation in this space, something Governor McAuliffe’s administration supported and brought to William & Mary leadership.
“William & Mary has been really unique in its approach to defense and interagency cooperation and veteran affairs,” said Dr. Kathryn H. Floyd, director of WGC. “One of our strengths is being able to connect brilliant students directly with the national security community at various stages.”
WGC devoted time and resources to three main areas benefitting students: the Wargaming Lab, WMGIC and the National Security Internship Program (NSIP). Working with undergraduate and graduate students, NSIP places students in elite positions within the U.S. Department of Defense combatant command headquarters, military war colleges, military bases, intelligence agencies and other public policy departments. WGC has assisted over 600 students with internships and awarded over $242,000 in stipends for internships and workshops, effectively removing financial barriers.
“A nation’s security is as strong as its population, and the more we can do to have the entire population represented in our national security infrastructure, the stronger it will be,” Floyd said.
Through programs like NSIP, students are often granted a security clearance, which can lead to opportunities with other branches of the national security community.
“(WGC) works very hard to take that learning that students are doing at the university and have it directly applied to the real world,” Floyd said.
This is how Nielsen was able to attend the NATO Youth Summit in Montenegro. Earlier this year, WGC and the Reves Center received invitations to send two individuals to the summit, one student representative and one university staff representative. The Reves Center and WGC examined which student organizations were most closely aligned with NATO. WMGIC’s close partnership with NATO ultimately led to the decision that Nielsen would be an exceptional representative, joining University Communications Graphic Designer Emmaline Nelsen.
During her trip to Montenegro, Nielsen attended in-depth panels on cyber security, defense of the Balkans and the current state of the Russia-Ukraine war, among other topics. She also heard NATO Deputy Secretary General Radmila Shekerinska and Montenegro President Jakov Milatović speak about leadership and later met with the NATO Youth Advisory Board.
This is exactly the kind of opportunity that WGC aims to provide students like Neilsen who are interested in international relations as a career, said Floyd.
“WGC is the place to be for aspiring national security leaders because we create chances,” she said. “We create those opportunities and those pathways. We create multiple pathways for students to have experiences with national security opportunities prior to signing a contract.”
William Oster, Communications Specialist