Deepa M. Ollapally is research professor of international affairs and the associate director of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University. She is also the director of the Rising Powers Initiative launched by the Elliott School in 2009.
Ollapally holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University. Ollapally joined George Washington University in 2003. She directed the South Asia program at the U.S. Institute of Peace from 1998-2003, and taught at Swarthmore College from 1990-97. From 1996-98, Ollapally served as fellow of the Strategic Studies Unit at the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bangalore, India.
Her research has focused on security and politics in Asia, particularly nuclear nonproliferation, extremism, gender, and identity politics in the region. Her current research focuses on domestic foreign policy debates in India and their implications for regional security and global leadership of the United States. She is an advisory council member for Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace, New Delhi, and served on the board of directors for Women in International Security, Washington D.C.[1] She is a familiar face in discussions and debates on foreign policy in India and abroad.[2]
Ollapally is married to G. "Anand" Anandalingam, dean of the Imperial College Business School at Imperial College London, and is the mother of two children and owner of a beagle mix dog named Dash.