Lea Karpov is a first-year graduate student in the MAEUS program. She recently graduated with a BA in Political Science and a minor in Legal Studies from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Lea has proficient knowledge of Russian and is currently holding a FLAS Fellowship from the European Union Center, studying Hebrew. This year, she is looking forward to starting her role as a Graduate Assistant at the European Union Center and International and Area Studies Library. Her research interests include human rights, conflict resolution/prevention, security research, international cooperation, and economic agreements.