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Dr. Liudmila K. Mikhailova
Dr. Liudmila Mikhailova is an international educator and evaluation practitioner with over 25 years of experience in designing, managing, and evaluating U.S. federal government and foreign government-funded foreign assistance programs across different practice areas, including but not limited to international security cooperation, university research partnerships, international education, and academic, professional and youth exchange, and technology transfer and entrepreneurship development. In the security sector, over the last 15 years—first as the CRDF Global Director of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) and currently as an independent consultant and M&E adviser—Dr. Mikhailova has led evaluations of all types with a focus on capacity-building for biological, chemical, nuclear, and cyber security, export control, and related border security (EXBS) programs funded by the State Department, Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation (ISN), Corporate Threat Reduction Office (CRT), Office of Weapons of Mass Destruction Terrorism (WMDT), Office of Export Control Cooperation; DoD Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA); Global Affairs Canada (GAC); and the UK Counter Proliferation and Arms Control Centre (CPACC).
As CRDF Global M&E Director, Dr. Mikhailova designed and conducted together with program teams more than 200 evaluations with fieldwork in 25 countries engaging participants from over 60 countries across four continents. As a result, more than 800 scientists, science students, university and research institute administrators, local government officials, and entrepreneurs were interviewed, and thousands of program participants were surveyed. Dr. Mikhailova led multiple evaluations of entrepreneurship development programs funded by the State Department, the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, and the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. Dr. Mikhailova developed a certificate M&E Training program and trained and certified more than 40 M&E Champions in the CRDF Global offices in Arlington, VA; Amman, Jordan; and Kyiv, Ukraine.
At Coalescion, Dr. Mikhailova currently serves as the M&E Adviser and the evaluation lead. Together with program teams, she conducts evaluations of the Coalescion’s projects with a focus on capacity building for international security cooperation initiatives funded by the State Department, Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation (ISN). The Coalescion’s growing portfolio of security projects includes such countries as Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Cambodia, India, Iraq, Jordan, Kosovo, Laos, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Panama, Serbia, Thailand, The Philippines, Vietnam, and Ukraine.
Dr. Mikhailova has extensive experience in designing, implementing, and evaluating public diplomacy (PD) programs funded by the State Department, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) that include the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), Fulbright, University Affiliations, and Junior Faculty Development Program (JDFP). She was engaged as a consultant to conduct large-scale evaluations of the ECA Youth Ambassadors Program in France, the 40-year-old ECA Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX) Program, and Under Secretary Office for Public Diplomacy & Public Affairs/State Department evaluation of the Information Resource Centers (IRC) in the 40 U.S. embassies with an IRC case study in the U.S. embassy in Manila, the Philippines. Currently, Dr. Mikhailova is leading a large-scale impact evaluation study of ISEP: International Student Exchange Program that engages more than 300 universities worldwide in more than 50 countries.
Over the last four years, as a contractor through Q-Q Research Consultants (QQRC), Dr. Mikhailova has served as M&E Adviser and evaluation lead working with a team of research analysts in conducting evaluations of U.S. Trade and Development Agency, USTDA-funded project activities globally with a focus on emerging economies in such sectors as climate, clean energy, transportation, digital infrastructure, and health infrastructure.  
 
Dr. Mikhailova is a recipient of the U.S. Department of State, ECA Meritorious Honor Award (1995), and the White House Special Achievement Award (1994). As a researcher, Dr. Mikhailova was a recipient of the State Department, ECA Regional Scholar Exchange Fellowship Program (1996), and the ECA Research Fellowship at the Kennan Institute, the Woodrow Wilson Center (2002).
Since 2007 Dr. Mikhailova, engaged as a professorial lecturer at GWU, International Education Program (IEP), has been teaching graduate courses on “International Program Evaluation,” and “International Program Design.” Dr. Mikhailova holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in Educational Policy and Administration/International Development Education and a Minor in Evaluation Studies. She holds her master’s degree in English and German/Area Studies from the Minsk State Linguistic University, Belarus. Dr. Mikhailova is fluent in Belarusian and Russian (native), English and German (diploma), and has a good comprehension of Polish, and Ukrainian.