Areas of Expertise

• Human Cognition and Learning
• Digital Technologies and AI
• Cognitive Security and Resilience 
• Technology-Enabled Learning
• Applied and Operations Research

Academic Degrees

• Bachelor of Science, Computer Information Technology
• Master of Science, Human Systems in Modeling and Simulation
• Ph.D., Human Systems in Modeling and Simulation

Sae Schatz, Ph.D., joined the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in March 2024. She is a professor of regional security studies, specializing in European and Black Sea security.

Schatz has more than 15 years of experience in research, higher education, applied practice, government policymaking, and international security cooperation. She previously directed the U.S. Department of War’s Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Initiative, where she led the development of the Total Learning Architecture. She also co-chaired the NATO Training Group’s Task Group for Individual Training and Educational Developments and supported several other international security cooperation programs. Under her leadership, the U.S. ADL Initiative sparked the community’s pursuit of the “future learning ecosystem,” in part through her popular book “Modernizing Learning: Building the Future Learning Ecosystem.”

Today, Schatz frequently advises governments, academic institutions, and nongovernmental organizations. Recent engagements include a keynote on AI in higher military education at the NATO Conference of Commandants (May 2025) and an award-winning tutorial on Generative AI for the 2024 Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC).

Before joining the civil service, Schatz worked as an applied human-systems scientist. From 2011 to 2014, she was the chief scientist at MESH Solutions, where she led the U.S. Marine Corps’ Making Good Instructors Great project and the U.S. Joint Staff’s award-winning blended-learning training effort. Prior to that, she held an assistant professorship with the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Simulation and Training.

Schatz serves on several boards, including the External Advisory Board for the National AI Institute for Adult Learning and Online Education and Cyber Florida’s Education and Workforce Development Board of Advisors. She is an active member of the Learning Engineering community, and in 2026 she was granted the Distinguished Fellow Award from the Learning Engineering Research Network. Her scholarly work has also been frequently recognized, including numerous awards from the National Training Simulation Association’s I/ITSEC.