Elena Akers first joined START as an intern in fall 2020 and has since grown into a full-time researcher examining radicalization and its real-world outcomes. In this spotlight, she shares how her background has shaped her work across projects like PIRUS and T2V, what she’s exploring now, and where she hopes to take her research next.
How did you first get involved with START?
I first came to START as a remote intern on the Radicalization & Disengagement team during the fall of 2020, after stumbling across the internship posting on Handshake. After two semesters as an intern, I worked as an hourly research assistant, and ultimately applied for a full-time position and was hired in the spring of 2022.
How did you become interested in your field of study?
I have spanned a lot of disciplines in my work so far - as an undergraduate, I was actually a German language & culture and international relations double-major. In closely following the events of the late 2010s in Germany and the United States, I became very interested in ways in which modern far-right politicians and groups were using historical references in propaganda, and I wanted to understand why Nazis (and their various evolutions) still existed, years after the end of WWII. This led me to study modern day far-right extremism, and START’s internship on the PIRUS project was a perfect place to follow those interests. Through my work at START, I’ve had the chance to explore interdisciplinary aspects of sociology, criminology, psychology, terrorism studies, and more.
What is your research focus?
My work at START has focused on the world of radicalization and its outcomes. From studying demographics and radicalization pathways on the Profiles of Radicalization in the United States (PIRUS) project, to looking at grievance-based violent attacks on the Terrorism and Targeted Violence (T2V) project, to analyzing the legal outcomes of the sentencing process for federal terrorism cases. I have had the chance to study the full spectrum from initial exposure to radical ideas to rehabilitation of convicted extremist offenders. While this has meant my “focus” is pretty broad, it has made for a fascinating experience studying many different aspects of radicalization and extremism.
What are you working on right now?
Currently, my days consist of continuing to collect event-level data for T2V, assisting with the quality control of the sentencing data, and helping to compile research briefs. I also oversee our independent study students, who code data for T2V and are also beginning their own research projects, which I find a very rewarding part of my job.
What’s the most interesting project you’ve worked on at START?
I have worked on a lot of very interesting projects at START! One that I found particularly interesting was our International Neo-Fascist Accelerationism dataset. When we started collecting the data in summer 2023, the topic was a relatively new development, and it was fascinating to be working on that project as experts were still defining the problem. It turned out to be quite pertinent, as many of the things we found in that dataset are directly relevant to the more recent discussion around nihilistic violent extremism, particularly in regard to the phenomenon of youth perpetrators, links to online culture, and glorification of violence. Additionally, I enjoyed the chance to collect data across many international sources and get a sense of what the extremism landscape looks like outside of my team’s main focus on the United States.
What research gap are you most interested in tackling next?
In the fall, I’ll be starting a PhD program in sociology at the University of Virginia, where I’m hoping to dig into the connections between collective memory and ideological violence. I have always been fascinated by the narrative aspects of ideology - what events, people, or stories influence radicalization - and I think that the impacts of memory and legacy on the mobilization of ideological groups is an important aspect that has yet to be fully explored, especially as we see a rise in “Saints” culture (the idolization of past perpetrators) among militant accelerationists and nihilistic violent extremists, but also in how the narrative of the American Revolution has been used in militia and anti-government groups, like the Three Percenters.
How do you hope your research will be used in the real world?
I think we are currently in a difficult moment when it comes to battles over history, division in society, and what it means to be an American and care for your community. On a very tangible level, I hope that what I’ve worked on at START will be used by policy makers and practitioners to understand and prevent extreme violence. At a broader level, I hope my work will help to make sense of this world and its difficulties, and that it will help lead to something positive on the other side.
What do you do for fun outside of work?
Anyone at START could probably tell you how much I love to bike - cycling is unmatched in the DC-area as a form of transportation, and is really a lot of fun too. I also enjoy crafting and recently learned to knit. And of course, I can often be found enjoying my neighborhood coffee shops.