Professional Affiliation

Fellow, Center for Arctic Study & Policy, U.S. Coast Guard Academy

Expert Bio

Lawson W. Brigham is a Global Fellow in the Wilson Center's Polar Institute. He is a researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and a Fellow at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy's Center for Arctic Study & Policy. Captain Brigham was a career Coast Guard officer and commanded four cutters including the icebreaker Polar Sea on Arctic & Antarctic expeditions. During 2004-09 he was chair of the Arctic Council's Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment. He is a graduate of the Coast Guard Academy and earned his PhD at Cambridge University. Dr. Brigham is a member of the National Academies Polar Research Board and is a Council on Foreign Relations member. His research interests have focused on the Russian maritime Arctic, environmental change, polar marine transportation, and polar geopolitics.

Wilson Center Project

The Russian Maritime Arctic: Region of Great Change in the 21st Century

Project Summary

Dr. Brigham will focus his research on the evolving developments of the Russian marine Arctic and domestic & international use of the Northern Sea Route. He will also support Polar Institute projects on Alaska's Arctic infrastructure, governance of the Arctic Ocean, and U.S. Arctic policy development.

Major Publications

Brigham, L.W. 2019. Russia Developing New Arctic LNG Routes. U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, Annapolis, MD, Vol. 145, No. 1.

Hildebrand, L.P., L.W. Brigham, and T.M. Johansson. Editors. 2018. Sustainable Shipping in a Changing Arctic. World Maritime University Studies in Maritime Affairs    Number 7, Springer.

Brigham, L.W. 2017. The Arctic Waterway to Russia's Economic Future. Wilson Quarterly, Vol. 41, No.3 (Summer 2017 Issue)

Previous Terms

• Global Fellow, April 2019-April 2021
• Fellow, July 2020-July 2021