Frontier Fellow 2025-2026:
Leo Colletta
Title: “Public Power in the Age of the Atomic Bomb: The Impact of Global Anti-Nuclear Activism on the Proliferation of Nuclear Arms”
Leo Colletta is a third year student majoring in History and Politics. He is working with Professors Alice Yang and Daniel Wirls to research the impact of grassroots activism on global nuclear armament policy and historic non-proliferation agreements. His project will analyze the unique impacts that the existential threat of nuclear arms testing, production, and use have had upon different cultures around the world, and how the looming threat of nuclear proliferation has served as the impetus of a grassroots, global anti nuclear movement. Through the lens of history, politics, and community studies, Leo will seek to contribute to the literature of nuclear nonproliferation, and to gain a better understanding of the ways humanity might overcome the underlying systemic barriers preventing global nonproliferation and disarmament. Upon completion of his paper, Leo will use his research to create an educational website about his findings, with the goal of making the complicated history and political mechanisms of nonproliferation more accessible to the wider public.