Hoover History Lab 2023

Stephen Kotkin, Kleinheinz Senior Fellow, and director of the Hoover History Lab, chaired the Lab’s inaugural conference titled Global Trends.

Maria Langan-Riekhof, director the Strategic Futures Group of the National Intelligence Council (NIC), gives a presentation on the NIC’s Global Trends Report, and the promise and peril of forecasting the future.

Thomas Fingar, Shorenstein APARC Fellow of Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Insitute and former chairman of the National Intelligence Council, offers his perspectives in leading the publication of the Global Trends report.

Maria Langan-Riekhof shares a laugh with Condoleezza Rice, director of the Hoover Institution and 66th US Secretary of State.

Steven Chu, professor in Stanford’s physics department and 12th US secretary of energy, provides comments during the first session titled, “Promise and Peril of Forecasting.”

Lieutenant-General H.R. McMaster, Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow and former National Security Adviser, at a working dinner of the Hoover History Lab Conference. To McMaster’s left is Mark Huerta, a Stanford undergraduate and conference participant.

The working dinner on Thursday, April 20, featured remarks by Arun Majumdar, Hoover senior fellow and dean of Stanford’s new Doerr School of Sustainability.

Maria Langan-Riekhof comments during the working dinner on Thursday, April 20.

Drew Endy, professor of bioengineering at Stanford, gives a presentation on how synthetic biology may impact global trends.

Amy Zegart, Morris Arnold and Nona Jean Cox Senior Fellow (center-right), chairs a session on artificial intelligence.

Fei-Fei Li, co-director of Stanford University Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI), outlines the policy implications of rapidly advancing AI technology.

The topics of the first Friday afternoon session was about the future of warfare. The conversation was chaired by Admiral James O. Ellis, Jr., Annenberg Distinguished Visiting Fellow, and featured presentations by senior fellow H.R. McMaster and visiting fellow Chris Brose.

Admiral James O. Ellis, Jr. gives remarks during the Friday afternoon session on the future of warfare.

The first Saturday morning session covered global and regional power dynamics. The conversation was chaired by Senior Fellow Stephen Kotkin, and featured presentations by Rose Gottemoeller, Hoover research fellow and former deputy secretary-general of NATO, and Niall Ferguson, Milbank Family Senior Fellow.

Senior fellow Stephen Kotkin talks with Alexander Bick, of the State Department Policy Planning Staff, and Vance Serchuk, executive director of the KKR Global Institute.

Research Fellow Abbas Milani presents on Tehran’s growing relationship with Beijing and Moscow, as well as strategies and vulnerabilities of Iran’s ruling clerical regime.

Jendayi Frazer, Duignan Distinguished Visiting Fellow, presents on the opportunities and challenges confronting nations of the African continent.

Stanford student Kate Tully asks a question during the Hoover History Lab conference.

Arzan Tarapore, research scholar of South Asia at the Freeman Spogli institute converses with other conference participants during a dinner held on Saturday, April 22.

Tova Levine (left), research assistant to Stephen Kotkin, speaks with Johann Smith, a Stanford student and also a conference participant.