Liora Danan is the Director of Special Projects with the Middle East Program at the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC) at the University of California. In this position, Liora is responsible for direction of substantive programs and management of IGCC's special projects related to security and regional issues in the Middle East. Liora is also a Fellow with the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, where she runs a project on public diplomacy and religion. Liora graduated from Yale University with an M.A. in international relations and a concentration in U.S. foreign policy and religion. Prior to starting at Yale, Liora was a researcher with the Center for Strategic and International Studies' (CSIS) Post-Conflict Reconstruction Project, where she led work considering how the U.S. government can better engage with the role of religion in conflict-prone settings. She previously worked in Israel, Egypt, Cyprus and Kyrgyzstan. She received her B.A. in political science and policy studies from Rice University.