Dr Anita M. Weiss received her doctorate in sociology from UC Berkeley and is professor of International Studies at the University of Oregon. She has published extensively on social development, gender issues, and political Islam in Pakistan. She spent six months in Pakistan on a Harry Frank Guggenheim research fellowship in 2017-18 conducting interviews for her current book project, Countering Violent Extremism in Pakistan: Local Actions, Local Voices. She recently stepped down, after seven years, from being Department Head of International Studies at the University of Oregon.