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About Me
About Me
Dr. Chelsea L. Cervantes De Blois is a research-driven strategist who turns complex data into actionable products for users and decision-makers. Her current job at the U.S. Department of State working on Eurasian issue sets: critical minerals, agriculture, and geopolitics, allows her to have deep experience aligning technical solutions with national security and business goals.
Dr. Cervantes De Blois solves real-world problems by turning complex geospatial science into clear, user-centered tools and insights. She is a trained scientific, researcher with training in: a - PhD in Geography specialized in GIS, Remote Sensing, Cartography & Population studies;
MA in Languages & Cultures of Eurasia; BS in International Agriculture & Natural Resources majoring in Agriculture & Applied Economics, and Soil Science and experienced in product-adjacent work, she has designed geospatial solutions in close collaboration with users—so the outputs are exactly what they need to make decisions.
Dr. Cervantes De Blois started her career in research, studying how people, environments, and systems interact at scale. Over time, she realized the work she enjoyed most wasn’t just analysis — it was turning insight into something usable.
That’s what makes her a natural-born product-focused manager and designer is her foresight to address vulnerabilities and security concerns before they occur. She has engaged with the challenges of deciding what to build, why it matters, and how it changes outcomes when addressing national security and vulnerability concerns.
In her everyday life, she brings that same rigor, curiosity, and systems thinking to any project she leads or collaborates on. In short, Dr. Cervantes De Blois turns complex, ambiguous problems into solutions.
Geospatial & Data-Driven Delivery
Geospatial & Data-Driven Delivery
Dr. Cervantes De Blois leads projects that leverage spatial analysis, geospatial modeling, and data visualization to support decision-making in complex environments.
She transforms qualitative and quantitative datasets into clear, actionable deliverables for diverse technical and non-technical stakeholders across government, research, and technology-driven initiatives. Her work ensures that complex information is understandable, accessible, and ready to guide strategic decisions.
National Security & Vulnerability Researcher
National Security & Vulnerability Researcher
Dr. Cervantes De Blois has a unique and extensive background in data design, standarization, integration, as well as security and vulnerbility research, with experience supporting three U.S. Special Envoys.
She has led and contributed to high-impact initiatives across government and international organizations, including serving as an invited visiting researcher at CGIAR, where she co-authored three World Bank reports on Mexico's Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) as a food security, agricultural, and climate impacts expert.
During her PhD, Dr. Cervantes De Blois worked at the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) office in Baku, Azerbaijan, focusing on farmning vulnerabilities and impacts. She also served as a delegate for the Stanford U.S.–Russia Forum (SURF), collaborating with scientists from Stanford University, Moscow’s National Research University Higher School of Economics, and Moscow State University on permafrost degradation impacts. This work culminated in presentations for senior officials, including Vladimir Barbin, Senior Arctic Official of the Russian Federation, and Antoly Antonov, Russian Ambassador to the United States.
Dr. Cervantes De Blois combines this domain expertise with a strong focus on aligning stakeholders, managing complex projects, and delivering actionable insights in national security and scientifically complex contexts.
Regional Expertise & Audience Fluency
Regional Expertise & Audience Fluency
With deep expertise in Eurasia: Caucasus & Central Asia, Dr. Cervantes De Blois combines geospatial and demographic methods with advanced regional and language skills to operate effectively in data-sparse, high-stakes environments. She synthesizes complex regional dynamics and translates insights into actionable recommendations for senior decision-makers across agencies and cultures.
Dr. Cervantes De Blois knows Russian, Turkish, Azerbaijani, and Persian, which was supported by prestigious programs including the Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) in Baku, Azerbaijan (2019); the Boren Fellow in Azerbaijan (2017-2018), the Title VIII from the U.S. State Department in St. Petersburg, Russia (2017); and several Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships.
Her unique and in-depth research training equips her to apply spatial sciences and demographic methods to carefully manage complex human-environmental systems in data-sparse regions at a global scale, enabling strategic decision-making and high-impact project execution in multi-stakeholder contexts.
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