LOVELY UMAYAM

Lovely Umayam is a writer and a nuclear nonproliferation expert. She is the founder of the Bombshelltoe Policy and Arts Collective, a creative organization pushing for an active exploration of arts, culture and history to promote nuclear nonproliferation, arms control and disarmament. Bombshelltoe is the first-prize recipient of the U.S. Department of State’s Innovation in Arms Control Challenge in 2013. Lovely is also a Non-Resident Fellow at the Stimson Center, where she conducts research on technologies like blockchain (distributed ledger technology) and their potential applications for tracking nuclear materials and protecting related facilities.

Formerly, Lovely was a Fellow managing nuclear security and supply chain security projects at the Stimson Center. She worked on nuclear safeguards and track-II diplomacy at the U.S. Department of Energy - National Nuclear Security Administration.  She was a Foreign Policy Interrupted Fellow and an N Square Innovator Fellow. From time to time, Lovely writes and performs poems. She studied at Reed College and the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.

Lovely is first-generation Filipino-American. She considers Pandacan Manila, Philippines; Washington, DC; and Los Angeles, CA home.

You can contact her for speaking and writing engagements (or just say “hello!”) at lovely[at]bombshelltoe.com
She is also on Twitter and Instagram, but prefers real conversations!

Photo Credit: Rick Cupitt (top); Adriel Luis (bottom)

REPORTING:

Demanding Truth Amid the Horrors of War: On Political Language and the Invasion of Ukraine
Outrider Post, 2022

How to prepare for a disaster, emotionally and mentally
Wired, 2021

U.S. nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands still affects Marshallese lives in the pandemic
Prism Reports, 2021

 

SELECT ESSAYS & OPINION:

Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’: an artistic visual tapestry of the bomb’s science and power intricacies
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 2023

Studying Nuclear Policy Without Being Engulfed By Fear
Catapult, 2023

Splitting the Atom (on the stories and aesthetics of peaceful nuclear technology)
Broadcast Magazine, Pioneer Works, 2022

The Beauty and Mess of #Barbenheimer
The Sweeping Tide of AI Tech and ChatGPT
The Pandemic's Unseen
Tiptoeing Around NFTs
Finding Knowledge on TikTok
The Immortality of Digital Explosions
Inkstick Magazine culture column, 2021-2023

What My Father’s Covid Survival Taught Me About Security
The New York Times, 2021

Taking Peace Seriously
Outrider Post, 2021

How Will We Save Ourselves? On Racism and Accountability in the Nuclear Field
Open Letter to the DC Nuclear Policy Community, 2020

Culture as a Driver of Change
Rhode Island School of Design (pg. 88-97), 2019

The Nuclear Industry’s Winners and Losers
The New Republic, 2018

Russia's nuclear showmanship could trigger new arms race
Axios, 2018

Why the excitement over post-nuclear-war game Fallout 4?
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 2015

Women’s Work
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 2014

 

SELECT POLICY WRITING:

Possibilities of Blockchain Technology for Nuclear Security (Chapter 4)
for the book, Blockchain for International Security The Potential of Distributed Ledger Technology for Nonproliferation and Export Controls edited by Cindy Vestergaard, (pg. 55 - 73), 2021

Traversing Multi-Worlds: How Language, Culture, and Feminist Perspectives Can Save Us from Current U.S.-China Nuclear Perception
The Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy (pg.18-26), 2020

Complementing the Padlock: The Prospect of Blockchain For Strengthening Nuclear Security
Stimson Center, 2020

Navigating the Technological Frontier: Prospect of Blockchain for Nuclear Security
IAEA International Conference on Nuclear Security, Stimson Center, 2020

Shaping Strong Security Norms: “Duty of Care” for Security in Nuclear Facilities Through Organizational Governance
Stimson Center, 2018

An Industry-Led Governance Framework for Demonstrating Strong Security
IAEA International Conference on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, Stimson Center, 2017

 

SELECT PRESENTATIONS:

How Does Creative Storytelling Lead to Global Real-Life Impact?
SXSW, VR Chat Panel, 2022

"What if - Spesterra" Youth Challenge to Imagine Peace & Security
United Nations, Office of Disarmament Affairs (at 0:33 mark), 2021

Science Literacy for Nuclear Security
IAEA International Conference on Nuclear Security (at 1:23 mark), 2020

Escaping Nuclear Flatland
The Einstein Forum, 2019

Reshaping Our Nuclear Narratives
Poptech, 2016

 

SELECT MEDIA FEATURES & COMMENTARY:

"How civil defense could help reduce the death toll from nuclear war"
Vox, 2022

"Lifelines"
Ploughshares Fund Press the Button Podcast, 2022

"Lifelines: Nuclear Policy Work Amidst a Pandemic"
The National Interest, 2022

“Nuclear Anxiety is Nothing New. Here's How to Handle It.”
Discover Magazine, 2022

“New Year News Episode”
Black Diplomats Podcast, 2021

“Our Common Humanity”
Ploughshares Fund Press the Button Podcast, 2020

“What to See at the NY Art Book Fair”
(Bombshelltoe Project feature), MoMA Magazine, 2019

“Virtual Reality to Highlight Uranium Contamination”
(Bombshelltoe Project feature), Associated Press, 2019

“What’s Nuclear Security? We Asked an Expert”
Newsy, 2017 

“Workers at One of America's Most Sensitive Nuclear Facilities Are on Strike”
Vice Motherboard, 2017 

“Nuclear Anxiety Returns to America”
The Atlantic, 2017