Erik Sand is an Assistant Professor in the Strategic and Operational Research Department at the U.S. Naval War College's Center for Naval Warfare Studies. His primary area of research focuses on the intersection of security and political economy, specifically how states manage the sources of their national power in their relations with other states and how they react to attacks on those sources. His book project uses archival sources to explore when states choose to share advanced military technology with other states, and - more broadly - how states view technology as a component of their own power. In separate work, he analyzes how states react to campaigns of economic isolation. His other research interests include grand strategy, deterrence, escalation, and naval issues. 

He earned his PhD from the MIT Political Science Department where he was a member of the Security Studies Program. In 2020-2021, he was an America in the World Pre-Doctoral Fellow in the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. 

Prior to his studies at MIT, he served as a nuclear-propulsion-qualified active-duty service warfare officer in the U.S. Navy, and continues to serve in the Navy Reserve. He holds a Masters of Engineering Management from Old Dominion University and Bachelors in History from Harvard University.

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