Ksenia Kushkina worked as an interpreter for the United Company, RusAI, before becoming an Asian Energy Market Analyst at the Energy Research Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences. Ms. Kushkina holds a degree in World Economics from the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, as well as a diploma in the Chinese language from the Beijing University of Language and Culture. She is currently pursuing her PhD at the World Economics and International Relations Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences. She has previously conducted research on foreign investment in the energy market in China. While in the United States, she plans to research U.S. energy policy and the development of the energy sector with Edward Chow, Senior Fellow for Energy and National Security Program at the Center for Strategic & International Studies.