Laura Baldwin is the Vice President, Research for IDA. She is responsible for shaping and overseeing the overall research vision and strategy for two IDA-operated federally funded research and development centers: the Systems and Analyses Center and the Science and Technology Policy Institute.
Laura came to IDA from RAND, where she was the associate director of the National Security Research Division and the director of the Resource Management Program within RAND Project AIR FORCE.
Given her expertise in economics, Laura’s research centered on the intersection of economics and national security. She conducted analyses of supply chains as tools of strategic competition; military logistics and acquisition challenges of future operating environments; cost recovery via the Transportation Working Capital Fund; and life-cycle costs of weapon systems.
She helped evaluate the option of using commercial sources of refueling within the continental United States as part of an analysis of alternatives for the recapitalization of the KC-135 aerial refueling tanker. Laura also co-founded the Defense Economics track at the annual Western Economic Association International meetings.
Laura holds a doctorate in economics from Duke University.