Laura Schmidt Denlinger is Senior Nuclear Energy Security Assistance Advisor and Team Chief in the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Arms Control and Nonproliferation's Office of Cooperative Threat Reduction (ACN/CTR). There, she serves as programmatic lead for implementing the Foundational Infrastructure for Responsible Use of Small Modular Reactor Technology (FIRST) program--a nuclear energy initiative she co-founded in 2019 that engages nearly sixty countries on five continents. She has 30 years' experience in nonproliferation, cooperative threat reduction, and diplomacy, and served in a variety of diplomatic positions for the State Department in Washington, D.C. and abroad. During her ten years at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Laura served as the laboratory's program manager for the U.S. Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)'s Global Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention Program, line manager for NNSA Graduate Program Fellows (NGFP) supporting NNSA's Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, team lead for the arms control treaties and agreements technical team, and facilitator for PNNL's national security seminar series. Laura holds an M.A. in Security Policy Studies from The George Washington University, an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Maine, and a B.A. in International Relations from Michigan State University.