Kelly Piazza (Senters) is an associate professor of political science at the United States Air Force Academy and a participant in the Aspen Strategy Group's Class of 2023 Rising Leaders Program. Kelly specializes in comparative politics and studies gender, corruption, crime, political regime transitions, the political economy of development, civil-military relations, and strategic competition both in Brazil and in the broader Latin American region. She has published on these topics in World Development, the Latin American Research Review, and Latin American Politics and Society, among other outlets, and the Lemann Foundation, the Tinker Foundation, and the United States Departments of Education and Defense have supported her professional development and research. She received her B.A. from Lafayette College in May 2013 and her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in August 2018.