PhD in Political Science (CUNY Graduate Center)

Interim Director, Ralph Bunche Institute
Lecturer, Baruch College-CUNY
ekaretny@gc.cuny.edu
@ekaretny

Eli Karetny, JD, PhD, is the RBI’s interim director. Prior to taking on this role, he served as deputy director and head of programs and operations. Eli is the Principal Investigator on the Institute’s core research projects, he oversees relations with sponsors,  liaises with university administration, and serves as the Institute’s grants director and financial officer. Eli also serves as the legal and financial advisor to the RBI’s Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (GCR2P) and the Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity (CSHGCAH), and is a member of the boards of both organizations.

After serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine, Eli completed his PhD in International Relations at the CUNY Graduate Center. His dissertation explored monarchic themes in the work of Leo Strauss, focusing especially on Nietzsche’s influence on Strauss’s view of the role of teachers and advisors as regime-changers. Eli teaches political theory and international relations at Baruch College-CUNY.

Eli is also researcher at the Hotam School of Anthroposophy and Kabbalah, which informs his interest in how esoteric wisdom influences human affairs. He is also an advisory board member of the Society for UAP Studies

Assistant Director of Programs

PhD Candidate – Political Science (International Relations)
jacevedo@gc.cuny.edu
@huanacevedo

Juan Acevedo-Ossa is a PhD Candidate in Political Science specializing in international relations and international political economy with a special focus on multilateralism and leadership in the Global South. He came to the RBI after a spending some years working on international trade in China, Brazil and Colombia, where he also was a professor. He is a seasoned contributor of Foreign Affairs Latin America and Africa is a Country and co-author of the volume Diplomatic Strategies of Nations in the Global South Palgrave (2024). He is also a co-founder and coordinator of the China at CUNY Initiative, the Human Rights Hub, and the Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity. Currently, Juan is studying the determinants of leadership of Global South countries in multilateral fora and the effects of structural power in international organizations.

Mike Cifone received his Ph.D. in the history and philosophy of science from the University of Maryland in 2009. His early research focused on the conceptual foundations of theoretical physics and the metaphysical implications of relativity and quantum theories. Dr. Cifone has published in multiple journals in physics and philosophy and has taught philosophy, philosophy of science, ethics, and logic at institutions across the United States. Since 2016, he has served as a lecturer in philosophy at the City University of New York (CUNY–Bronx), and since 2017, at St. John’s University in Queens, New York.

Dr. Cifone is the founder and CEO of the Society for UAP Studies (SUAPS) and the founding editor of Limina: The Journal of UAP Studies. Established in early 2022, both the Society and the journal serve as core infrastructure for the growing academic field of UAP Studies. SUAPS provides opportunities for peer-reviewed publication, regular academic convenings, interdisciplinary debate, international cooperation, and the strategic development of UAP Studies as a legitimate scholarly discipline.

His current work focuses on the philosophical and conceptual challenges of constructing a science of UAP, with particular emphasis on scientific methodology, epistemology, and theory-building. In February 2025, Dr. Cifone was awarded a research fellowship at the Center for Alternative Rationalities in Erlangen, Germany, where he will begin work in October 2025 on a book project advancing foundational ideas in UAP Studies.