The John A. Adams ’71 Center for Military History & Strategic Analysis at the Virginia Military  Institute will award a $5,000 grant to a graduate student in history or a related field working on a  doctoral dissertation in Cold War military history, broadly defined.

The award promotes  innovative scholarship on Cold War topics (for a list of past recipients/projects, see below). The  Adams Center invites proposals in all subject areas — including international security affairs, military history, and strategic analysis. All periods of Cold War history are welcome. The prize  is made possible through the generous support of John A. Adams and George J. Collins, Jr. 

To be considered, graduate students must submit a brief proposal (prospectus) describing their  doctoral research, a project timeline, and a curriculum vitae with a list of references. Applications should be delivered, electronically, to the Adams Center at adamscenter@vmi.edu by 4 p.m. Eastern, Friday, March 13, 2026.

Deadline for submissions: March 13, 2026

Send submissions to: adamscenter@vmi.edu

Questions? Contact:

Lt. Col. Joel Christenson, Ph.D. ‘99

Associate Professor
Director, John A. Adams ’71 Center for Military History & Strategic Analysis
Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, VA 24450 
christensonjc@vmi.edu
540-464-7689

Visit the Adams Center online, on Facebook, and Instagram.

Past Dissertation Grant Recipients: 

• Meghan Ashley Vance, “Cold War Soldiering: The U.S. Army in Germany, 1945–1958,” Texas  A&M University. 
• Heather M. Haley, “Unsuitable and Incompatible: Ensign Vernon ‘Copy’ Berg, Bisexuality, and  the Cold War U.S. Navy,” Auburn University. 
• Eric Perinovic, “Ex Machina: The F-104G Starfighter, the Federal Republic of Germany, and the  Origins of the Modern European Military Aviation Sector,” Temple University. 
• Hosub Shim, “The Forgotten Army: A History of the Republic of Korea Forces’ in the Vietnam  War, 1965–1973,” University of Kansas. 
• Kate Tietzen, “Iraq in the Cold War and beyond the fall of the Soviet Union, 1968–2003,”  Kansas State University. 
• Susan Colbourn, “Defining Détente: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Struggle for  Identity, 1975–1983,” University of Toronto, Canada. 
• Kuan-jen Chen, “U.S. Maritime Policy in East Asia during the Cold War era, 1945–1979,”  University of Cambridge, UK. 
• Nathaniel R. Weber, “U.S. Military Assistance and Advisory Groups, 1945–1965,” Texas A&M  University. 
• Brett M. Reilly, “International Military Advising and the Armed Forces of the State of Vietnam  and Republic of Vietnam, 1948–1975,” University of Wisconsin.  
• Fatih Tokatli, “Turkish-American Military Cooperation and Transformation of Turkish Military  in the Cold War, 1947–1954,” Bilkent University, Türkiye. 
• Johanne Marie Skov, “Britain Rising like a Phoenix from the Ashes: How Britain Landed the  1985 Al Yamamah Arms Deal with Saudi Arabia in the Context of Cold War Western Intra-Bloc  Rivalry, 1979-1985,” Lancaster University, UK. 
• Thao Nguyen, “The Vietnamese Women in the Black Market of South Vietnam,” University of  Michigan. 
• Yuki Minami, “The Zainichi Volunteers in the Korean War,” Victoria University of Wellington,  New Zealand.