Dr. Gracelin Baskaran is the founding director of the Project on Critical Minerals Security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). She is a mining economist, and her primary expertise is in critical minerals, trade, and emerging markets. She began her career in South Africa’s platinum belt. She later spent five years at the World Bank in South Africa, where she coauthored the book Africa’s Resource Future: Harnessing Natural Resources for Economic Transformation during the Low-Carbon Transition. She has also held positions at the University of Cambridge, University of London, and University of Cape Town. Dr. Baskaran is now writing a book on an international strategy for critical minerals engagement for the United States.

She has been cited as an expert in the Washington Post, Politico, Fox, Bloomberg, Foreign Policy, Voice of America, Energy Intelligence, and the U.S. International Trade Commission, among others. She has also published over 100 op-eds and columns, policy reports, and white papers and published research in the Mineral Economics journal. She is a regular speaker at leading international mining and energy conferences, universities, and policymaker forums, and she frequently briefs Congress. Dr. Baskaran holds a doctorate from the University of Cambridge.