Lt Col Woody Olmstead is a 2006 graduate of the Air Force Academy with a Bachelor of Science in Military and Strategic Studies and a minor in Arabic. He earned a Masters' in Public Policy from the University of Maryland and then attended pilot training. Subsequently he flew C-130E/H's and has served two tours as a T-1 instructor pilot at Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma. He completed a PhD in political science from the University of Notre Dame specializing in reconciling countries after wars, dictatorships, and mass atrocities. Currently he is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado

PhD, Political Science, University of Notre Dame (2021)

Masters' of Public Policy, University of Maryland (2008)

Bachelor of Science, US Air Force Academy (2006)

Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, US Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado (June 2023 − Present)

Chief of Operations Group Training, Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma (October 2022 – May 2023)

Assistant Director of Operations, Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma (November 2020 – October 2022)

PhD Student/Candidate, University of Notre Dame, Indiana (August 2017 – August 2020)

T-1 Instructor Pilot (also Flight Commander, Assistant Director of Operations, acting Director of Operations), Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma (May 2014 – July 2017)

C-130 Pilot (also Assistant Chief of Mobility, Executive Officer to the Squadron Commander, and Chief of Scheduling), Pope Field, North Carolina (January 2011 – December 2013)

Reconciliation after wars, dictatorships, and mass atrocities

Transitional and post-conflict justice practices (including trials, purges, vetting, amnesties, truth commissions, reparations, apologies, and traditional practices)

Winning the peace, nation-building, armed state building, stability operations

Sources of political violence

Constitutional law

Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA)