Dr. Gracelin Baskaran

Director, Critical Minerals Security Center for Strategic & International Studies

Dr. Gracelin Baskaran is director of the Critical Minerals Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). She is a mining economist and has spent over a decade working on critical minerals globally. She began her career in South Africa’s platinum belt and 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 recently published a policy playbook, Critical Minerals and the Future of the United States Economy, and is now writing a book on an international strategy for critical minerals engagement for the United States. Dr. Baskaran is also an adjunct associate professor at Georgetown University, where she teaches on critical minerals in the Center for Security Studies. She was a Fulbright Scholar and has held positions at the University of Cambridge, University of London, and University of Cape Town. Dr. Baskaran has been cited as an expert in The Economist, Financial Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Fox, CNN, Bloomberg, and BBC, and regularly appears on television. She has authored over 200 policy reports, white papers, and op-eds, and has published research in the Mineral Economics journal. She is a regular speaker at and policymaker forums and she has testified before the Congress. In 2025, Mining Journal named Dr. Baskaran among the industry’s most influential leaders, ranking her 8th on its Top 50 Most Influential list. She holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge.