Lyudmila Austin is a historian of modern Russia and Eurasia specializing in migration, nation-building, and national identity. Her current book project examines the tension between nationalization, migration, and Soviet institutions in the late Soviet southern periphery. Drawing on archival material, oral interviews, and myriad other sources, it explores how Soviet citizens who lived outside of or without "their own" territories responded to the center's decline and eventual collapse. Dr. Austin received her Ph.D. in history from Michigan State University in 2023.