Charles Ingrao

Charlie Ingrao, a popular Smithsonian Journeys Expert, is professor emeritus of history at Purdue University, where he has taught a wide range of courses on the European world. Several of his thirteen books focus on German history, including The Hessian Mercenary State and The Germans & the East. Two Fulbrights and a fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation have enabled him to spend more than three years living and working in German-speaking Europe.

Adam Tanner

Adam Tanner is an associate at the Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS) at Harvard University, where he has been since 2011 as a fellow at the Nieman Foundation, then a fellow at IQSS. He spent much of his career as a foreign correspondent for Reuters news agency, including as Balkans bureau chief from 2008 to 2011, San Francisco bureau chief, and correspondent in Germany, Moscow, and Washington D.C.

He attended high school in Rome, has worked in Venice, and wrote the Rome and Naples chapters for a past edition of the Frommer's signature Europe travel guide. He speaks fluent Italian, as well as German, Russian and Croatian/Serbian, and moderate Hindi/Urdu, French, and Spanish. He has long studied the impact of colonialism, empire, and globalization as a foreign correspondent, author and lecturer. In recent years he has written "Our Bodies, Our Data: How Companies Make Billions Selling Our Medical Records" (2017) and "What Stays in Vegas: The World of Personal Data-Lifeblood of Big Business-and the End of Privacy as We Know It", which was named by the Washington Post as one of 50 notable works of non-fiction of 2014.

He has appeared on CNN, Bloomberg TV, MSNBC, CNBC, NPR, the BBC and VOA, written for magazines including Scientific American, Forbes, Fortune. MIT Technology Review and Slate, and lectured in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia.

Hugh Neighbour

Hugh Neighbour brings many years of experience as a diplomat for the U.S. and an officer in the U.S. Navy, mostly working overseas.  Specialized in political and economic affairs, he was posted in Latin America, Asia/Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and North America.  Hugh was awarded the Secretary of State’s Career Achievement Award as well as a number of Department of State awards for distinguished service. 

Since retiring from the U.S. State Department in 2010, Hugh has worked as a consultant in both Washington and overseas, served as an official observer for several elections overseas, and lectured aboard high-end cruise ships. Several times a year, Hugh directs a course in advanced foreign area studies to select groups in the Washington region.  Hugh will offer a fresh, up-to-date perspective on the history, culture, and current affairs of the fascinating peoples and places you will visit.