Hands down the best professor I've had at UW. Perfectly weaves personal anecdotes from his life into lectures to make them lively and impactful. Cares so much for his students well-being and lives outside class. Took both "culture and strategy" and "revolution and insurgency." Take his classes you will not regret it.

I learned a lot about security studies overall & he's a fun teacher. Personally, I'm not a big fan of the American national security sector (and I'm a leftist lol) & the course skews toward that kind of career, but in retrospect I still learned so much. Graded on 2 exams & 1 paper but he's not a hard grader. (I took revolution & insurgency)

This man is my favorite professor I have ever had and it breaks my heart I can only take two classes from him.

Dr. Machoian was super cool & lenient especially during a pandemic. Manageable reading, interesting content, & good discussion though not vital to passing. Exams were very fair, essay based. Graded by few things but not a hard grader, & definitely notices who participates & who does not (this can define your grade!) Overall a good professor & class