Mahsa Rouhi is a Research Fellow and Associate Professor at the National Defense University. She was previously an associate at the Project on Managing the Atom and a Research Fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies' Nonproliferation and Nuclear Policy Programme. She is also a research associate at MIT's Center for International Studies, where she has worked on various research projects since 2009.

She received her Ph.D. from King's College, University of Cambridge, UK. She received her B.A. in Economics from Shahid Beheshty University in Tehran, Iran, and her Master's Degree in Political Theory from University of Sheffield, UK.

She was a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at University of Miami from 2014–2016 where she taught courses on security and diplomacy in IR, conflict resolution, Islam and politics, and foreign policy with special focus on the Middle East region. She was a Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow and an associate with the International Security Program and the Project on Managing the Atom previously at the Belfer Center, 2010–2011. Her research primarily focuses on nuclear security and security policy in the Middle East region, Iran in particular. Her other research interests include energy security, Islam and politics, and civil-military relations.

She has published op-eds in the Boston Globe, National Interest, Al-Monitor, and Christian Science Monitor, and and serves as a consultant to national and international organizations. She conducts policy-relevant research as well as academic research.