Salwa Shameem is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago where she studied economics and political science. Her research interests in development economics and foreign policy led her to the Clinton Global Initiative University in 2012 where she presented her research on foreign aid effectiveness. She was selected to serve as a HIA Fellow in Paris, France and a finalist of the CNN Bernard Shaw Prize at her undergraduate institution.

She will be attending the University of Chicago to pursue a Master’s in Public Policy to study international development economics to understand the ways in which policy creation and evaluation can impact poverty alleviation in various global and domestic communities. Ultimately, she aims to work within the development sector of the United Nations, federal government, or NGO as a consultant. She also hopes to serve as an analyst for a major news network contributing to issues related to human rights and foreign policy.