Suraiya Yahia

Home Region
Dubai, UAE

What I'm Studying
Economics
Mathematics

Favorite Campus Food
Cortado from Blacksmith Coffee

Favorite Abu Dhabi Activities
Gatherings with friends around a bonfire on Kite Beach (between Yas and Saadiyat Islands)

Interests
Football, running, strength training, photography, exploring cafés and restaurants around town

Me in a Nutshell
Recommendation master — my friends say I'm better than TripAdvisor

"Coming to NYUAD is a no brainer."

I lived in Dubai during my final years of high school and had heard from several of my parents’ friends that NYU opened an exceptional campus in Abu Dhabi. Coming to NYUAD was a no brainer. I grew up in different parts of the world and have always been exposed to very international contexts: NYU Abu Dhabi was the perfect place for someone like me!

I think mathematics and economics is a great combination when it comes to having a versatile profile: math provides the rigor and depth of analysis while economics provide frameworks for real work issues.

Suraiya Yahia, Class of 2018

My economics Capstone attempts to provide empirical evidence of generational differences in job preferences. 

We often hear that millennials are different, and more likely to prefer flexible, less rigid jobs, and they care more about having an impact in their workplace.

While those are hypotheses that are advanced by many surveys and studies, scholarly literature very rarely tackles this question rigorously. I thought it would be an interesting issue to focus on.

Surprisingly, based on my data analysis, I found that generational differences do exist but millennials are not as different as claimed. It’s always interesting to find results that mitigate general claims.

Tough to pick a favorite professor, but I would say it’s professor Samreen Malik.

Ever since I took her International Economics class during my sophomore year, she has been pushing me and guiding me to surpass myself in research and post-graduate prospects.

I really appreciate that she is very straightforward and practical with her students. She is very frank with us and will not hesitate to rectify our mistakes, but will always make sure that we push our limits to deliver the best results that we can.

I think she is a good example of "the NYUAD professor”: impressively knowledgeable about her field, very invested with her students, and always there to support them.

Surveillance and Privacy is a J-Term course that I took during my first year.

I had enrolled in it without really expecting anything. I just thought the title sounded interesting.

It turned out to be an incredibly interesting course. The professor was a specialist in surveillance studies at Oxford University and had spent 10 years on the field with the London Police. Simply sitting in class and listening to him was incredible!

The course was very holistic. It took us from Foucault’s structure of the panopticon in prisons, to case studies on surveillance operations in Disneyland. We really learnt something new and different at each seminar.


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