Lama Ahmad, Class of 2019, has been named as a recipient to the prestigious Luce Scholars Program, the first student from NYU Abu Dhabi to receive this award.
"As a Luce Scholar, I am looking forward to working on providing equitable opportunities for underrepresented people in technology, and I aspire to bridge the gap between policymakers and technologists to create and more ethical and representative technology landscape."
Home region: Dearborn, Michigan, US
Major: Social Research and Public Policy, minor in Interactive Media
Achievements and Aspirations
- Currently serves as President of the organization Women Empowered in STEM.
- Established an annual STEM conference for high school girls in Abu Dhabi.
- Currently serving on NYUAD's student government as the Diversity Committee Chair.
- Volunteered with the Girls Education Network on design thinking workshops and taught creative coding classes at STEMFest at NYU.
- Served as student chair of the NYUAD International Hackathon for Social Good for two years.
- Worked on political engagement education for Muslim-Americans as a Congressional Advocacy Intern at the Poligon Education Fund.
- Founding team member of a startup called Equal To, which is focused on bringing data and technology to nonprofit organizations and women-owned startups.
- Senior Capstone project investigates Twitter as a medium for propaganda in the 2016 US presidential election.
- Aspires to bridge the gap between policymakers and technologists to create a more ethical and representative technology landscape.
"I am honored to have the opportunity to represent NYUAD and my community as a Luce Scholar. I will be working with the Foundation on my placement in the coming months, but I hope to be working on technology education for women in Malaysia. I am so grateful for the support of my mentors and family during the process, and I look forward to continuing the global education that I've started as an NYU Abu Dhabi student."
Luce Scholars Program
Founded by the Henry Luce Foundation in 1974 to enhance the understanding of Asia among potential leaders in the American society, the program provides stipends, language training, and individualized professional placement in Asia for 15 to18 Luce Scholars every year. The program, open to both US citizens and permanent residents, is unique in that it is intended for young leaders who have had limited experience of Asia and who might not otherwise have an opportunity in the normal course of their careers to come to know Asia.
NYUAD Student Achievements
Since welcoming its first class in 2010, NYUAD students have received a number of notable global awards, including Rhodes Scholarships; Fulbright Awards; Schwarzman Scholarships; and the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship among others.
