Shireen Nasir

Shireen Nasir, a political science major and Spanish minor from Houston, Texas, graduated from Rice University in 2009. She assisted Shelby Gonzales of the All Kids Covered program at America’s Promise Alliance in Washington, D.C., in summer 2008 with research on increasing Medicaid and SCHIP coverage for children. She presented the results of her research, “New Federalism and its Lack of Influence in Health Policy,” at the Baker Institute in August 2008. Shireen was recommended by Lisa Balabanlilar, professor of history at Rice University. Shireen was a research intern with the Joint City County Commission on Children in Houston, Texas, in summer 2007, and from fall 2007 to spring 2008 received a Social Sciences Undergraduate Research Enterprise (SSURE) award from the Office of the Dean of Social Sciences at Rice University to conduct field research in Pakistan on the social empowerment of women. In spring 2009, she studied Turkish in Ankara with additional support as a Rice International Ambassador, and in summer 2009 worked as a research intern at the Baker Institute for Erika de la Garza, program director of the Latin America Initiative. She received a Rice University Wagoner Fellowship to return to Turkey in fall 2009 for additional study and work with Kader, a nongovernmental organization specializing in women’s rights issues.