As a high school senior in her native Egypt in 2011, Mariam Ghanem knew she was watching history.
The January 25 Revolution that overthrew Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was boiling, and though it was often violent, the energy and emotion in a time of change “gave me the clarity as to what I want to be,” she said.
She wants to work with international organizations to influence conversations in the Middle East about issues such as economics, poverty and exploitation.
Ghanem, a member of the Honors College who is graduating in May with bachelor’s degrees in economics and global affairs, will get that chance. Selected for the prestigious Carnegie Junior Fellows Program, Ghanem will spend a year, beginning in August, in the Carnegie Endowment’s Middle East Program in Washington, D.C.
“I’m going to help scholars work on their research and provide my insight and perspective into what’s going on,” Ghanem said. “This is exactly what I want to do. I feel I’ve been working toward something like this.”
Ghanem was 6 when her family came to the United States and settled in Vienna, Va. Though they returned to Cairo seven years later, Ghanem enrolled at George Mason because of the university’s highly regarded Economics Department and proximity to Washington, D.C.
She’s had high-profile internships at the Federal Reserve and U.S. Department of the Treasury. Her undergraduate thesis compares the economic trajectories of Egypt and Turkey, and she is fluent in Arabic.
“She’s a top performer,” said Jason Dunick, an assistant professor and director of undergraduate programs for Mason’s Economics Department. “There are students you will remember 20, 30 years down the road. She’s one of those because she’s going places and will do exciting things.”
Such as being selected for the Carnegie program, which, according to its website, accepts only 10 to 12 graduating seniors out of an average 400 applicants each year.
“The bar is high for what they’re looking for,” said LaNitra Berger, director of the Office of Fellowships at the Honors College, who nominated Ghanem for the program. “To me, it’s a confirmation of her research ability and her strong qualitative and quantitative skills.”
“College is what you make of it,” Ghanem said. “Mason provided me the opportunity to expand my network. That’s what started me on my career path.”
That and Egypt’s January 25 Revolution.