Research Associate from LUMS Receives Fellowship from Carnegie Mellon University
Hajra Shahab, Research Associate at the Technology for People Initiative (TPI) in the Computer Science Department at the LUMS School of Science and Engineering, has been selected as the Women in Transportation Fellow for the 2020 incoming class at Heinz College, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). The fellowship will provide a full-tuition scholarship, a stipend and an opportunity to work at Mobility21, a US Department of Transportation centre at CMU. Ms. Shahab will pursue an MS in Public Policy and Management programme at the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy.
In addition to CMU, she has also received offers of admission with funding in various policy programmes at Harvard, Duke, University of Southern California, New York University, University of Chicago, The New School, Georgia Tech, University of Minnesota and National University of Singapore.
At TPI, Ms. Shahab has been engaged in the development of an Information Management System (IMS) for child protection cases in four of Pakistan’s provinces with UNICEF. Designing a bespoke system for people with low levels of digital literacy and different perspectives helped her understand the importance of context in policy design. She wants to further explore child-centric community planning such as transport connectivity especially in hotspot areas of child abuse.
Ms. Shahab believes that her time at TPI and the guidance she received from faculty members helped develop her interest in interdisciplinary studies around data analytics and policymaking. She hopes to work towards inclusive and safe urban spaces, explore technological breakthroughs to develop smarter, and well-connected mobility networks in cities.