Sara is an Iranian-American who moved to the US five years ago. With a bachelor’s degree in Industrial engineering and a Master’s in humanities, she is now doing her PhD in Religious Studies at UC Riverside. She worked as a research engineer for several years and was department manager at a prestigious R&D institution back in Iran. She currently conducts different research and translation projects. Two years ago, Sara interned at the Muslim Public Affairs Council’s LA office, where she learned about this fellowship. Her initial interest in NewGround fellowship was twofold: first and foremost, because she believes in the power of constructive interfaith dialogue toward peace building process -in Middle Eastern and in the world. Also, being born and raised in a Shia Muslim family in a country with Shia Muslim majority, she has not really been exposed to much cultural diversity. Her knowledge of interfaith and multicultural dynamics is mostly theoretical and has been shaped in academic environments. Since coming to America, she’s increasingly felt the freshness of a live social experience of such cultural encounters and their constructive effects. She believes that the NewGround fellowship is a place to compound these two aspects, hence to experience interfaith advocacy both in theory and practice.
