They named her Shahrin, called her Simeen, and she decided at a very early age that world domination was the way to go. It should be noted that the name confusion and subsequent career aspirations are entirely unrelated.
Nonetheless, the move to the little town of Ann Arbor half way around the world at age nine was a fortunate stumble towards this goal in that it was the perfect opportunity to learn English and become a legitimate trouble maker via activism, earning the nickname Socratic Gadfly and various possible comic-hero titles by teachers and fellow students alike.
Upon graduating high school, she took a brief foray into The World Outside Ann Arbor, but due to lagging funds, ended up only as far as Detroit, where she had adventures involving ninja squirrels and a decided lack of cafes or places to hang out after dark. After a year of this nonsense, she decided home wasn’t so bad, (also, perhaps a better launching pad for future plans of world domination) and transferred to the University of Michigan, where she continues to “be a hellion” as noted by one astute professor (Thanks, Dr. Koch!) and use scholarship money for Alternative Spring Break trips to delightfully tropical third world countries not her own.
You may have seen her at Transfer Orientation panels, or at OATS meetings, or at various food-and-internet sources around campus. She also works as a Bengali Interpreter for the University of Michigan Health System, and as a webdesigner for the Ecocenter. Recently, she has been forced to abandon prostate cancer research at the University of Michigan Cancer Center to make time for independent research that will take care of two graduation requirements in one fell swoop.
Current projects (aside from all things OATS, of course!) include fundraising for The Girl Effect with the Bangladeshi Student Association, being an active member of the F-Word, and Bilateral.
Now, two months away from graduating with double majors in Biology and Women's Studies and a supposed foray into medical school in the near future, she has lulled parents and friends into a false sense of security. Don’t let this fool you: world domination? Still in the works.
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