In working on the student-alum FAQ I heard from Julia Becker '05 who this summer started an internship at the State Department as part of her MPA at Cornell's Institute of Public Affairs. She writes that she's taking classes, writing her master's thesis and working over thirty hours a week at the State Department's Office of International Religious Freedom in a paid position. Her research looks at "how the variation in government regulation of religion impacts the emergence of extremist groups and the prevalence of terrorist attacks." As she notes, if her hypothesis is backed up by her data, then it will be useful in persuading foreign governments that restricting religious freedom is more likely to breed extremism.
In addition, the office's annual report to Congress on religious freedom was published in September. Julia is mentioned in the the preface "and my handiwork can be seen in the Central Asian reports (Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan)." http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2007/
Way to go, Julia!
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