Ahmad Choudhury is currently a MA candidate at the School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University, where he is furthering his studies on the global challenges we face. Throughout his academic career, he has focused on various topics related to foreign policy, with such topics as the flashpoints in the Donbas region in Ukraine to the legal recourses available to Southeast Asian nations in dealing with Chinese BRI projects. He was the head delegate for Turkey at the US Army War College International Strategic Crisis Negotiation Exercise at NYU, where he dealt with the Syrian crisis. In December, he presented at the Moscow State Institution of International Relations conference on “international student conference on topical problems of international law.” Ahmad's greatest achievement thus far in research, analytics, and writing has been codified by his honors thesis, which examined the nexuses of climate change and migration patterns. He did this during his time as an undergrad at Georgia State University. During that time, he was also a member of the Sigma Nu Fraternity, Model UN, and Pakistani Student Association. He is currently finishing an internship at the State Department with the task of integrating Women’s, Peace, and Security into the Red Sea strategy.
Ahmad is excited to be part of this fellowship because it highlights America’s advantages in a globalized world. Americans will increasingly be competing with the world’s peoples, and that world is peoples of color. In America, more than any other country, we have a culturally diverse group of people. In America, you may have an individual like Ahmad who has a cultural background from Pakistan but is marinated in the democratic liberal ideals and values of an American because he was raised here. America has tremendous soft power, so the people we will compete with will know about our culture. It is high time we utilize and leverage the Americans who know about the world’s other cultures.
