UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Halima Binte Islam, a public policy graduate student at Penn State, is passionate about using research to drive meaningful change. Originally from Bangladesh, Islam chose Penn State after visiting several universities, ultimately drawn to its beautiful campus and strong professional opportunities.
She was especially thrilled to join the master of public policy program in the College of the Liberal Arts, which closely aligns with her long-term goals.
“I used to work with a nonprofit before coming here, and I have an economics background,” Islam said. “I knew that I didn’t want to go into anything theory-based, but I wanted to go into grad school and get a master’s degree. This program aligns very well with what I am wanting to do after.”
One of the highlights of her time at Penn State has been the opportunity to engage in hands-on research. Islam is especially focused on projects related to digital inclusion and AI privacy policy. She is currently conducting a systematic review on smartphone ownership in developing regions, exploring how access to technology can empower communities.
“I try to see how social media platforms, smartphones and any type of new devices are helping people who are not very much forward in finance and knowledge-based, and how this is helping and how they are getting access,” she said.
Islam described Penn State as the perfect place to grow as both a scholar and a person.
“Being involved in research here has made me realize how much impact thoughtful, data-driven work can have,” Islam said. “The College of the Liberal Arts creates so many opportunities to collaborate with faculty and contribute to meaningful projects. That’s something I’ve truly valued during my time at Penn State.”
Before coming to Penn State, Islam had already explored how social media supports entrepreneurship among women in developing countries. At Penn State, she’s continued building on that interest through interdisciplinary roles, including as a research assistant in the College of Information Sciences and Technology, where she works on emotion recognition and affective computing.
“They work on large language models, and they want to see how effective large language models are in identifying emotions,” she said. “I help with a lot of research papers there, and I’ve been helping them write scripts.”
Islam has also served as a graduate assistant in the School of Public Policy since August 2023, assisting with a project on campaign finance laws and capital finance distribution in the United States.
Last summer, she interned at Antik Animated Studio in Bangladesh, where she helped develop employment policy and conducted budget analyses to improve financial monitoring systems.
“This was very administrative-based work, and this helped me to dig myself into the administration sector, how to communicate, how to deal with people, and how to build policies that align with employees.”
Outside of the classroom and research labs, Islam is an active member of Pi Alpha Alpha and serves on the executive board of the Penn State Public Policy Association.
After graduation, she hopes to work for an international organization and pursue a doctorate.