She started in lockdown and came back for an MBA

Alya AlZeyoudi began at NYU Abu Dhabi in 2020, when classes went online and first-year meetings happened on Zoom. She says the professors were ready for the shift and the sessions stayed interactive. A materials course taught by Professor Khaled Shahin moved her into civil engineering, and he became her mentor.

The degree took her well beyond the classroom. In an engineering ethics course she travelled to Jordan to help build a house for a family, and in an elective on engineering for social impact she went to Mumbai to work on infrastructure for people in Dharavi. After graduating in 2024 she spent a year as a trainee analyst at Erth Zayed Philanthropies, helping develop programmes for basic needs at home and abroad.

In 2026 she returned to the Abu Dhabi campus for an MBA at Stern. She wants to own a business one day, and says knowing NYU Abu Dhabi well made the choice easy. She finds being among the youngest in a class that spans the US, China and India a little odd, but useful.