P.D. Soros Fellowship for New Americans

REZA SHABANI is the Vice President of Scientific Active Equity at BlackRock. He received his PhD in economics at the University of California at Berkeley.

Born in France in 1983, Reza was brought by an uncle to the US from his native Iran at the age of seven. He was granted asylum status which has since been converted to permanent resident status.

In 2006, Reza completed his BA, with highest honors, in economics and his MS in applied economics and finance from the University of California at Santa Cruz.

As an undergraduate, Reza participated in many research projects, one of which -- on the health consequences for veterans of the Vietnam War -- resulted in a joint authorship. At the University of California at Santa Cruz, Reza started a chapter of the Global Youth Partnership for Africa and through various fundraising efforts amassed enough money to improve the water supply of a slum area in Kampala. In addition to these efforts, he participated as an undergraduate in the African/Black Student Alliance's mentoring program.

At University of California at Berkeley, Reza primarily studies labor economics and development economics with an orientation towards issues of public policy.