Jennifer Shin ’13 has been selected for a Thomas R. Pickering Fellowship that will support her studies of security issues in the Korean peninsula and international relations in East Asia.

Funded by the Department of State and administered by The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars, the Pickering Fellowship Program provides undergraduate and graduate students with financial support, mentoring and professional development to prepare them for a career in the Department of State Foreign Service. 

Shin was among 20 fellowship recipients chosen from some 500 applicants. A native of Englewood, New Jersey, who lived in South Korea before returning to the U.S. at age 13, Shin earned a bachelor’s degree in International Studies with a political science concentration and minors in Asian Studies and economics from Boston College. 

 After working at Samsung SDS in Seoul for three years, Shin has served for the past year as a part-time research assistant at the Sejong Institute, a leading South Korean think-tank researching national security, unification strategies and regional issues. 

“Through the training, career counseling, mentoring, and networking with Pickering Fellowship, I hope to be better suited to negotiate on policy issues with foreign governments from a variety of perspectives,” said Shin, who will attend the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies this fall. 

“My ultimate goal is to support U.S. government efforts in improving East Asian stability and achieving the long-term goal of a nuclear-free Korean peninsula, with my intimate understanding of the region through overseas duties. As a Foreign Service Officer, I hope to help the U.S. bring South Korea, Japan, and China closer together and effectively elicit their cooperation to address regional conflicts as a whole.”

-University Communications