Yousuf Abdelfatah is a research assistant at RAND’s Washington office. He received a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University in 2018 where he completed a double major in Political Science and Economics. As an undergraduate much of his coursework focused on global economics and Middle East policy. His senior honors thesis explored the role of youth entrepreneurship in the Middle East, its socio-economic effects, and the institutional obstacles facing young entrepreneurs. Prior to joining RAND he worked as an intern at The Brookings Institution’s Center for Middle East Policy where he conducted research on topics ranging from counterterrorism to congressional stances on the Middle East to political Islam using both English and Arabic language sources. Yousuf has a strong quantitative and qualitative background, and his research interests include, but are not limited to, the MENA region, political transitions, international development, human security, counterinsurgency, and global economic policy. He's also interested in quantitative methods and data analysis as well as the intersection between technology and public policy.