Somia is a PhD candidate in political science, specializing in normative political theory and philosophy. Her academic work grapples with questions of risk involved in assessing potentially objectionable power dynamics among political actors in the face of uncertainty. In seeking to understand how individuals and groups can cooperate to live and work together meaningfully, her research draws on comparative methods from diverse traditions to examine the role of norms, rules and consequences when making ethical judgements. Her dissertation focuses on group dynamics in Ibn Khaldun’s political theory and speaks to the challenge of bridging theory and practice. Somia grew up in North Carolina after immigrating with her family from Egypt. She holds a BA in political science and a BA in foreign languages, Arabic language and culture, from North Carolina State University, as well as a MA in political science from Duke University.