Matthew Niemi entered the CSAMES MA program (Middle East focus) in Fall 2010, soon after completing his undergraduate degree at UIUC in International Studies (Middle East focus) and with a minor in Linguistics, making this his sixth year on campus. He is fascinated by how people form their belief systems and act on them privately, publicly and politically, particularly in regards to the Abrahamic religions in the Middle East and the West. He was a recipient of the FLAS fellowship for the 2010-2011 academic year.