Arwa Abdelshafy

A.B., Princeton University, 2026

Arwa was born and raised in New York City, where she enjoys going on long walks with friends, trying out different restaurants, and spending long hours looking through exhibits at the MET. Her academic and career interests lie at the intersection between chemistry, molecular biology, and neuroscience, which began during high school after taking a brief course on medicinal chemistry, as well as reading articles on the NIH in her spare time. She joined the MacMillan group at the end of her sophomore year to further explore her interests in biological chemistry hands-on and learn as many wet-lab skills as possible. When not in the lab, Arwa is a member of several volunteer organizations, including Princeton’s chapter of Camp Kesem, and enjoys staying active, especially through playing badminton and going on morning jogs with friends

Fun Facts

• Every day of the third grade, Arwa’s friend trained her rigorously on only lifting her left eyebrow repeatedly. This task was successful; ever since, she can no longer lift both her eyebrows repeatedly.
• An avid lover of neutral colors, Arwa has attempted to introduce new colors into her wardrobe but unfortunately, has not been very successful at it.
• Arwa has done martial arts (taekwondo and eventually, karate) since she was 3 years old. Her cat, Scooter, appears to have taken on some of Arwa’s favorite techniques.