Undergraduate Profile



photo Meredith DeBoom
Meredith DeBoom

Undergraduate


Meredith DeBoom was named to USA TODAY's 2009 All-USA College Academic First Team, honoring her for outstanding intellectual achievement and leadership.

 

The team of 20 was selected by a panel of judges from hundreds of students nominated by colleges and universities across the United States. Judges considered grades, leadership, activities, and -- most important -- how students extend their intellectual talents beyond the classroom.

 

DeBoom, a native of Sibley, Iowa, will graduate in May with majors in political science and international studies in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and minors in economics and geography. She was a founding member of the Iowa Policy Research Organization, a nonpartisan policy research center for the Iowa Legislature, and is a 2008 Truman Scholar, 2008 Udall Scholar, 2009 Rhodes finalist, and 2009 Marshall finalist, as well as the UI's Homecoming Queen.

 

DeBoom has also served as a teaching assistant, sorority president, three-term student government senator, United Nations Youth Representative, Honors Program student staff member, and founding member of a campus community service group. She has studied foreign policy in Russia, worked in community development in South Africa, and interned in the EPA's Climate Change Division.

 

After graduation, DeBoom will begin a position as a Truman-Albright Fellow and Environmental Policy Analyst in the Office of the Secretary of Transportation in Washington, D.C. She plans to pursue a career focused on energy policy and environmental and developmental policy.