Parekh attended Appoquinimink High School, where she chose a computer
science pathway because of how the knowledge could be “applied to
virtually any field and any issue,” she said. After enrolling as a
computer science major through the College of Engineering
with a minor in political science, she quickly realized that she wanted
to study both fields in depth and added a second major in political science from the College of Arts and Sciences.
“There were a lot of news stories about cyber-attacks, and I started
to realize that there's a huge connection between political science,
specifically social justice, and computer science,” Parekh said. “I
wanted to understand how technology can either uplift and hinder
marginalized communities, and how we can address that through policy.”
Parkeh has long been interested in the technical aspects of cybersecurity, and she is also part of UD’s Cybersecurity Scholars Program. While taking a class called Humanizing World Politics (POSC 409), taught by associate professor Matthew Weinert,
Parekh said she began thinking more about the political implications of
cyberattacks and how important it was to ensure that people around the
world have a sense of dignity and know their rights in cyberspace.
“As I delved into the topic further,” she said, “I was seeing more
about how cyber security technologies like spyware have been used to
infringe on human rights and human security, which is when the
connection between computer science and political science really started
merging.”
Parekh had the opportunity to delve even further into this area while conducting independent research as a McNair Scholar
during the summer after her sophomore year. Through this research, she
evaluated how spyware threatens human security and rights around the
world and provided several policy suggestions, including the need for
more studies on cyber weapons and a call for a moratorium on the sale of
spyware programs.
“We really need to focus on strengthening the link between digital
technology and cyber security, specifically with spyware, to very
clearly protect human rights and human security,” she said about the
findings of her research. “Because of the nature of digital
technologies, everything is interconnected, so a human digital security
concern for one person could cause a security concern to another person
halfway across the world.”
Weinert supervised her research.
“I was especially proud of the fact that Shreeya was grappling with a
new threat to human security — one that the UN Development Programme,
which introduced the human security framework in 1994, only began to
consider in early 2022,” Weinert said. “This is by definition avant
garde scholarship.”