Aruna Muthupillai is a current student and Dedman Scholar at the University of Texas at Austin majoring in Plan II Honors and International Relations and Global Studies. She is also currently pursuing a minor in Chinese. Growing up in a multicultural family, she has always harbored an interest for international affairs—especially in the Indo-Pacific region. In school, she organizes the Central Texas Model United Nations conference and works as an Undergraduate Research Assistant at the University of Texas at Austin. This summer, she served as a Political and Security Affairs Intern at the National Bureau of Asian Research in Washington D.C. A lifelong creative, she is a nationally ranked artist, serves as an Illustrator for the Daily Texan, and has produced content for various other campaigns and organizations.