Ruben grew up in Paris, France and received a degree in international relations with a minor in economics in 2019 from Pomona College in Southern California. As an undergraduate Ruben received the National Security Education Boren scholarship to study Wolof in Dakar, Senegal, where he conducted research on the intersection of music and democratic movements and directed a documentary on traditional wrestling. On-campus, Ruben was a research assistant for the Minerva Research Initiative, a project commissioned by the Defense Department to understand African countries’ response to international interventions.

As a high school senior, Ruben traveled to Conakry, Guinea, during the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak to work with #AfricaStopEbola, a prevention campaign funded by USAID, the CDC, and the White House. Ruben continued his commitment and interest in global health by interning at UNAIDS in 2016, the NYU Music and Social Lab in 2018, and the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations in 2019. After graduating MSFS with a concentration on Global Politics and Security, Ruben will join the Department of State Foreign Service as a 2019 State Department Rangel Fellow.

Ruben speaks French, Spanish, Wolof and is learning Swahili.

"What better program to prepare me for the Foreign Service than the Master of Science in Foreign Service?"