Siddiqui moved to Houston, Texas on a student visa in 1990, joining her brother. She attended the University of Houston for three semesters, then transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after being awarded a full scholarship. In 1992, as a sophomore, Siddiqui received a Carroll L. Wilson Award for her research proposal “Islamization in Pakistan and its Effects on Women”. She majored in biochemical and biophysical studies at MIT, graduating in 1995 with a B.S. in biology. Siddiqui studied cognitive neuroscience at Brandeis University, receiving a Ph.D. in 2001 for her dissertation on learning through imitation. __