In October 2013, shortly before Reyhaneh Sepehr of Milwaukee gave birth to her first child, her mother, Fatemeh Astaneh, arrived from Iran.
“My mom was my savior!” says Reyhaneh, a biomedical engineer who came to the United States with her husband, Ali Dashti, in 2010 so they could pursue doctorates at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. “With no experience, I would have drowned in exhaustion and depression.”