Appearing on U.S. news channel MSNBC on Tuesday (26May15), Taub explained he witnessed the so-called Arab Spring in Cairo, Egypt in 2011 and decided to put his journalist studies to good use by seeking out the families of youngsters snared by ISIS leaders.

Taub, who studied at Princeton and earned his master's degree in journalism from Columbia last week (ends22May15), has written a piece about his findings in the new issue of New Yorker magazine.