Why Research Wednesday: Sammy Lai

Samantha (Sammy) Lai is a senior majoring in Anthropology and Human Biology on the pre-med track with a minor in Music. She researches in the anthropology department as a part of the APE Lab under Dr. Lonsdorf. Her project focuses on the health of chimps in Gombe National Park in Tanzania. 

Sammy has been involved in research since spring semester of junior year and she first heard about this lab by her major advisor, Dr. Lindo, through which she later got involved with. 

Sammy had an interview with her PI about what her research was focused in and she thought it was interesting that they were able to use the health collected from chimps to study current epidemics in human populations. She was given the option between studying mother infant data of chimps and health data, and she chose health because it was more interesting to her.  

Sammy states that research teaches you discipline and working with a PI has given her a one-on-one relationship with a mentor in the anthropology field. She has learned how to handle data and use different databases. 

Sammy's current goals are to continue tracking the spread of disease in chimpanzee populations and her future goals are to be able to utilize these skills as a future physician.