By Jessica Martin (GRS`28)

This summer, I mentored two rising high school seniors, Lila Cannon and Shiaowei Qu, through the GROW Program. The program places students in STEM labs across BU. Over six weeks, they became part of the Sensory Morphology and Anthropological Genomics Lab and experienced what research in biological anthropology entails. They contributed to two ongoing projects involving yellow-tailed woolly monkeys (Lagothrix flavicauda). One focused on dietary diversity using fecal DNA metabarcoding to identify what the monkeys were eating, while the other examined sex-biased dispersal through genetic analysis. Day by day, they gained experience with DNA extraction, quantification, PCR, Oxford Nanopore sequencing, and introductory bioinformatics. They also learned the less glamorous but equally important task of cleaning behavioral datasets, discovering that careful data management is just as critical as generating results at the bench.

Their learning reached well beyond the lab. In BU’s summer course, The Evolution of the Human Diet, they explored topics such as dietary adaptations, digestive physiology, the role of cooking in evolution, and the health consequences of agriculture. Over lunches with BU anthropology graduate students, they heard stories of fieldwork, research challenges, and the unpredictable paths of academic life. On field trips to the Franklin Park Zoo, the Harvard Museum of Natural History, and the Broad Institute, they saw science in action: conservation discussions while observing nonhuman primates, evolutionary history traced through fossil displays, and glimpses of how genomics is shaping the future of research. Each experience revealed new dimensions of their projects and showed how their efforts connected to the wider scientific community.

By August, Lila and Shiaowei were ready to present their findings. They shared their work at both the EBE Biology UROP Symposium and the GROW Symposium. Watching them explain their results was one of the most rewarding parts of my summer. In just six weeks, they had grown into young scientists, able to handle challenges, analyze data, and communicate with confidence. Programs like GROW matter because they allow young students from a variety of backgrounds to see themselves in science, feel at home in the lab, and build the skills and assurance needed to pursue careers in STEM.

Jessica Martin is a PhD student in Biological Anthropology working under the advisement of Dr. Christopher Schmitt in the Sensory Morphology and Anthropological Genomics Lab. Her dissertation research focuses on comparing the gut microbiomes of vervet monkeys living in two wild locations in South Africa. She wants to learn how the environment shapes host-associated gut microbial communities. Jessica is particularly interested in how the gut microbiome responds to external factors such as diet and its potential contributions to host health. Prior to attending Boston University, Jessica completed her B.S. (Honors) in Neuroscience and Behavior at Florida Atlantic University.