Thesis Thursday -Samantha Davidson

Senior Biomedical Engineering Student, Samantha Davidson has always had a love for science. When she was six years old, she told her mother that she wanted to be an aerospace engineer. As she got older, she remained interested in building things and solving problems, but her focus turned to the human body.

In 5th grade, she wanted to know how different activities affected the human heart, so she collected her own heart rate data while performing different sports and presented it at the SARSEF (Southern Arizona Research, Science and Engineering Foundation) Science Fair. Her interest in the human body continued through high school when she had the opportunity to join a Sports Medicine Program through Sabino High School’s Career and Technical Education Program.

At the University of Arizona, Samantha has found a home in Biomedical Engineering, a program that combines her love of human health with engineering. She also is minoring in math.

This summer, Davidson has stepped out of the engineering world and into the world of molecular and cellular biology with the help of the University of Arizona’s Undergraduate Biology Research Program (UBRP). She is an undergraduate researcher in the Bolger Laboratory working under the guidance of principal investigator, Timothy Bolger, and assistant staff scientist, Telsa Mittelmeier.

When she isn’t in the lab or at class, she’s riding her bike or binge-watching cooking shows on Netflix.

Davidson’s research has been made possible by UBRP and funding granted by the Senior Vice President for Research (SVPR). She will present her findings at the 30th Annual UBRP Conference on January 26, 2019.