Sydney Macgregor '22
BS Human Evolutionary Biology

Where are you originally from?

I’m originally from Clifton Park, NY (a town just outside of Albany)

On Stony Brook University:

Many students from my high school went to Stony Brook, including some of my friends who encouraged me to apply.

Major/minor: 

I am a Human Evolutionary Biology Major (EBH) and a Health, Society, and Medicine Minor. I chose EBH because the major allows me to take fascinating anthropology classes and explore my interests while also getting credit for my pre-med prerequisite classes. I chose the Health, Society, and Medicine minor after taking SOC 105 and realizing how little I knew about sociology and wanting to know so much more about it, especially because I think this knowledge will make me a better physician in the future.  

Greatest achievement? 

I consider my greatest achievement in college to be completing my senior honors thesis project. I am incredibly grateful that my research mentors (Abigail Nishimura, IDPAS Ph.D. Candidate; and Dr. Gabrielle Russo in the Department of Anthropology) allowed me to take on an independent research project for my senior year and have given me valuable guidance and advice from beginning to end. With their help, I designed and implemented my project, “Degree of lumbar lordosis across age and sex using a modified surface landmarking method.” Most recently, I had the opportunity to present my project as a poster at the URECA symposium and had a great time sharing my work with friends, other students, and faculty. 

Awards & Accolades: 

I am very proud to say that I was recognized as a recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence and of an Academic Achievement Award from Stony Brook. I will be graduating Phi Beta Kappa and am currently a candidate to graduate with Honors in Human Evolutionary Biology. Additionally, I am a Presidential Scholarship recipient and have been named to the Dean’s List every semester at Stony Brook. 

Plans for post-graduation:

I will be taking a gap year next year while I apply to medical school. For my gap year, I will be working as an Emergency Room Technician and doing some traveling! 

Career aspirations:

I am working towards becoming a physician and I hope to eventually hold an academic role that allows me to treat patients, do research, and teach future students. 

Clubs/organizations:

On campus, I served as Secretary (Fall 2020) then President (Spring 2020 to Spring 2022) of the Undergraduate Anthropology Society. I have also been a member of Phi Delta Epsilon International Medical Fraternity since Fall 2019 and served as Academic and Scholarship Chair from Spring 2020 to Fall 2020. I am also a member of the Care Team, a Red Watch Band trainer, and a Narcan trainer for CPO. 

Off campus, I have been a volunteer EMT with Port Jefferson EMS since Fall 2019 and served as a Field Training Officer for new EMTs since Spring 2021. 

Advice for future Seawolves? 

I would encourage potential Seawolves to put themselves out there and try to get involved and take advantage of every opportunity they can. I made so many amazing connections with others through my clubs and extracurriculars, which helped me with many of my achievements over the last four years. 

Favorite SBU memory?

I will always remember the feeling of being on campus and knowing that I am surrounded by supportive friends and mentors. I’m incredibly grateful to have met people who I know will be lifelong friends and who I know will always have each other’s backs.