About Me
Hello! I'm Samah (or
in Arabic, سماح), a PhD student in the Psychology Department at Stanford University. I work with
Michael C. Frank in the
Language and Cognition Lab
.
I study how children build the meanings of their first words, and what the field actually knows about this process versus what it assumes: which findings generalize across languages, procedures, and samples, and which don't. I consider myself a developmental psychologist under construction 😃.
When I'm not running studies with children or wrestling with statistical models and online experiments, I find myself questioning the scientific endeavor itself: the legitimacy of psychological findings and the nature of knowledge.
Outside of research, I enjoy listening to Arabic music, watching Arabic dramas, chatting with family and friends, and exploring the rich tradition of Islamic Sufism.
Background
I was born and raised in Khartoum, Sudan; right where the Blue and White Niles meet and the River Nile comes to life. If you’re curious to know more, check out my blog post: A Flesh in Palo Alto, A Soul in Khartoum.
Before Stanford, I earned a bachelor's degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Khartoum. But over time, I found thinking about the human mind far more captivating than thinking about circuits and engines. Now, I study little minds with big ideas and boundless curiosity; in other words, children.
انا بت مقرن النيلين :)
Want to read more? Visit my blogs:
Substack In English; essays on science and belief, and on what counts as evidence inside and outside the lab. Medium Mostly in English; reflections on living between cultures, science, and the immigrant academic experience. Blogspot Mostly in Arabic; more personal writing, thoughts, and things I want to say in the language most natural to me.
