Stephania is a McNair Scholar turned PhD. Candidate. Generally, her research interests are in disease ecology in nonhuman primates. Her doctoral research investigates risk mitigation strategies of diademed sifaka's to understand if these primates have evolved ways to reduce the dangers (parasites) while maximizing the benefits of resources, with soil (geophagy) as a resource of interest. The study will employ behavioral observation methods and microscopy methods for parasite identification.