Dr. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh (born in 1946) is a world famous psychologist and primatologist. For more than four decades, she worked with great apes (especially bonobos and chimpanzees) and human language, first at the University of Oklahoma, then at the Yerkes Center, Georgia State University and finally the Great Ape Trust/IPLS located in Des Moines, IA. Among the great apes Sue raised is Kanzi whose linguistic competences made history. Dr. Savage-Rumbaugh authored or co-authored hundreds of research articles as well as several books, from Ape Language (Columbia: 1986) to Dialogues on the Human Ape (Minnesota : 2019; co-authored with Laurent Dubreuil). She is the recipient of two honorary degrees and has been featured among the Time 100 in 2011. She currently serves as President of Bonobo Hope, an initiative she founded.

Over the last few years, Savage-Rumbaugh participated in several events organized by Laurent Dubreuil at Cornell, all prefiguring the Humanities Lab. She is also a participant in The Ape Testimony Project.