Born in Macao, Lam received a Ph.D. in Music Composition from the University of California, San Diego in 1981. She has studied with Robert Erickson, Pauline Oliveros and Bernard Rands. Recently awarded a Rome Prize, Lam has also been the recipient of grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts and Meet the Composer. Among her commissioned works are Sudden Thunder for the American Composers Orchestra, Last Spring for Ursula Oppens and the Arditti Quartet, Impetus for Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra and Klang for Swiss Percussionist Fritz Hauser.