Graduate Student in Linguistics at the University of Utah
Education/Degree:
BA Language and Cognition, Class of 2019Activities as a student:
As a student, I was in the Residential College and involved in RC Forums and the Undergraduate Linguistics Club. I also participated in research with Julie Boland (Psycholinguistics lab) and Nicholas Henriksen and Lorenzo García-Amaya, and I completed my senior thesis in Dr. Boland’s lab.
Since graduating from U-M:
After graduating, I moved to San Diego and worked as a lab coordinator in David Barner’s Language and Development Lab at UCSD Psychology. I am now a graduate student in Linguistics at the University of Utah. I’ve also been able to continue collaborating with the U-M Speech Production Lab over the past two years.
Career and other highlights that you're most passionate about or proud of:
- PhD student Applied Linguistics Northern Arizona University
- MA Linguistics University of Utah (2023)
- Lab Coordinator UCSD [Psychology] Language and Development Lab (2019-2021)
I’ve been able to mentor undergraduate and post-baccalaureate students in several capacities, both at U-M and at other institutions, which is really rewarding to me. I love helping others get excited about language research! Knowing that someone took a chance on me when I was an undergraduate, I am even more enthusiastic to give budding scientists the same chance.
How has your U-M Cognitive Science degree influenced your career path?
Cognitive Science at U-M was so much fun! I enjoyed intellectually engaging with professors from several disciplines, most of whom went above and beyond classroom instruction to inspire their students. The flexibility of the required coursework allowed me to explore my personal interests (language acquisition and bilingualism) while explicitly tying them back to my cognitive science degree. Even now, as I interact and collaborate with other faculty members across the field, I am constantly learning just how special of an opportunity I had to study under the experts at U-M. Finally, I find that my cognitive science background has prepared me to address empirical questions from multiple perspectives, which likely would not be the case if I had only majored in Linguistics or Psychology at the University of Utah. I’ve also been able to continue collaborating with the U-M Speech Production Lab over the past two years.
Career and other highlights that you're most passionate about or proud of:
I’ve been able to mentor undergraduate and post-baccalaureate students in several capacities, both at U-M and at other institutions, which is really rewarding to me. I love helping others get excited about language research! Knowing that someone took a chance on me when I was an undergraduate, I am even more enthusiastic to give budding scientists the same chance.
