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Join our Ph.D in Educational Neuroscience Program for more information
Dr. Berteletti is an Associate Professor in the Ph.D. in Educational Neuroscience Program in the VL2 Center. She is also the Director of the PEN Distinguished Lecture Series and University Partnerships (MOUs) as well as the PEN-VL2 Student Leadership Team Faculty Liaison. In 2023, she became the Ph.D. in Educational Neuroscience Program Director.
Dr. Berteletti earned her Ph.D. in Cognitive Science from Università degli Studi di Padova (Italy). Her research at Gallaudet University is focused on understanding the influence of language experience, such as language modality or time of language acquisition, on the neurocognitive processes supporting numerical reasoning. In children, Dr. Berteletti aims to understand how language experience impacts the acquisition of early numerical concepts, whereas, in adults, she is interested in understanding the impact of language modality on arithmetical processing. Her lab uses various neuroimaging methods (fMRI and EEG) as well as different approaches (longitudinal and cross-sectional) to answer these research questions.
As a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University, under the mentorship of Dr. James Booth, she worked on developmental neuroimaging projects studying the brain networks involved in arithmetical processing in preteen children using fMRI, both in typical learners and children with math learning disability. She also worked under the mentorship of Dr. Dan Hyde at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, on a training project with 2 to 5 years old. The project aimed at identifying the neural markers of children's acquisition of foundational numerical concepts using the EEG. Her interest in numerical cognition started much earlier when she completed her master's thesis with Dr. Mauro Pesenti, Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium), investigating the neural correlates of simple and complex multiplication problems in adults using the PET scan.
Graduate Students
Lab Manager
Casey Spelman
M.S., CCC-SLP
Actively contributing to the Early Impact of Language project (NSF) and working on her fMRI dissertation.
Start year 2021
Bridget Lam
Graduated from Gallaudet University in 2023 with a BA in Psychology. Former research assistant for the Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (CAN) lab. Lab Coordinator for the NSF-funded Developmental Project since March 2024
Research Assistants
Elizabeth Droubi
Undergraduate majoring in Psychology. Joined the lab in the Spring of 2023 to work on the NSF Developmental Project as a tester and leading the Synesthesia Project.
Luisa Skjeveland
Undergraduate majoring in Elementary Education. Joined the lab in the Fall 2023 as a research tester working with children for the NSF Developmental Project.
Alina Williamson
Undergraduate majoring in Psychology. Joined NENS Lab in the Spring of 2024 as a Researcher Assistant working with children for the NSF Developmental Project. Also Working with the Phoneix Project.
Alona Zfati
Undergraduate majoring in Communications Studies. Joined the lab in Spring 2024 as a research tester working with children for the NSF Developmental Project.
Nicholle Bradach
Undergraduate majoring in Psychology. Joined NENS Lab in the Spring of 2024 as a Researcher Assistant working with children for the NSF Developmental Project.
Xin Lu Wall
Undergraduate majoring in Psychology and first year in School Counseling. Joined the lab in the Summer of 2024 as an intern assisting in processing information and then formally joined in the Fall of 2024 as a research assistant in various tasks
Shayla Rochette
Fourth-year undergraduate major in Communication Studies. Joined the NENS Lab in the Fall of 2024 as a researcher Assistant working with children for the NSF Development Project.
Also took the role of Social Media Coordinator.
Avem Volucris
Undergraduate BAI student. Joined the lab in Fall 2024 as a researcher tester working with children for NSF Development Project.
Erika Ramirez
Undergraduate majoring in Interpreting. Joined the lab in Fall 2024 as a researcher working with children for NSF Development Project,
Janell Hemby
Graduate student in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program. Joined the lab in the Spring of 2025 as a research assistant working with the children for the NSF Developmental Project.
Claire Clark
Graduate student in the Speech Language Pathology program. Joined the lab in the Spring of 2025 as a research assistant working on the NSF Developmental Project.
Former Graduate Students
Lauren Berger
Lauren successfully defended her dissertation on a project investigating ProTactile ASL in DeafBlind adults using a hyperscanning fNIRS paradigm.
Currently UX Senior Consultant @ Dell
Start 2016- Defended 12/15/2020
Sarah Kimbley
Actively contributed to the Early Impact of Language Project (NSF) and Remote Studies. Contributed to the EEG project.
Start year 2019 - Dissertation defense December 2023
SaraBeth Sullivan
SaraBeth Successfully defended her dissertation on ASL phonology's role in multiplication fact retrieval among native signers using fMRI.
Currently Student Service Manager @ NASA
Start year 2017 - Defended 11/22/2021
Former Team Members
Josephina (Selima) Carlin
Lab Manager Spring 2023 - 2024
Major: Communication Studies
Minor: Families and Children Studies
Joined the lab in 2022 to work on the NSF Developmental Project
Skylar Sherman
Skylar is from New York City and is currently a Junior at Boston University studying Deaf Education and Psychology. She joined the lab as part of the REU Site ASL-English Bilingual Summer School in Cognitive and Educational Neuroscience in the summer of 2023.
Courtney Kuehne
Fifth-year undergraduate student majored in Psychology. Courtney joined the lab in Spring of 2023 to work on the NSF Developmental Project.
Jane Selna
Junior majored in Interpretation and minored in Deaf Studies. Jane is also working on a certificate in Sexuality and Gender Studies. Jane joined the lab in the Spring of 2022 to work on the NSF Developmental Project.
Katie McClyman
Currently a undergraduate at Gallaudet University majoring in Psychology and minoring in Family and Child Studies. She joined the lab as part of the REU Site ASL-English Bilingual Summer School in Cognitive and Educational Neuroscience in the Summer of 2023.
Zahra Ketoun
Second-year graduate student in the Ph.D. Program in Critical Studies in the Education of the Deaf Learner. Zahra joined the lab in Fall 2021 to work on the NSF Developmental Project.
Markea Howard
Psychology major with an interest in criminology. More to come.
Adrianna Sandoval
Undergraduate psychology major. Joined the lab to work on the NSF Developmental Project.
Melissa Avino
A graduate student from the Department of Linguistics. Melissa joined the lab in Fall 2021 to work on the NSF Developmental Project.
Sami Thuahnai
Sami, a Certified School Psychologist, and current Psy.D. student in School Psychology, joined the lab in the spring of 2022 to work on the NSF Developmental Project.
Kurt Gagne
Actively contributing to the NSF funded project investigating the Impacts of Language Experience on Early Numerical Cognition.
Seanna Guettler
Former undergraduate student majored in Psychology, Seanna previously assisted Lauren on the hyper scanning data collection and then worked on the NSF Developmental Project.
Nicola Stein
Senior undergraduate student majoring in Psychology. Nicola joined the lab in Fall 2021 to work on the NSF Developmental project.
(Jerry) Doug Harrison
Doug was the lab coordinator starting in fall 2019 and resisted through the almost 2 years of the pandemic. He was responsible for the project management and test administration for the NSF project investigating the Impact of Language Experience on Early Numerical Cognition. He is now a graduate student at VTech!
Lexi Bullock
Former undergraduate student majored in Psychology. Lexi joined the lab in Fall 2021 to work on the NSF Developmental project.
Saivee Ahuja
High school research assistant working remotely from Westlake Village, California
Amanda Bowen
Amanda was a research assistant working on the EEG Arithmetic Project in 2019
Michael Dunham
Michael was a research assistant working on the Impact of Early Language Project in 2019-2020. He is currently pursuing a Master's of Arts in Linguistics at Gallaudet University.
Bryn Griswold
Bryn was a research assistant working on the Behavioral Arithmetic Project in 2018-2020
Hannah Guerrero
Worked on the Remote Research and the Impacts of Early Language Project.
A psychology major, she aspires to a career in counseling as a clinical psychologist.
Hannah Carter
Hannah was a research assistant working on the Impact of Early Language Project in 2019-2020. She graduated 2020 and currently pursues a Masters of Science in Biobehavioral Health at the University of Minnesota.
Kayla Scott
Kayla was a research assistant working on the EEG Arithmetic Project in 2018-2019
Grace Whitman
High school summer intern in 2019. Grace was a rising Senior working with the lab over the summer for 4 weeks. First high school student to join a PEN lab.
Erin Timperlake
Erin was a research assistant working on the Impacts of Early Language Project last in 2019-2020 and on the adult Behavioral Arithmetic Project in 2019
Lucas Lancaster
Lucas was a research assistant working on the EEG and Behavioral Arithmetic Projects from 2017 to 2019. With a Au.D., he is currently a clinical educator in the Hearing, Speech and Language Sciences Department where he is pursuing a Ph.D. degree.
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