Labs & Faculty
Please note that not all labs or faculty will be open for rotation and visits each year.
Associated Faculty
(or Potential Faculty Mentors)
(or Potential Faculty Mentors)
Dr. Susannah Levi
Program Director
Program Director
Dr. Levi is the director of the Acoustic Phonetics and Perception Lab, which examines spoken language processing across the lifespan.
Dr. Sudha Arunachalam
Program Director
Program Director
Dr. Arunachalam is the director of the LEARN Lab, which examines first language acquisition in children ages 5 and under, including typically developing children, children with language delay, and children with autism spectrum disorder.
Dr. Adam Buchwald
Dr. Buchwald directs the Psycholinguistics, Aphasia, and Neuromodulation Lab, which focuses on speech and language production and treatment in adults with acquired communication impairments.
Dr. Maria Grigos
Dr. Grigos directs the Motor Speech Lab, which focuses on speech motor control during development and rehabilitation following facial transplant surgery.
Dr. Eric Jackson
Dr. Jackson directs the Stuttering and Vvariability (savvy) Lab, which focuses on speech production and neural processing in children and adults who stutter.
Dr. Tara McAllister
Dr. McAllister directs the Biofeedback Intervention Technology for Speech Lab (BITS Lab), which focuses on technology-enhanced interventions for speech sound disorders.
Dr. Sonja Molfenter
Dr. Molfenter directs the NYU Swallowing Research Lab, which focuses on physiological measurement of both healthy and impaired swallowing with the goal of improving overall health, nutrition and quality of life.
Dr. Si On Yoon
Dr. Yoon directs the Communication, Memory, and Mind Lab which focuses on how people use social-pragmatic information in conversation and how this ability varies across populations.
Professional and Career Support Mentors
Dr. María Rosa Brea
Dr. Brea has focused her research and teaching on social justice, equity, and the intersections of ethnicity, language, and reading disabilities.
Dr. George Castle
Dr. Castle has carried out initiatives that support SLPs and audiologists as well as students, including through high school recruitment and academic support and mentoring programs.
Lab Tour Faculty
Dr. Ryan Branski
Dr. Branski’s research focuses on speech, voice, and swallowing disorders using gene therapy and
tissue engineering approaches.
Dr. Natalie Brito
Dr. Brito is a developmental psychologist whose research focuses on neurocognitive development and
the role of adversity/poverty on language and cognitive outcomes, including in bilingual children. She
uses EEG and behavioral techniques.
Dr. Catherine Hartley
Dr. Hartley’s research focuses on learning and memory in development. She uses a variety of techniques including neuroimaging, psychophysiology, computational modeling, and genetics.
Dr. Aaron Johnson
Dr. Johnson’s research focuses on voice rehabilitation and aging. Using an animal model, he examines relations between vocal training and neuromuscular change in the laryngeal muscles.
Dr. David Landsberger
Dr. Landsberger’s research focuses on optimizing the effectiveness of cochlear implants by developing new algorithms and other tools.
Dr. Gigliana Melzi
Dr. Melzi’s research focuses on the intersection of cultural and linguistic practices and their relation to early developmental outcomes, especially in the context of bilingual learners from immigrant Latine/x communities.
Dr. Kristie Patten
Dr. Patten’s research focuses on inclusive school-based intervention for students with autism spectrum disorder. She often speaks about disability justice and strength-based approaches to understanding and treating individuals with autism spectrum disorder.
Dr. Pablo Ripollés
Dr. Ripollés is a cognitive neuroscientist. His research focuses on reward-driven language learning, music, and memory consolidation.
Dr. Marjorie Rhodes
Dr. Rhodes’s research focuses on the impact of language on social development. Her recent work includes findings on how the language children hear affects their social identities in categories such as race, gender, and being a scientist.
Dr. Mario Svirsky
Dr. Svirsky’s research focuses on speech perception and production after cochlear implantation, including both clinical and scientific aspects of cochlear implantation.