Here is a little bit about my background. I grew up primarily in the Midwest. As a first generation college student, I studied Psychology and Biology at Greenville University (GU), where I also ran D3 cross-country and track. After 3 years, I completed my BA at GU, and in an effort to compete as an athlete in my 4th year, I began taking master-level courses in Teaching English as a Second Language. During this course-work, I quickly became more intrigued by the field of Linguistics, and I applied to Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC) to explore an MA in Linguistics and TESOL. 

I then spent 2 years at SIUC, where I worked closely with professors such as Jeffrey Punske (advisor), Vicki Carstens, Karen Baertsch, and Janet Fuller. It is at SIUC that I grew a strong interest in Synax (thanks to Jeff and Vicki), Phonology (thanks to Karen), Field Research (thanks to Vicki), and Sociolinguistics (thanks to Janet). 

After completing my MA, I moved to Boston, where I served as an AmeriCorps volunteer for a year, and worked as the Director of Literacy Volunteers of Massachusetts (Boston Affiliate) for another two years.

I then decided to return to academia, which led me back to the Midwest where I am currently pursuing a PhD in Theorectical Linguistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Here at UIUC, I have worked with professors such as Aida Talić (advisor), Jonathan MacDonald, Tania Ionin, Ryan Shosted, among others.  

Outside of academia, things that I enjoy doing include running, hiking, painting, traveling, visiting museums, attending performances in the arts, and reading.