About me
Currently . . .
Following my roles at Google in both product policy and user research, I'm currently at Amazon working as a UX Researcher for advertiser experience on Amazon Ads.
It's been an exciting path that has led me here, and I'm grateful for the diverse set of experiences in different sectors and academic disciplines that have brought me here. If you're interested in learning more about my unique path, check out the summary below.
Undergraduate Education:
My academic journey to become a language scientist also began at the University of Maryland, College Park, where I received a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a Bachelor of Arts in Germanic Studies in 2008. During my undergraduate studies, I worked as a research assistant in the Laboratory for Automation Psychology and Decision Processes, worked as a Peer Career Educator at the University Career Center, and volunteered for Performing Arts Repertory Company nonprofit organization. I received support through multiple scholarships including the President's Scholarship. I graduated magna cum laude, and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.
Post-Baccalaureate Research Fellowship at NIH
In the year after I graduated from college, I worked as a Post-baccalaureate Research Fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health at National Institutes of Health, where I conducted research on sex differences in working memory and attention impairments in mouse models of schizophrenia (COMT knockout & transgenic mice). This work eventually resulted in two publications that can be found in the publication section of this site.
Doctoral Education at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
I spent a year conducting research as a doctoral student at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in Prof. Andrei Cimpian's Cognitive Development Laboratory (Andrei's lab has since moved to New York University). I received support from the Rue Miklos Fellowship. Here, I conducted research on how language about categories influences young children's conceptions as well as performance and achievement motivation. This line of work resulted in several publications that are located in the publication section of this site, and this along with Andrei Cimpian's other projects have been featured in a number of popular news sites (e.g., the Huffington Post).
Doctoral Education at Carnegie Mellon University
I transferred to Carnegie Mellon University in 2010, where I earned both my Masters (2012) and Ph.D. (2015) in Developmental Psychology under the supervision of Prof. Erik Thiessen. My doctoral work in the Infant Language and Learning Laboratory focused on how statistical learning abilities support speech segmentation and language learning in infants, children, and adults, and how general cognitive abilities (e.g., working memory) may support language learning. I collaborated with many researchers, both in my department as well as at other universities. My doctoral research has resulted in many publications and presentations that can be found in other sections of this site.
My doctoral work was supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program. As a graduate student, in addition to conducting research, I served on multiple committees, coordinated and supervised a team of undergraduate students working at the Infant Language and Learning Laboratory, organized the Development Discussion Group Colloquium series, and organized a symposium at the 8th biennial meeting of the Cognitive Development Society in 2014 on the characteristics that make a linguistic utterance a good label. I also served as a teaching assistant for multiple courses, and was the sole instructor for an upper-level course on Developmental Research Methods. Based on my teaching evaluations, I received the Herb Simon Graduate Teaching Award.
This is a visualization of the frequency with which certain words appear in my dissertation. "Statistical" appears 843 times in the document.
Post-doctoral Research Fellowship in Göttingen, Germany
In June of 2015, I accepted a brief Post-doctoral Research Fellowship at the Georg-August Universität Göttingen, and moved to Germany for 7 months. In Germany, worked in the Wortschatzinsel with Prof. Nivedita Mani, and designed studies exploring word learning processes in German infants (while enjoying the opportunity to travel and be humbled by remembering how challenging the German language is).
Post-doctoral Research Fellowship at the University of Maryland, College Park
In January of 2016, I moved to DC after accepting my current position at the University of Maryland, College Park. As a postdoctoral researcher in the Language Development and Perception Laboratory, run by Prof. Rochelle Newman, who also serves as Chair of the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, I conducted research on infant, child, and adult language comprehension and learning in the presence of background noise. I was involved on-going work investigating the extent to which the disproportionate difficulties infants and young children face listening in noise may stem from difficulties with selective attention.
AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship in Washington, DC
From September 2017 to June of 2019, was AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow hosted by the National Science Foundation. I contributed to a variety of programs and initiatives related to data science, among other activities (e.g., helping with communications) for the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering. I also began my (currently ongoing) tenure as an editor for Sci on the Fly, the AAAS Fellows' Science Policy Blog. During my fellowship, I enjoyed sharing my unique perspective with the computing and technology community, particularly in the context of data science ethics. The fellowship experience really opened my eyes to what kinds of career paths exist beyond the traditional academic path, and to how many different ways there are to make an impact on the world while drawing on my scientific training.
Directing Science Programs at the Society for Women's Health Research
Prior to Google, I was the Director of Scientific Programs for the Society for Women's Health Research (SWHR). In this role, I applied my research training to SWHR's mission to improve women's health through science, policy, and education. This work largely involved organizing workshops that convened experts in women's health topics, and publishing white papers in peer reviewed journals to explore and highlight gaps in research, education, policy, and practice.
Other Professional Activities
In addition to research, I volunteer for organizations such as The Association for Psychological Science. Through the Language Science Center at the University of Maryland, I volunteered at the Future Stem Leaders meeting held in DC in the spring of 2016. I serve as a peer-reviewer for multiple journals, conferences, and student grant and presentation competitions. As a graduate student and a post-doctoral researcher, I've collaborated with many professors and researchers at a national and international level. I think data analysis can be a lot of fun, and completed a Coursera class on the topic to supplement my doctoral studies. I've enjoyed teaching (as a university instructor and teaching assistant as well as a children's ballet teacher), and fulfilled the necessary requirements to receive a teaching certificate during graduate school. I have also had the chance to teach informally as a mentor, and have been energized by working with many talented undergraduate students (and the occasional high schooler) over the course of my academic career. In the summer of 2016, I attended a mentor training to strengthen my mentoring skills.
I'm passionate about language development, literacy, bilingualism, and child development, and am always seeking ways to get more involved in sharing my excitement and knowledge of these topics with local communities.
Hobbies & Nonacademic Interests
When I'm not conducting research, I enjoy traveling, dancing, attending concerts, playing overly complicated board games, staying physically active, and reading. I don't think I could ever pick a single favorite author, but F. Scott Fitzgerald would definitely be a contender. I'm a big science fiction and fantasy fan (books, television, and video games), but recently I've been reading more trashy pop fiction in German (unfortunately my German reading abilities aren't good anything for anything high quality). I'm a long-time amateur (and often injured) ballet dancer at the Ballet Academy, and volunteer at its affiliated nonprofit organization the Performing Arts Repertory Company (PARC).
As much as I adore Patrick Stewart, I'm obsessed with Leonard Nimoy and prefer Star Trek TOS to TNG, I have a strange obsession with Gollum. My patronus is a salmon, and I'm a Ravenclaw 75% of the time (25% of the time I'm a Gryffindor, for anyone concerned about the psychometric properties of the Harry Potter house sorting process). I've been known to own an unreasonably large collection of inflatable dinosaurs, as well as shark and monster costumes.
As should come as no surprise, I'm a bit obsessed with language. I'm a recovering linguistic prescriptivist, because as much as I love grammar and stylistic rules, I'm an advocate for social justice and many have pointed out that linguistic prescriptivism tends to favor certain groups or classes over others.
This note card is among some of my most prized possessions --------->
All credit belongs to Dr. Jean Berko Gleason, Professor Emerita at Boston University.
