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Shai finished and defended her dissertation, completing her interdisciplinary joint PhD in Linguistics and Cognitive Science at UCSD!

Shai co-first-authored a commentary along with other members of the Mayberry Lab: "An embodied multi-articulatory multimodal language framework: A commentary on Karadöller, Sümer and Özyürek" (Miles, Lynne Nielson, et al., 2025).

The first journal article on Shai's dissertation research was published, with co-author Rachel I. Mayberry, in Memory & Cognition: "Production of real signs but not pseudosigns affected by age of acquisition in American Sign Language" (Lynne Nielson & Mayberry, 2025).

Shai was awarded the inaugural Graduate Student who Advances Equity in Graduate Education Award from UCSD Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs (GEPA) .

In addition to being accepted for a poster presentation at the Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD 49) in November 2024, Shai received a Paula Menyuk Travel Award to attend the conference in person.

Shai was awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Linguistics Program Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement (Ling-DDRI) grant to fund her dissertation research on "Late first language acquisition effects on phonological processing in American Sign Language". This grant will fund her behavioral and neuroimaging studies investigating how late first language signers produce, perceive, and process phonology in ASL.

Shai was accepted into the UCSD Cognitive Science Interdisciplinary PhD Program (IDP) and upon graduating will receive a joint PhD in Linguistics and Cognitive Science. This program has requirements beyond those of the home department including additional courses, further dissertation committee requirements, and the requirement for an interdisciplinary dissertation to receive the joint degree.

At the end of school year celebration, Shai received a Distinguished Achievement in Service Award from the UCSD Linguistics Department for her on-going work in anti-racist and inclusive linguistics pedagogy.

After much preparation, Shai successfully advanced to candidacy after submitting and presenting her dissertation proposal as part of the UCSD Linguistics Department qualifying exam.

Collaborative work between Shai, UCSD faculty Marc Garellek & Emily Clem, and UCSD Librarian Tamara Rhodes on the creation of a History of Phonetics course from a social justice lens will be presented as a poster at the 20th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS) conference in August 2023.

Co-authors Shai and fellow UCSD Linguistics PhD student Rachel Miles gave a stage presentation for their work on cross-linguistic distribution of handshape and presented a poster for their work on cross-linguistic markedness of handshape at the Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research 14 conference in person in Osaka, Japan at the National Museum of Ethnography.

At the 2021 Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD46), Shai presented her latest research titled "Late First Language Acquisition Alters the Organization of the Phonological System of American Sign Language" in poster session 1.

Shai was accepted into the inaugural UCSD Changemaker Fellowship in Anti-Racist Pedagogy along with UCSD Linguistics Assistant Professor Emily Clem. As part of the fellowship, Shai and Emily will participate in the Anti-Racist Pedagogy learning community and expand their work in the Anti-Racist and Inclusive Linguistics Pedagogy Program.

After a (covid) year of data analysis and writing, Shai completed and passed her comprehensive exam in the UCSD Linguistics Department with her paper titled "Late First Language Acquisition Changes the Phonological System of American Sign Language".

Shai was accepted into the inaugural Anti-Racist Pedagogy Learning Community at the UCSD Teaching and Learning Commons.

In the first year of her PhD, Shai received the TA Excellence Award from the UCSD Linguistics Department for the 2019-2020 school year.

Shai was selected as a fellow in the Competitive Edge Fellowship Program at UCSD for the summer before her PhD program begins.

Shai is excited to announce her admittance to UCSD's Linguistics Department as a PhD student starting Fall 2019. She will be working with Dr. Rachel Mayberry and the incredible researchers in the Mayberry Laboratory for Multimodal Language Development.