Language is an instrument of human interaction used to share information in a variety of scenarios. How these systems develop across populations and how environment and input affect them, is incompletely understood. My interest in research is rooted in my field experiences as an interpreter; there have been instances where communication has been successful and instances of considerable breakdown. More precisely, I have noticed the possibility for breakdown associated with referential ambiguity between lexical expressions or the abstract use of physical space. I earned a bachelor’s in American Sign Language (ASL) with a minor in interpreting from Gardner-Webb University. While working as an interpreter, I achieved a Master’s in applied linguistics at the University of Massachusetts.

I joined the Harvard Laboratory for Developmental Studies and began working with Drs. Annemarie Kocab, Anthony Yacavone, and Jesse Snedeker. We have investigated questions related to language emergence, syntactic representations, and moment-to-moment comprehension. Specifically, I have worked to identify the systems for argument marking and word order in the emerging Nicaraguan Sign Language (LSN) and the nature of predictive processing during the comprehension of American Sign Language (ASL).

I will begin doctoral studies in the department of Cognitive Science at Johns Hopkins University in the fall of 2024. I aim to continue asking questions about the way humans are able to understand concepts across modalities and contexts, and the influences of language diversity and environmental factors on how people learn, produce, and understand the languages around them.