Graduate Students
Mia Coutinho
B.S. Neuroscience, Lafayette College
First year Ph.D. student in the Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience
Research interests: first- and second language acquisition, language recovery post-stroke, plasticity, educational neuroscience, and literacy development.
Marla Dressel
BSc Psychology, University of Groningen
MSc Psychology, University of Amsterdam
First-year Ph.D. student in the Psychology Program with a concentration on Lifespan Cognitive Neuroscience and Cognitive Sciences
Research interests: social neuroscience of empathy and psychopathy, prosocial and antisocial behavior, computational modeling, neuroimaging, open science
Carolyn Gershman
B.A. Brain and Cognitive Sciences and American Sign Language, University of Rochester
Second year Ph.D. student in the Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience
Research interests: Language and cognition, neural organization and plasticity, sign language and deafness
Genevieve Hayman
B.A., University of Redlands; M.A. Philosophy, University College Dublin
Fifth year Ph.D. student in Philosophy
Research interests: Phenomenology, temporality, and embodied cognition.
Jessica Kotfila
B.A. Linguistics and Psychology, Smith College
Fourth year Ph.D. student in Linguistics and Cognitive Science
Research interests: primary language acquisition with a focus on syntax, semantics, and language change as it pertains to language learning.
Josh Linden (he/him)
B.A. Psychology, Oberlin College
Third year Ph.D. student in Theoretical Linguistics and Cognitive Science
Research interests: The syntax-semantics interface, cognitive approaches to Minimalist syntax, neurodivergent cognition, the evolutionary history of human language and cognition
Zhuosi Luo
B.A. China Foreign Affairs Univeristy; M.A. China Foreign Affairs University
Third year Ph.D. student in Linguistics (theoretical) and Cognitive Science
Research interests: the learnability and evolvability issues of language; domain-general cognition
Flo Martinez Addiego
B.S. Neurobiology & Mathematics, Georgetown University; M.S. Neuroscience, Georgetown University
Second-year PhD student in the Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience
Research interests: sensorimotor integration, computational modeling, action representations
Jakob Prange
B.S. Computational Linguistics, Saarland University
Fifth year Ph.D. student in Computer Science
Research interests: Meaning representations and grammar formalisms for computational language understanding; machine learning.
Alumni
Katrina Ferrara
Present position: Scientific Program Analyst, Office of Autism Research Coordination, National Institutes of Health
B.A. Psychology and English, Williams College; M.A. Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University; Ph.D. Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Center for Brain Plasticity and Recovery, Georgetown University, and the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center, Children’s National Health System
Research interests: intellectual and developmental disabilities, visual-spatial cognition, cognitive development
Alix Fetch
Present position: Clinical Research Program Manager, Children’s National Heart Institute, Children’s National Hospital
B.A. Linguistics, University of Michigan; Ph.D. Linguistics, Georgetown University
Research interests: hierarchical structure in language and action; language acquisition, processing hierarchical structure in the brain.
Heidi Getz
Present position: Assistant Professor, Department of Neurology and Center for Brain Plasticity and Recovery
B.A. Linguistics and French, Georgetown University; M.S. Linguistics, Georgetown University; Ph.D. Linguistics, Georgetown University
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Center for Brain Plasticity and Recovery, Georgetown University
Research interests: how children learn correlations among patterns of syntax and morphology; how the brain processes syntax.
Joshua McCall
Present position: Medical student completing the final 2 years of MD degree
B.A. Psychology, McGill University; Ph.D. Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Georgetown University
Research interests: Aphasia, Speech Error Monitoring, Cognitive Control, Neuroimaging, and Stroke.
Shannon Mooney
Present position: Data Scientist, Student Success, Coursera
B.A. Linguistics, Anthropology, New York University; M.A. Linguistics, University of Toronto; Ph.D. Linguistics, Georgetown University
Research interests: language variation and change, quantitative sociolinguistics, and usage-based approaches to phonology and morphosyntax.
Kathryn Schuler
Present position: Assistant Professor, Department of Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania
B.A. Brain & Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester; Ph.D. Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Georgetown University
Research interests: how language is acquired by young children; statistical learning, learning rules and variation.
Betsy Sneller
Present position: Assistant Professor, Department of Linguistics, Michigan State University
B.A. English Literature, Calvin College; M.A. Sociolinguistics, University of Essex; Ph.D. Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Learning and Development Lab, Georgetown University
Research interests: sociolinguistics, language variation and change, phonology, experimental sociolinguistics, experimental phonology.