Lab Members

Personnel

Dr. Karen Emmorey Dr. Karen Emmorey is a Professor in the School of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences at San Diego State University and Director of the Laboratory for Language and Cognitive Neuroscience. full bio
Dr. Shannon Casey Shannon Casey received her Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of California, San Diego and is a part-time lecturer in the Human Development Program there. Casey's research focuses on relationships among gestures, signed languages, and spoken languages, particularly through analyses of gestural productions by hearing non-signers, hearing native ASL signers, hearing novice signers, and deaf children acquiring ASL as a native language. In this vein, she has studied the possible gestural origins of verb agreement morphology in signed languages and the influence of ASL acquisition on co-speech gesture.
Rachael Colvin Rachael Colvin received her B.A. from the University of California, San Diego in Linguistics with a focus in American Sign Language. She then spent a year in Germany studying at the University in Goettingen and learned German Sign Language while working at Gebaerdenwerk in Hamburg. She is currently working towards a Master's and Teaching Credential in Deaf Education at UCSD and working part time in the lab as a Research Assistant.
Melissa Herzig email not available Melissa Herzig is a Deaf graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in Deaf Education at UCSD. She has worked on the nature of ASL classifier constructions and is interested in how signing space can be best used to facilitate understanding in educational settings. She is developing an ASL assessment scale for use with K-12 students.
Adam Jarashow Adam Jarashow received his B.A. in History, along with minor in Deaf Studies, from Gallaudet University in Washington, DC. He is an avid traveler, as he has been to 15 countries last summer alone. His traveling experience includes teaching at a deaf school in Bohol, Philippines, and partaking in Deaflympics at Melbourne, Australia as Team Handball player. All of this experience led to his fascination and knowledge of International Sign Language. Due to his passion working with youth adults, he aspires to be a teacher at High School someday. He is currently working at LLCN as new full-time Research Assistant.
Franco Korpics Franco Korpics received his BA in American Sign Language studies from Gallaudet University in Washington, DC. Currently, Franco is a part-time Research Specialist in the lab and an ASL Instructor at SDSU. Franco is also pursing a Master's degree in Social Work at SDSU.
Clifton Langdon Clifton Langdon is a native San Diegian and a graduate from CSU San Marcos with a B.A. in Linguistics. He has moved to Washington D.C. to earn his doctorate in Linguistics, but still works for LLCN from his new cramped cave in D.C. His current focus is second language acquisition. On his off-time, he likes to read and spend time outdoors or travel.
Heather Larrabee Heather Larrabee is a super-senior at UCSD majoring in Linguistics-Cognition and Language. She has worked in Karen's lab since June of 2004 as a Research Assistant. She took her first ASL class in 2002 and plans on going to graduate school to become a Physician's Assistant with a specialization in neurosurgery and possibly becoming an ASL interpreter on the side. After taking a year off school to work for the humanitarian aide organization, Invisible Children, she decided that she wants to travel around the world and do relief aide in the medical field when she finally decides to grow up.
Dr. Stephen McCullough Stephen McCullough is a Research Scientist in LLCN. He uses functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to investigate the neural systems that underlie sign language and the cognitive systems that support sign language processing (e.g., face recognition, motion perception).
Dr. Brenda Nicodemus Brenda Nicodemus received a Ph.D. in Educational Linguistics from the University of New Mexico. She has researched gender variation in interpretation, repetition in ASL discourse, categorical perception of signed languages, ASL narrative, and interpretation of ASL metaphor. Her dissertation, "The Use of Prosodic Markers to Indicate Utterance Boundaries in ASL Interpretation," was awarded a Pass With Distinction. Brenda has been a signed language interpreter since 1989 and holds the CI, CT and NIC-Advanced from the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. Brenda has taught at various postsecondary institutions, and, in 2003, was selected as the UNM Teaching Assistant of the Year.
Erica Tara Lily Parker Erica Tara Lily Parker received her B.A. in the field of American Sign Language studies from Gallaudet University in Washington, DC. During her college days, she went to Orebro, Sweden as exchange student at Orebro University for a semester to study Deaf Education of Sweden and learned Sweden Sign Language which led her knowledge of International Sign Language too. She had internships teaching ASL at deaf schools in Sweden and Norway. Later on, she taught English and ASL at deaf school in Bangkok, Thailand. Currently, Erica Tara Lily Parker is a new full-time Research Assistant at LLCN.
Dr. Jennifer Petrich Jennifer Petrich received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Maryland, Baltimore in 2004. Dr. Petrich's previous research focused on visual motion processing and attentional processing differences between normal and dyslexia readers and between deaf signers and hearing non-signers. Currently, Dr. Petrich's interests lie in studying the neural mechanisms that underlie language and motion processing in deaf signers.
Dr. Jill Weisberg Jill Weisberg received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Georgetown University, where she used functional brain imaging to examine spatial processing and object recognition in deaf and hearing populations. Since 1993, she has also been a member of the Laboratory of Brain and Cognition at NIMH, focusing on various aspects of learning and memory. Those studies explored how concepts are represented in the brain (e.g. objects concepts, social interaction) using functional brain imaging. Prior to that, Jill completed a B.A in French and an M.A. in Experimental Neuropsychology at George Mason University.

Students

Christiana David email not available Christiana is a Junior at San Diego State University majoring in Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences with a minor in Psychology. So far she has taken three semesters of American Sign Language and intends to take more. Since her first ASL class she has become interested in Sign Language and Deaf Culture and would love to learn more. In the future, she plans to attend graduate school, become a Speech-Language Pathologist, and to be exposed to as many languages from around the world as possible.
Danielle Lucien I am currently a Junior at San Diego State and am studying to become a Speech-Language Pathologist. I am minoring in Spanish and am going to be studying abroad in Costa Rica this upcoming summer. I have taken one semester of American Sign Language and am hoping to take more classes as soon as I have time in my busy schedule. I am a part time nanny. I also am a math/reading tutor at Kumon Math and Reading Center. I am currently a member of NSSHLA and am working hard to hopefully return to San Diego State for graduate school.
Natalie Sciortino email not available Natalie Sciortino is currently a senior at San Diego State University studying Speech and Hearing Sciences. Juggling school and working at In-N-Out Burger Natalie remains passionate about her future and the lives she hopes to affect. She has taken three semesters of ASL and plans to pursue a career as a Speech-Language Pathologist.
Jonathan Udoff Jonathan Udoff is a PhD student in the UCSD/SDSU Joint Doctoral Program in Language and Communicative Disorders. He received his BA in Cognitive Science and Hispanic Studies from Brown University in 2007. At Brown, Jonathan became involved in ASL classes and the ASL club, leading him to spearhead Brown's "Save ASL" campaign in the spring of 2005. Jonathan's research focuses on the psycholinguistics of sign languages and of bilingualism. He is particularly interested in how bimodal bilingualism differs from mono-modal bilingualism. In addition to ASL, Jonathan speaks Spanish and Catalan.
Tom Vigliotti email not available Tom is an alumnus of UCSDs Linguistics - Language & Cognition and Pure Mathematics programs, holding a BA in each. His interest in ASL began early in life and was cultivated by the ASL & Linguistics programs at UCSD. Tom spent a year of his education abroad at Lund University in Sweden, where he took courses in the Swedish language and ones emphasizing second language acquisition, psycholinguistics and language processing. Tom hopes to attend a graduate school program in Linguistics, Cognitive Science or Mathematics.
Cherie Woodward email not available I am a senior at UCSD, majoring in Psychology. So far I have taken four quarters of American Sign Language and currently work with Deaf teenagers who are foster kids and have severe behavior disorders. In the future, I plan to attend graduate school to get my Masters in Social Work, and possibly continue my work with the Deaf community.

Previous Students

Cristina Baus email not available Cristina Baus is a PhD student from the University of la Laguna (Spain). She is working at the moment on the role of the phonological parameters on signed language production. She plans to do a short stage in Dr. Karen Emmorey's lab, during three months this summer.
Meghan Corcoran email not available I am currently a senior at San Diego State University. In December of 2006 I will receive my degree in Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, with an emphasis in Deaf Education. I enjoy studying American Sign Language and learning about the deaf culture. I am currently trying to decide if I want to focus my career on working with the deaf community in terms of research, counseling and/or teaching. I love working with the children at my church and getting to know the families they grow up in. On the rare occasion I'm not at school or working you could probably find me out with my friends shopping, wakeboarding, watching the game or playing cards.
Jordan Fenlon Jordan Fenlon is a Deaf graduate student studying for his Ph.D. at the University College London. His Ph.D. focuses on prosody in British Sign Language and examines whether brow movement in questioning can be analysed as prosodic (as opposed to syntactic). He has been awarded a Bogue Fellowship Award from UCL to study at LLCN during the fall semester.
Ashley Jung email not available Ashley Jung is a undergraduate student in the Speech Language and Hearing Sciences and Graphic Design departments at San Diego State University. Having to choose which degree to pursue, she decided to study both because she enjoys both the creative arts and the study of speech pathology. Ashley has taken American Sign Language courses and is interested in the studies pertaining and involving the psycholinguistics of sign language production. She is eager to see how Deaf studies and ASL will have an influence on her continuing education in graduate school.
Barbara Malone email not available I am a graduate student in the Speech-Language Pathology program at San Diego State University. I received my BA in Communication Disorders from San Diego State University. I became interested in Deaf culture after taking American Sign Language courses and attending several community events during my undergraduate program. I anticipate learning more sign and gaining additional information pertaining to the realities of research projects. I hope to benefit from this experience later in my profession, and I plan to work with children who utilize augmentative and alternative communication techniques.
Renece McMorris email not available Renece McMorris is a San Diego native pursuing a degree in Speech and Language Pathology at San Diego Sate University. She hopes to one-day work with the older populations to make a difference in their lives. In the mean time Renece participates in a club called Best Buddies. On her free time she likes to travel and shop.
Lindsay Nemeth email not available Lindsay is a San Diego State University senior due to receive her degree in Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences in Fall 2007. Lindsay has taken four years of American Sign Language at SDSU and Grossmont College. In the future, she hopes to acquire an AuD, Doctorate in Audiology, and plans to continue her studies after receiving her bachelor's. Lindsay interest in American Sign Language began when she was a child. Working in the lab will help her gain more experience in the use of this language.
Wanda Riddle email not available I just received my B.A. in American Sign Language Studies from Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C. I am currently becoming an intern for several months. After interning, I am expected to return to D.C. and be a graduate student at Gallaudet University, studying either Lingusitics or Deaf Studies. I love teaching American Sign Language and work with deafblind people, interpreting. On my days off, I play disc golf, read novels, enjoy hiking/camping.
Kristen Stebbens Kristen Stebbens is a "super senior" undergraduate at UCSD earning her B.S. in Psychology this June 2006. She is currently working with Dr. Jennie Pyers on spatial cognition and the use of space in ASL and in Nicaraguan Sign Language. After graduating, she plans to pursue a possible career as a Criminal Psychologist. When she is not going to school, working at the lab, studying, or being a nanny, she enjoys working out or watching re-runs of "Law and Order" and "CSI." Upon working at LLCN, she has found an extreme interest in ASL and is eager to begin taking classes.
Sarah Wylly email not available Sarah Wylly is a graduate student at SDSU in the speech-language pathology program. She received her BA in Communication Sciences and Disorders from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Sarah has spent time working with the Deaf in Mexico and researching the dynamics of deafness within Hispanic families. She is excited to be working in the lab with the hopes of practicing sign and getting a taste of all the research projects currently underway.