Lab Members, LLCN, San Diego State University

	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
	Cindy O'Grady Cindy O'Grady Batch is a native signer and has been involved in sign language research for over 15 years. She is currently a Research Assistant at LLCN. She also works at the Salk Institute conducting research on Deaf individuals who have had a stroke. In addition she consults with graduate students on linguistics, translating and interpreting tasks. Her interests include running, cycling, traveling, cooking and reading. She looks forward to meeting you when you visit the lab.
	Dr. Marcel Giezen Marcel Giezen received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. His dissertation research focused on speech and sign perception in deaf children with cochlear implants. As part of his dissertation work, Marcel spent four months at the LLCN in 2009 with a Fulbright Visiting Scholar grant. Currently, he is a research fellow at the LLCN with a two-year grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) to study cross-language competition in bimodal bilinguals.
	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. 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 and Volunteers

	Nicole Denny I am currently a Junior in the Speech, Language and Hearing sciences program at San Diego State University. While enrolled in my first ASL course at Santa Barbara City College I became very interested in not only the Deaf culture but also ASL. I became an active member of the ASL club at SBCC and quickly immersed myself in the Deaf community. I am now a member of the SDSU ASL club and have continually enjoyed to learn about Deaf culture and sign languages. I am excited to begin working in the LLCN and hope to apply the knowledge and skills that I learn there to my future career.
	Jackilyn Escosio I'm currently a student in the undergraduate program Speech Language Hearing Sciences program at SDSU. I first learned about the major through a fellow classmate and after taking ASL courses and Dr. Emmorey's Deaf Cultures class, I became very interested in the Deaf culture and becoming more fluent in sign language. After graduating, I hope to go back to school for my Master's to become a Speech Language Pathologist. I am excited to be apart of the LLCN and hope to take my experiences here and apply them to my future endeavors.
	Desiree Sasunian I am currently a junior in the Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences program at San Diego State University. I was born and raised in Los Angeles, and transferred from a community college in Los Angeles to SDSU this year. My younger sister began learning sign language three years ago and got me interested in the language, and I enrolled in my first ASL class last year. My ultimate goal is to pursue my masters degree in Speech Language Pathology after I graduate with my B.A.
	Kristen Secora Kristen Secora is a PhD student in the UCSD/SDSU Joint Doctoral Program in Language and Communicative Disorders. She received her B.S. in Neuroscience from Texas Christian University. She is studying motion processing in sign languages within the framework of embodied cognition.
	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.

Previous Lab Members