Researchers of Emory

Sophia Minnillo  is a Senior in Emory College of Arts and Sciences majoring in Linguistics and French Studies. She was awarded a Fall 2019 Conference Grant, which she used to present at the Arizona Linguistics Circle Conference.

Seaira Lett is a Sophomore pursuing a joint major in Spanish and Linguistics. She was awarded a Spring 2019 Conference Grant which she used to attend the National Conference on Undergraduate Research. Last semester (Fall 2018), students in Linguistics 485: Field Methods were given the amazing opportunity to conduct linguistic interviews with a speaker of the Bantu language Lulogooli, an understudied language. We learned about IRB procedures and requirements, expectations for research involving human subjects, and how to use elicitation sessions to study the syntax and morphology of a language that you aren’t familiar with. 

Julie Wechsler  is a Sophomore majoring in Psychology and Linguistics. She was awarded a Spring 2019 Conference Grant which she used to attend the National Conference on Undergraduate Research. I had the privilege of attending the  National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) at Kennesaw State University ( http://www.cur.org/what/events/students/ncur/2019/ ). I presented research which I completed during the Fall 2018 semester in the  Linguistics 485 – Field Methods in Linguistics class along with Seaira Lett. This class introduced me to the methods of data collection and analysis in Linguistics, and it was a great experience to learn how this type of research is co nducted. Over the course of the semester, we studied a language called  Lulogooli , which is a member of the Bantu language family. It is a relatively small language spoken mainly in Kakamega and Vihiga, Kenya (according to the Ethnologue,  https://www.ethnologue.com/language/rag ...

Kaveri Sheth  is a senior who is double majoring in Psychology and Linguistics. She was awarded a Fall 2018 Independent Grant which he used to conduct research on source memory recall in bilingual students under Dr. Patricia Bauer.  I have been working in the Bauer lab for the past three years. In the lab, I have become accustomed to throwing out words, such as self-derivation (the process of combining two separate but related facts), stem facts (the separate yet related facts), and integration facts (a fact that can be self-derived). These words have become the norm for me, just like the paradigm I have been using to test integration of information for my honors thesis. I have used this paradigm in a variety of projects throughout my three years in the lab, so it seems like second nature to me. However, I realized that I became very frustrated when my participants were not fully understanding what I was asking them during the test phase. 

Marissa Russell is a senior majoring in Linguistics and Spanish. She was awarded a Spring 2018 Independent Grant which she used to conduct research on attention under Dr. Lynne Nygaard.  When I first pursued undergraduate research at Emory, I was unsure what to expect. I knew I had a strong interest in language and was intrigued by the research process, but I questioned how much meaningful experience I could gain (and how much I could truly contribute) as a junior in college. Now, looking back over the past two years in the Speech and Language Perception Lab, I can confidently say that research has been the most significant and rewarding aspect of my academic career.