Meet Our Team

Brennan Gonering

Brennan is a PhD candidate in linguistics, interested in the neurobiology of syntax; their dissertation examines the connection between long-term memory and different syntactic knowledge. When not teaching or researching, Brennan enjoys playing video games, baking, and being involved in activism.

Jenna DiStefano

Jenna is a doctoral student in the developmental psychology area. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology, minoring in ASL/Deaf Studies and Education. Her current research interests are focused on understanding the link between early language experience and cognitive development in hearing and deaf children. Specifically, she is interested in how language, both spoken and signed, can shape domain-general cognitive mechanisms such as statistical learning and executive function using EEG and eye-tracking methods. When not doing research, Jenna enjoys cycling, climbing, crafting, and spending time with her cat Stanley.

Anna Noelle Boyer

Mahareem Ayar

Timothy Liu
​I am working on the Haptic Pilot Project, an exploratory EEG study investigating the potential usefulness of haptic stimulation in spoken language recognition aids for Cochlear Implant Users. I am also conducting experiments on representations in lexical indexing with heteronyms (words that are spelled the same in orthographically, but are pronounced differently, e.g. object_noun and object_verb).

Jamie Herron Lee
​Jamie is a fourth year doctoral student in the Linguistics Department. Her research interests focus on the characterization and development of second language and bi/multilingual proficiency in the brain. She enjoys cooking, DIY projects, and relaxing at home with her husband and cats.