Members

Dalton Burchardt received a Master’s degree in experimental psychology from the University of Alabama, with a concentration in cognitive psychology. He currently supports the NIH funded study titled Poverty-Related Risk Factors for Auditory and Language Deficits in Children as a research coordinator. His research interests include the perceptual changes associated with development and reducing health disparities in underserved communities using translational psychology. 

Grace Baker is an undergraduate student majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders with a minor in Disabilities in Society. She is currently working on a research project investigating the effects of otitis media on auditory processing in children. Grace is also interested in how Autism Spectrum Disorder affects language perception and production. In the future, Grace hopes to become a Pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist.

Kylie Fernandez is an undergraduate honors student majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders with minors in Educational Studies and Deaf and Hearing Sciences. She is completing her Honors thesis titled The Effects of Parental Language Input and Parental Knowledge of Child Development on Child Language Development. Kylie is also interested in studying how cochlear implant signals can be supplemented to increase word recognition.

Julia Javier is an undergraduate student majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders with a minor in Educational Studies as well as Deaf and Hearing Sciences. She is currently working projects investigating how various child health problems, poverty, and parental language input can affect child language development. Julia aspires to become a Speech-Language Pathologist specializing in pediatric care.

Maggie McGuane is an undergraduate student majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders with a minor in Health Promotion. She is currently working on a research project investigating the effects of various child health issues and poverty on auditory and language processing in children. In the future, Maggie plans to attend graduate school to become a pediatric speech-language pathologist.

Maria Kynkor is an undergraduate student majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders with minors in Educational Studies and Deaf and Hearing Sciences. She is currently working in the Speech Development Lab and is interested in the Deaf and hard of hearing populations and the impacts of hearing loss on language development in children. Maria is aspiring to become a Speech-Language Pathologist.

Logan Black is an undergraduate student majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders with a minor in Deaf and Hearing Sciences. She is currently working on a research project titled Poverty-Related Risk Factors for Auditory and Language Deficits in Children. In the future, Logan aspires to become an Audiologist focusing on pediatric care. 

Ella Kunkel is an undergraduate student majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders with a minor in Disabilities in Society. She plans to become a Pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist and is interested in how various health issues in childhood affect language perception and production. 

Gabriella Vogel is an undergraduate student majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders with a minor in Disabilities in Society. This is her first semester working in the Speech Development Lab and she is currently working on research that investigates the effects of child health issues on auditory and language processing in children. She aspires to become a speech-language pathologist in the future.

Madison Hagee is an undergraduate student majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders and minoring in Educational Sciences and Deaf and Hearing Sciences. She is currently assisting on a research project assessing the effects of poverty on auditory and language development in children. In the future, Madison wants to work as a pediatric speech and language pathologist, specialized in working with the deaf and hard-of-hearing population. 

Jillian Boland is a 3rd year Au.D. graduate student. She is interested in pediatric audiology and the effects of hearing loss on language development. She is currently working on a research project focusing on the lexical and phonological development of children with hearing loss. 

Kayleigh Burge is a third-year undergraduate Biology and Linguistics double major with a minor in Communication Sciences and Disorders. She is working as a research assistant on a project analyzing articulation data collected via electromagnetic articulography. Kayleigh is also interested in language development and the neural basis of language.

Kiana Ferdowsiepour is a 3rd-year undergraduate student majoring in psychology and aims to attend medical school in the future. She is currently working as an undergraduate research assistant on an experiment involving motor control for speech production and analyzes movement data collected with Electromagnetic Articulography.

Dara Gottlieb is a third-year undergraduate student majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders with a minor in Disabilities in Society. This is her first semester working in the Speech Development Lab and she is currently researching how to improve the signal that patients with Cochlear Implants receive. In the future, Dara plans to attend graduate school to become a pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist. 

Alexa Haas is a third-year undergraduate student majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders with a minor in Disabilities in Society. This is her first semester working in the Speech Development Lab and she is currently working on a research project investigating the effects of otitis media on auditory processing in children. She aspires to become a speech-language pathologist in the future. 

Halle Kurit is a fourth-year undergraduate student majoring in Biology with minors in Deaf and Hearing Sciences and Linguistics. She plans to attend medical school in the future. She is interested in language acquisition and the mechanism of hearing. Currently, she is investigating the effects of otitis media with effusion on auditory processing in children.

Tammy Le is a 3rd year Au.D. graduate student. She is interested in speech and language development in children with hearing loss. She is currently working on her research project focusing on the lexical and phonological development of children with hearing loss.

Kendall Massey is an undergraduate Communication Sciences and Disorders major with a minor in Disability Science. She is primarily interested in working with the pediatric population as an SLP and is also interested in studying voice perception.

Brian Nguyen is a 4th-year undergraduate student studying biomedical engineering at the University of Florida. He is interested and currently working on a device that may improve audio recognition utilizing low-frequency signals.

Priscilla O’Hara is an undergraduate student majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders. She is interested in language acquisition and the impact of demographics on speech development. She is currently working in the Speech Development Lab on the development of language processing strategies in children.

Kara Payne is a fourth-year undergraduate student in the communication sciences and disorders program. While in the lab, she works on analyzing speech movement data which looks at the onset of jaw lowering and when the tongue begins rising. This data will provide insight regarding motor coordination. She is interested in infant swallowing and early-intervention speech therapy.

Lauren Pearson is an undergraduate student majoring in Education Sciences with a specialization in Disabilities in Society and a minor in Communication Sciences and Disorders. Lauren hopes to be a speech language pathologist in the future and is interested in language development involving hard of hearing/ deaf kids and kids with Autism Spectrum Disorder. 

Lauren Petrides is a third-year undergraduate student majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders with a minor in Disabilities in Society. She is currently working as a research assistant on a project focusing on language processing and phonemic awareness in children. Lauren is particularly interested in language acquisition and hopes to one day work with children as an SLP.

Heather Starr is a 2^nd year Au.D. graduate student. She is interested in pediatric audiology and the long-term effects of early hearing loss. She is currently working on a research project investigating the effects of otitis media on auditory processing in children.

Kayla Tellez received her B.S. in Psychology from the University of Florida in 2021. She is currently working towards earning an M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology to fulfill her dream of becoming an SLP and working with young children. Her main research interests include children’s language acquisition, children’s learning, and the role of cognitive development in relation to speech perception and production.