Infant Language Center at the University of Pennsylvania

Undergraduate Research Assistants: Alumni


		Lucy Guida Lucy is a junior in the School of Arts and Sciences who intends to major in Psychology with a minor in either Spanish or Italian. She was born and raised in Philadelphia and would like to explore somewhere new for a time after she graduates and before attempting to enter a graduate program. In her spare time she likes to run, sing with her singing group (the Penn Sirens), read novels, and slack-line.

		Devi Majeske Devi (C'19) is a Psychology major and French minor from Philly. She is a cast member of Bloomers, Penn's all female sketch and musical comedy troupe. In her spare time she enjoys writing music, ice skating, and biking.

		Talia Liu Talia is a rising senior at Rice University in Houston, Texas where she majors in Cognitive Sciences. She was born in China but was raised and still lives in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. She loves working with babies and children and hopes to eventually pursue a graduate degree in psychology or a related field. In her free time, Talia likes to play her instruments (mainly piano and oboe), and eat pizza, soup noodles, and dumplings.

		Joseph Coffey Joe joined the lab as a junior in the College double majoring in Linguistics and Cognitive Science. He grew up in Northern California, but attended middle school and high school in Massachusetts. He spent a year at UC San Diego before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania. Joe is now at Harvard studying for a PhD in developmental psychology with Dr. Jesse Snedeker. His research interests are in the cognitive and neurological basis of grammatical structure

		Reem AlRabiah Reem joined the lab as a sophomore at the School of Arts and Science. She was born and raised in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. After graduation she hopes to continue her studies in early education. In her spare time, Reem enjoys yoga, reading, and going to the movies.

		Roshni Chasmawala Roshni joined the lab as a junior in the Drexel School of Arts and Sciences. She was born in Texas but raised in New Jersey. After graduation, she hopes to go on to Medical School and explore pediatrics and dermatology as those are her core interests. In her spare time, she absolutely loves watching cricket, shopping, watching movies, and traveling.

		Sanaa Ounis Sanaa is a junior in the School of Arts and Sciences who is pursuing a major in Cognitive Science with a minor in Statistics. She was born in a small city named Troy in New York. After graduating, she would like to enter a graduate program for cognitive science. In her spare time, Sanaa likes running, hiking, traveling, reading YA novels, and doing nail art.


		Sarah Eisler Sarah is a junior in the School of Arts and Sciences studying Psychology, English, and Spanish. She is from Potomac, Maryland, a suburb outside of DC, and studied abroad in Madrid, Spain during the summer of 2015. In her spare time, Sarah loves to run, sing, and explore Philadelphia.

		Kelly Ha Kelly Ha is a junior in the College majoring in cognitive science with a minor in East Asian studies, originally from Yorktown, Virginia. After graduating, she would like to enter a graduate program for speech pathology and eventually work with children with disabilities. In her spare time, Kelly likes being with the Penn band, trying new restaurants, reading, and travel.

		Ayla Taylor Ayla is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences majoring in Linguistics and minoring in Cognitive Science. She grew up in the small town of Port Townsend, Washington, so this big, East Coast city is a fun new adventure for her. She enjoys baking, critically analyzing books and tv shows, crocheting and rambling about linguistic concepts that none of her friends understand.

		Madeleine Barclay Maddy Barclay is a junior in the College majoring in Linguistics and Psychology, with a minor in Near Eastern Studies. She was born and raised in Canterbury, England before moving to a small town in Connecticut in 2001. After graduation, she hopes to attend a graduate program for pediatric speech-language pathology. In her free time, she enjoys singing, hiking and traveling.

		Madelyn Levasseur Maddy is a junior majoring in Psychology and minoring in ASL/Deaf studies. Originally from Baltimore, she enjoys volunteering in the Philadelphia area, especially at local schools! After graduating she would like to work with children who have disabilities and see how her sign language background can help facilitate these children's ability to communicate.

		Anne "Amanda" Atkinson Amanda graduated from University of Pennsylvania in 2012, receiving a B.A. in Psychology in 2012. When not in the lab she is taking classes to attend nursing school and performs as an actress in the Philadelphia area. In her free time she enjoys baking, yoga, and a good fantasy novel.
		Sophie Domanski Sophie Domanski graduate from Penn in 2014 with a major in Cognitive Science and minor in Political Science. In addition to learning about child language acquisition, she enjoys traveling, painting, and everything related to food. She is attending graduate school for speech-language pathology, with a focus on early intervention for children with speech disorders.


		Jennifer Yoo Jennifer Yoo is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences majoring in Psychology and minoring in Classical Studies. She is interested in the development of cognition in early childhood and the impact of education during these formative years. When not in the lab, she enjoys building sets and living the life of a theater techie.


		Michael Arrigo Michael is a fifth-year student at Penn majoring in Linguistics and Cognitive Science and working toward his master’s degree in Linguistics. His interests include Romance languages and computational linguistics. He is a Philly native who loves wandering around the city, listening to music, and obsessing over fonts.


		Ashley Baldwin Ashley is a senior at Penn majoring in both Biological Basis of Behavior and Computer Science. She is from the Jersey Shore and loves the beach, but since coming to Penn, has discovered a newfound passion for Philadelphia. She hopes to one day pursue a career in child neurology because of her interest in the developing brain.


		Lauren Hendrix Lauren is a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences majoring in Cognitive Science and ambitiously hopes to minor in Urban Education and Computer Science. She is from Baltimore, MD and loves that Philadelphia is similar to home but has many more opportunities. She is interested in cognition and early education and hopes to continue research towards improving early education. When not in the lab she mentors elementary school kids in West Philadelphia and stays hype through Community School Student Partnerships (CSSP).


		Brian Garcia Brian is a senior at Penn majoring in both Cognitive Science and Computer Science. He hails from Deer Park, Texas, which, contrary to popular belief, or at least his friend's, is not where Deer Park water comes from. After coming to Penn, he has discovered that he loves actually experiencing seasons as opposed to summer and fall all year round. When not in the lab or in class, he is usually either exploring Philadelphia or hanging out with his APO brothers.

		Rachel Romeo Rachel Romeo was a research assistant at the Infant Language Center from 2009 to 2011, where she studied language acquisition in children with chronic ear infections. After receiving her B.A. with honors in Psychology and Linguistics from Penn, she won a Fulbright Fellowship and the Thouron Award to do a masters in Development Language Sciences at University College London, researching language neuroimaging in pediatric epilepsy. She plans to do a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience on childhood language impairments, while continuing to travel (and eat!) her way around the world.


		Scott Sepkowicz Scott is majoring in Psychology and will graduate from Penn in 2012. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Scott is an ardent Philadelphia sports fan. He is fascinated by children's innate ability to learn language at a fast rate, and aspires to one day be able to draw as good as the babies who come into the lab so he can have a picture on the wall, too. When not working at the Babylab, Scott enjoys writing songs on the guitar, ukulele, and drums, singing, photography, dry humor, and doing the Moonwalk.


		Gabriella García Gabriella worked in the lab as a Research Assistant from May 2007 to 2010. After graduating from Penn in 2010 with a B.A. in Cognitive Science along with a minor in Linguistics, she began working as the lab manager for Delphine Dahan's language lab at Penn and continues to take classes at Penn. Gabriella hopes to attend medical school in the near future, and in the meantime enjoys being a Philly foodie.


		Allison Britt Allison Britt was a Research Assistant in the Infant Language Center from October 2007 to 2010. She received her B.A. from Penn with honors in Psychology in 2010. She is now a research assistant at Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute in the Language and Cognitive Dynamics Lab studying language processing and impairments in stroke patients. Ultimately she plans to go back to school to receive her PhD in speech pathology.

		Rachel Weinblatt Rachel Weinblatt was a research assistant at the Infant Language Center from 2009 to 2010. She received her B.A. from Penn with honors in Psychology in 2010. She is now working as a research assistant at the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC. She plans to pursue a PhD in psychology in the future.

		Alba Tuninetti Alba Tuninetti worked in the infant lab from 2006-07 and from 2008-09, with some study abroad time in between. She graduated from Penn in 2009 and went directly to graduate school in Pittsburgh, for a doctorate in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh and neuroscience from Carnegie-Mellon University. She is studying bilingualism and second language learning and hopes to continue traveling the world and learning languages!

		Leila Glass Leila is from Seattle, WA and was a double major in Cognitive Neuroscience and Science Technology and Society. Pediatric Neuroscience is a special interest of her. She hopes to continue to follow her passions for science and helping children in the future. Her favorite foods are cheese and chocolate.

		Mike Tzeng Mike joined the Infant Language Center as a Research Assistant during the summer of 2010, and is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences majoring in Psychology and minoring in Economics. He is from Potomac, Maryland, and has had a lot of fun working with children as a tutor and summer camp assistant director. Outside of the office, he sings and dances in the Penn Glee Club and loves to play drums and guitar.


		Maria Tellez Maria Tellez was part of the Infant Language Center from 2003 - 2004. She worked on a toddler eye-tracking study and experiments on infant phonetic categorization. Maria remains interested in language and in addition to her native Spanish, Maria has dabbled in Russian and Arabic. Currently, she works in digital advertising.


		Rebecca Mead Rebecca received her B.A. in Linguistics at Penn. At the Infant Language Center, she helped out on infant-directed speech annotation and phonetics projects. She now teaches GED preparation to young parents.


		Annie Yang Annie Yang (now Dickerson) was a research assistant in the lab from 2005 to 2006. She is now a teacher in Washington, DC working with Teach for America.


		Sara Clopton Sara was the lab's manager from 2005 to 2006. As part of her double degree in Cognitive Science and Linguistics she did independent research with Bill Labov on socially conditioned variation in speakers' use of the /s/ or /th/ sounds in Catalunya. Sara is now in the Speech-Language-Pathology training program at Case.


		Kristin Vindler Kristin Vindler (now Michaelson) was the lab's manager from 2004 to 2005. After leaving Penn she went on to earn a Master's in Education from Harvard, and she is now working as a teacher in Manhattan.