About me

I am currently a Research Assistant Professor at Northwestern University. Prior to joining Northwestern University, I was a Research Associate in the Department of Communication Science and Disorders at the University of Pittsburgh, where I also obtained my PhD investigating self-perceived listening difficulties in adults with normal hearing. I completed my undergraduate training at the University of Texas at Austin, where I received a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and completed an honors thesis in Cognitive Neuroscience.

My research program focuses on the neural mechanisms underlying speech processing challenges using an interdisciplinary, multimodal neurophysiological, and cognitive computational neuroscience approach. I combine my background in psychology and cognitive neuroscience with my training in neurobiology, otolaryngology, audiology, and clinical translational sciences to answer questions about the neurobiology underlying difficulties with speech perception in noisy environments. I am particularly interested in middle-aged adults, which is a time when speech perception difficulties begin to arise but hearing thresholds remain within clinically normal limits. My long-term research goal is to develop neurobiologically informed rehabilitative and individualized approaches for speech perception in noise difficulties in adults with subclinical hearing loss.

I have secured over $850,000 in funding from the National Institutes of Health, with most of this funding used to investigate speech perception challenges in aging and in individuals who complain of speech perception difficulties but have clinically-normal hearing thresholds.

In my spare time, you’ll find me outdoors with my husband, son, and dog, no matter the season!

You can find me on Bluesky.

Education

• University of Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh, PA
  PhD, Communication Science and Disorders, Computational Cognitive and Auditory Neuroscience

• The University of Texas at Austin | Austin, TX
  BS, Psychology, Biology Minor

• Austin Community College | Austin, TX
  AS, General Studies in Science

Funding

• Ryan Family Research Acceleration Funds
  Role: Co-Principal Investigator
  February 2025-January 2026 | $242,474
  Northwestern University | Neura-Speech: Bridging the Diagnostic Gap for Hidden Hearing Loss Through Electrophysiological Speech Markers

• Early Career Researcher R21
  Role: Co-Investigator (PI: Lau)
  July 2024 - June 2027 | $600,000
  NIH-NIDCD | R21DC022031 - The Role of Context in the Neural Processing of Speech in Autism Spectrum Disorder

• NRSA Individual Predoctoral Fellowship to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research
  Role: Principal Investigator
  May 2022 - April 2023 | $145,608
  NIH-NIDCD | F31DC020085 - Neural Mechanisms of Speech Perception in Noise in Middle-Age

• University of Pittsburgh Clinical and Translational Science Institute Quantitative Methodologies Pilot Program
  Role: Co-Principal Investigator
  February 2022 - January 2023 | $25,000
  NIH-NCATS | UL1TR001857 - Decision Strategies in Speech Perception in Aging

• NRSA Institutional Training in Auditory and Vestibular Neuroscience
  Role: Trainee
  September 2019-August 2021 | $85,252
  NIH-NIDCD | T32DC011499