ABOUT ME

​​​I am currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Michigan, sponsored by National Science Foundation's Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic (NSF's SBE) Sciences. I earned my PhD in Linguistics from the University of Southern California​​​​ in May 2018. Following that, I completed my postdoctoral training in the Department of Head and Neck Surgery at UCLA School of Medicine, as well as in UCLA's Department of Linguistics, where I also taught courses as a Lecturer. Until recently, I held a position as a Staff Research Associate at the Department of Head and Neck Surgery.

My linguistic research on spoken language fits under the umbrella of cognitive science, as the field of phonetics stands at the interface of speech action and perception. The scope of my research encompasses prosodic dynamics in speech, intergenerational language change, lexical access, interactional speech, and the linguistic and personal aspects of voice quality. I've extended the scope of this work to different modalities, including co-speech gestures (a new project awarded by NSF [link]) and American Sign Language.

The vocal tract actions deployed in spoken language are systematically governed by both contrastive (i.e., meaning encoding) properties of a word's segments and simultaneously by the structured informational aspects of the speaker’s plan, collectively referred to as phrase-level prosody. The goal of my research program is to understand how speakers seamlessly integrate prosodic (phrasal and rhythmic) information with speech gestures while planning and producing words and phrases. Click here to learn more about my research.

​​​​​During my time at USC, I participated actively in various projects as a member of the USC Phonetics and Phonology Group, the Speech Production and Articulation kNowledge group (SPAN), and the Zevin Lab.​​ I continue to engage in collaboration with colleagues at the UCLA Bureau of Glottal Affairs (Facebook: @UCLABGA).

Curious to explore my work in greater detail? Feel free to peruse my CV for a comprehensive list of downloadable publications. If you have any questions or would like to engage in conversation, I warmly encourage you to contact me. Your interest in my research journey is greatly appreciated!

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