Joshua Amaris (mentored by Dr. Nissenbaum)

Josh is a senior at Brooklyn College, where he is pursuing a BA in Linguistics. Having grown up in Texas, he finds the varieties of English in the American South to be of particular interest. In his free time, Josh enjoys cooking, gardening, reading, and making music. After graduation, he intends to pursue a Ph.D. in Linguistics with a specialization in syntax and sentence processing.

Julian Colón (mentored by Dr. Moody)

Julian Colón is an undergraduate Linguistics and Communications major with a passion for language and a profound love for culture. He has a particular interest in Language Acquisition, multilingualism, cultural preservation, and cross-cultural learning. Julian’s professional goals consist of finding ways to best accommodate the vast linguistic and cultural diversity found in educational institutions, which would include the training of language instructors and the drafting of new language curriculums, working closely with indigenous/endangered language communities, and helping to promote a higher degree of cultural consciousness as to contribute to a society that is free of racial and sociolinguistic biases. After obtaining his undergraduate degree, Julian intends to travel the world and further his studies of Applied Linguistics at the graduate level.

Jared DelGado (mentored by Dr. Barrière)

Jared is an undergraduate student at Montclair State University. He is a linguistics major with a passion for learning. He is interested in specific language impairments and in the mechanisms underpinning is enthralled with the inner workings of neuromuscular functions concerning speech perception. Jared hopes to attend graduate school for speech-language pathology and become an innovative researcher at the doctorate level. He can always be found reading and spending time with loved ones.

Jalitza Guttierez (mentored by Dr. Moody)

Jalitza Gutierrez is a Brooklyn native who is currently a senior at Macaulay Honors College, at the Brooklyn College campus. She is pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Linguistics, with a minor in Chinese. In addition to her native Spanish, she is also fluent in English, and enjoys studying languages in her spare time. Her research interests include sociolinguistics and language acquisition. After graduation, she plans on attending graduate school to pursue a Master’s degree in Linguistics.

Rebecca Leandre (mentored by Dr. Barrière)

Rebecca is a senior at Brooklyn College pursuing a BS in Communication Sciences and Disorders in the speech pathology program as well as a minor in Psychology. She hopes to attend graduate school to obtain her master’s degree and begin her career with helping children with speech related disorders. She currently works at SUNY Downstate as a Project Aide with Teens Helping Each Other, teaching the youth about the importance of healthy habits and sexual health. She aspires to work in a clinical setting with people of all ages but especially Infants in NICU. In addition, she also hopes to eventually to obtain certification as a Birth Doula. In her free time, she enjoys sleeping and watching all things beauty, self-care, and business related.

Chandrai Robinson (mentored by Drs. Barrière & Datta)

Chandrai Robinson is a senior at Molloy College where she is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Speech Language Pathology. Raised in Jamaica, she speaks both English and Jamaican patois which has captivated her interest in areas such as bilingual language acquisition and code switching. In the future, she aspires to work with young children especially from underprivileged communities. After graduation, she plans to continue her education in the field by pursuing her master’s degree.

Olha Sum (mentored by Dr. Barrière)

Olha is a senior at Baruch College in the Macaulay Honors Program. She is enrolled in the CUNY Baccalaureate program and, as part of it, she is able to combine Speech Pathology and Psychology courses into one major. Upon graduation, she plans to earn her graduate degree in speech-language pathology. She hopes to work with patients recovering from stroke and dementia. Her research interests are language processing and speech perception. She is particularly interested in learning about the history of language and learning about multilingual brains. She is excited to be given the opportunity to use her first language (Ukrainian) in this research opportunity with the ILLC program.

Danielle Thomas (mentored by Dr. Barrière)

Danielle Thomas is a senior Psychology major with a Math minor at Molloy College. Her hopes are to become a pediatrician or a child psychologist. She has always had a love for children and believes that the existence and negative impacts of mental health issues are overlooked.

Sarah Thomas (mentored by Dr. Datta)

Sarah is a Junior at Molloy College majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders with a minor in Spanish. She is interested in researching language focused on her family’s native language of Malayalam since it is an underrepresented language in America. She is learning to become fluent in both Malayalam and Spanish so she can help a diverse amount of clients in the future. She is currently the Vice-President of Molloy College’s NSSLHA chapter. After completing her Bachelor’s degree, she plans on pursuing her Master’s and Doctorate in Speech-Language Pathology. In Sarah’s free time, she enjoys photography/videography and cooking!