I am currently a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Manitoba working with Nicole Rosen. I completed my PhD (2022) and MA (2018) in Linguistics at the University of Toronto. under the supervision of Jessamyn Schertz (PhD) and Yoonjung Kang (MA). I completed my B.A. (Hons) in Linguistics at Carleton University in 2017.
My research interests are primarily in phonetics and phonology with a particular emphasis on the production and perception of phonetic variation in North American English. My dissertation, which is supervised by Jessamyn Schertz, focuses on variation in the perception of pre-velar /æ/-raising (aka BAG-raising) and how that relates to metalinguistic awareness, phonological context and individual production. More broadly, I am interested in how individual and group differences are correlated with phonetic variation and how this relates to the way we form phonological categories.
My other research interests include gender-based sound symbolic patterns in given names, which I have investigated in English, French and Korean with Yoonjung Kang, morphophonological conditioning of demonym allomorphy, the effects of individual cognitive differences on speech perception and linguistics pedagogy, particularly as relates to teaching and grading writing.
Aside from researching pedagogy, I also enjoy teaching. I was a course instructor for a third year psycholinguistics course at the University of Toronto in 2022. Prior to that, I TAed and graded multiple linguistics courses, including introductory courses, phonetics, psycholinguistics and statistics. I have also served as the Lead Writing TA (LWTA) for Linguistics at the University of Toronto. In this position, I helped integrate writing into designated courses through providing TAs with training on teaching and grading writing, assisting professors with developing writing activities and assignments and participating in specialized training on writing pedagogy to preform these duties. I’ve also been able to successfully implement the ideas I learned in this position to my other TA positions, with positive feedback from students (i.e. students wanted and appreciated explicit writing instruction).
Prior to studying linguistics, I worked as a web designer. I received a B.Sc. in Web Design and Development from American Sentinel University in 2012. My work in this area primarily involved designing and maintaining WordPress and static HTML websites. I still do some web design and development. Currently, I primarily use my skills in this area to implement online linguistics experiments using jsPsych.
When I’m not doing linguistics or dabbling in web design, I can often be found talking to my family, spending time with friends or attending mass. Prior to moving to Toronto, I played and coached ringette and was (and still am) a 4-H leader. I enjoy many forms of dance. I’m currently doing Irish dance, but I’ve also done Canadian step dance, forró, highland, tap, baton and square dance. My interests also include reading, baking and playing cards.