mentorship

To me, science is mentorship.

Professionally, I pursue questions about the brain and language.

Personally, I pursue others’ wellbeing and development through scientific and personal mentorship and experiential education – growth through facilitated activities, intentional reflection, and community discussion.

I conceptualize my vocation (within and beyond cognitive science) as an experience of mentorship, formed intimately by my experiences in community. I’ve been privileged to receive wisdom from several kind, driven mentors and scholars, and my aspirations reflect their investment as much as my own passions. They’ve demonstrated that mentorship in science need not subordinate holistic, interpersonal flourishing to scientific advancement –– rather, successful research involves developing both critical technical skills and rich interpersonal perspectives. In response to their guidance, I’ve grown deeply passionate about mentoring young scholars – both scientifically, and personally – and I hold my study of language cognition and communication (and all I do outside of that) as central to that aim.

Specifically, I am interested in understanding the social mind in dialogue, or how the human brain processes language and structures conversation in various contexts:

• Emotion & affect in conversation (How do we represent others’ mental and emotional states during conversation, and how do these representations guide conversational behavior?)
• Miscommunication (Why do we miscommunicate, and how do we anticipate, identify, and repair miscommunication?)
• Culture & bilingualism (How does linguistic experience influence language cognition and communication?)