Meet our research team

2023-2024 LDLS research team

LDLS 23-24 RAs

Laboratory Director and Principal Investigator

Dr. Kristen Syrett

Kristen Syrett

Dr. Syrett is a Professor in the Department of Linguistics, with a co-appointment in the Rutgers Center for Cognitive Science (RuCCS). Her areas of specialization are language acquisition and psycholinguistics, with a focus on semantics and pragmatics (meaning). She earned her Ph.D. in Linguistics from Northwestern University in 2007, with specializations in Language and Cognition and in Cognitive Science. She also has an M.Ed. and AMI Montessori certification. Dr. Syrett has taken the Co-Active Training Institute coaching curriculum and the CTI leadership experience and assists for these courses, and is a proud HERS sister, having attended the H.E.R.S. Institute in CO. Before joining the faculty at Rutgers in 2011, Dr. Syrett spent three years as an NIH post-doctoral fellow at RuCCS, and one year as a RuCCS post-doc. She devotes her time outside of research to advocacy and service in the field of Linguistics, her two kids, her yoga practice and working out, baking, and her two mischievous beagles.

Laboratory Coordinator

Indira Das

Indira is a 5th year graduate student in the Rutgers Linguistics Ph.D. program. She works on linguistic theory with a focus Syntax/Morpho-Syntax and Semantics of Indo-Aryan languages. Her specific research interests include the semantics of the bare noun expressions, definite descriptions and number interpretations in the classifier languages, Odia and Bangla. In syntax, she is interested in the verbal domain, especially verbal complexes with auxiliary constructions, and how clausal negation interacts with them.

Post-Doctoral Fellow

Shuyan Wang

Shuyan earned her Ph.D in Linguistics from University of Connecticut. She works on language acquisition, especially the acquisition of Semantics, Pragmatics, and Syntax. Her specific topics of interest include the acquisition of scalar implicatures, free choice inferences, adjectives, and quantifiers. She focuses on how factors like grammar, maternal input, and processing can influence children’s language development. She is also interested in theoretical syntax and sign language studies, including numerals and classifiers in Mandarin and adjectives in American Sign Language.

Shuyan’s post-doctoral fellowship is supported by Dr. Syrett’s NSF grant BCS 2016963

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Undergraduate Research Assistants

Maya Brisman

Maya is a junior at Rutgers University pursuing a major in linguistics and a minor in psychology, and a speech and hearing certificate. She aspires to become a speech pathologist and work in a hospital, and hopefully one day create her own private practice. She loves working with kids. She has worked at day cares and day camps for the past 4 years working with ages 3 months to up to 5 years old, so she is very excited to take a deep dive into researching language development. On campus Maya is the secretary of the speech and hearing club, secretary and recruitment chair of Rutgers Jewish Experience, the parents and alumni chair of her social sorority Phi Sigma Sigma, and a scarlet ambassador. You might spot her conducting tours for prospective students. Outside of school, Maya loves traveling, Starbucks, and bar method.

Vaishnavi Elanchezhian

Vaishnavi is a junior majoring in Cognitive Science and Linguistics, as well as minoring in Korean. She is interested in language acquisition, specifically the relationship between syntax and semantics, and hopes to pursue a career in computational linguistics. She is a member of the Seeing Eye Puppy Raising Club and hopes to join other clubs as well. Outside of school, Vaishnavi enjoys baking, writing, and spending time with her dog Simba.

Hanna Murphy

Hanna is a senior pursuing a double major in Cognitive Science and Linguistics with a Certificate in Speech and Hearing Sciences. Hanna does not shy away from challenges. She is currently writing her senior honors thesis. She is on the Rutgers Women's Rowing team. She won the B1G Championships her freshman year, becoming part of the first boat in the history of Rutgers University to accomplish this title! After graduation, Hanna plans to attend a graduate program in Speech Language Pathology with the goal of becoming a Speech Language Pathologist.

Jamie Oliver

Jamie is a sophomore double majoring in Linguistics and Cognitive Science, and may take on a minor in either Latin or Ancient Greek. She has a dog named Cooper that her family adopted from a high-kill shelter in North Carolina. In my free time, Jamie loves to hike, make ceramics, and learning to play the guitar. After her time at Rutgers, she hopes to attend graduate school, earn a PhD in Linguistics or Cognitive Science, and continue to learn and research all of the facets of language, perhaps one day teaching at a university.

Khushi Shah

Khushi is a junior double majoring in Psychology and Cognitive Science and minoring in Linguistics at Rutgers. She's mainly interested in cognitive development, and plans to pursue a PhD in the area. Outside of classes, Khushi is on the executive board for the Cognitive Science club and enjoys singing, writing, and reading. She’s excited to meet more people this year that share her passion for understanding the mind.

Madison Skibicki

Madison is a senior majoring in Linguistics with the Speech and Hearing Certificate and pursuing a Psychology minor. After graduating, she plans to go to graduate school to become a Speech-Language Pathologist and work with children or adults, and maybe have her own private practice one day. Madison has spent her summers worked as a sleepaway camp counselor for children, and continues to involve herself at Rutgers through her sorority, the sign language club and the speech and hearing club. Outside of academics, you can find Madison going on walks, participating in yoga, or painting and drawing.

Current Team