Undergraduate Research Assistants
Anna Agosto
Anna is a sophomore double majoring in Psychology and Linguistics and minoring in Cognitive Science. She enjoys skateboarding, attending live music events, and dancing in her free time. Anna has always been interested in languages; she speaks fluent Spanish and basic American Sign Language and is currently learning Korean. In the future, she aspires to attend graduate school and research second language acquisition with the hope of finding ways to make language learning easier and more accessible to people around the world.
Maya Brisman
Maya is a senior studying Linguistics with a minor in Cognitive Science and Psychology. Post graduation, she hopes to go to graduate school to become a speech pathologist and work in a hospital setting. This year she is busy! Besides being an RA in the lab, she is the President of the Speech and Hearing club and President of Rutgers Jewish Experience. She is also a part of Greek life and a tour guide on campus. Maya loves working with kids, and is a pro at is, so I'm so excited to return to the lab for a second year. Outside of classes and research, Maya loves to travel, spend time with friends and family and listen to some good tunes!
Tirzah Carvalho
Tirzah is currently a junior majoring in Linguistics with a Speech and Hearing certificate. She is also minoring in Psychology. Tirzah comes from a Brazilian background and is the first person in her family to attend college. After her undergraduate studies, Tirzah plans on completing her Master's in speech pathology and becoming a speech pathologist.
Vaishnavi Elanchezhian
Vaishnavi is a senior triple majoring in Cognitive Science, Linguistics, and Korean. She is interested in language acquisition and hopes to pursue a career in computational linguistics after attending grad school. She is currently working on her senior thesis and studying the role of adjectival semantics and prosody in verbal irony. Outside of school, Vaishnavi enjoys baking, writing, and hiking with her dog Simba. She also spends time translating stories into English and learning new languages, hoping to master five throughout her life.
Deshik Iyengar
Deshik is a senior triple majoring in Linguistics, Philosophy, and French and minoring in Cognitive Science. He is interested in semantics, pragmatics, child language acquisition, and second language acquisition. He hopes to one day earn a Ph.D. in Linguistics and develop his skills through linguistic fieldwork. Outside of classes, Deshik is the President of the Undergraduate Linguistics Club and is also an active member of the IDEA program. He is also a part of SageTech, an ed-tech startup working on developing VR supplemental lessons for high schoolers. Deshik enjoys playing/listening to music, creative writing, watching tennis, and learning cool linguistic facts.
Samantha Krasner
Samantha is a junior majoring in Linguistics and Cognitive Science pursuing the Speech and Hearing Sciences Certificate, and minoring in Developmental Psychology. On campus, she works as a Scarlet Ambassador, is a member of the professional honor fraternity Phi Sigma Pi, is involved in the Rutgers University Pep Band, and participates in the speech and hearing club. Samantha is very interested in language acquisition, specifically concerning semantics and pragmatics. Outside of school, Samantha loves to spend time with family and friends and cheer on all the Philadelphia sports teams. After graduating, she aims to attend graduate school and become a medical pediatric speech-language pathologist in a hospital setting.
Sarah Nichols
Sarah is a sophomore double majoring in Linguistics and Cognitive Science, while also pursuing a certificate in Speech and Hearing Sciences. Sarah aspires to work as a Speech and Language Pathologist in a pediatric clinical setting. She is very interested in child language acquisition, specifically in the area of Syntax, and the relationship between language and cognition. In addition to her major areas of study, Sarah is very involved in music at Rutgers. She is a proud member of the Rutgers University Marching Scarlet Knights and the Rutgers University Voorhees Choir. Outside of school, she loves going to the beach, shopping, and spending time with friends and family.
Jamie Oliver
Jamie is a junior double majoring in Linguistics and Cognitive Science with a minor in archaeology. She has a dog named Cooper that her family adopted from a high-kill shelter in North Carolina. In her free time, Jamie loves to hike, make ceramics, and learn sign language. She also loves being outdoors in nature and reading mystery novels. After her time at Rutgers, she hopes to attend graduate school, earn a Ph.D. in Linguistics or Cognitive Science, and continue to learn and research all of the facets of language, perhaps one day teaching at a university.
