Meet our Team!

Faculty

KATE HARRIGAN

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W&M Faculty

Kate Harrigan directs the Child Language Lab. Before joining the W&M faculty in 2016, she earned her PhD in Linguistics from the University of Maryland. Her primary research interests are in word learning, in particular how the learner weighs different cues to word meanings. She loves collaborating with students, and getting to know kids and families through research.

Undergraduate Research Assistants

DEIRDRE AMBROSI

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W&M Class of 2024

Deirdre joined the lab in the spring of 2022. She is currently involved in the training false belief project. 


CHLOE KIM

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W&M Class of 2024

Chloe joined the lab in spring of 2023. She is a Linguistics major and Economics minor. She is currently involved in the determiners project.


REESE O'BRIEN

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W&M Class of 2024

Reese joined the lab in the spring of 2021. She is a Linguistics and International Relations major, and has been involved in the subphonemic cues project.

AMANDA JENNINGS

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W&M Class of 2024

Amanda joined the lab in the fall of 2022. She is a Lingustics major, and she is currently involved in the bootstrapping environment project. 


LIDA WOLMAN

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W&M Class of 2024

Lida joined the lab in the fall of 2022. She is a Linguistics and Math double major, and she is currently involved in the attitude verbs project. 



GRIER WHITELY

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W&M Class of 2025

Grier joined the lab in the fall of 2022. She is a Linguistics major, and she is currently involved in the attitude verbs project. 


MONICA BAGNOLI

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W&M Class of 2025

Monica is majoring in Psychology, and joined the lab in the summer of 2022. She is currently investigating the role of environment in verb learning. She also designed our website!

SARAH SINGER

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W&M Class of 2025

Sarah joined the lab in the spring of 2022. She is a Linguistics major, and she is currently involved in the training false belief project. 

JOSIE SUMMERS

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W&M Class of 2025

Bio

Affiliated Faculty

ANYA HOGOBOOM

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W&M Faculty

Professor Hogoboom works on experimental phonetically-informed phonology. She has been faculty at William & Mary since 2008.


SADWHI SRINIVAS

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W&M Faculty

Professor Srinivas works on formal semantics with a focus on definiteness in determiner-less languages. She has been faculty at William & Mary since 2022.


Former Research Assistants

ROWAN LEVICK

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W&M Class of 2024

Rowan joined the lab in the fall of 2022. They are a Lingusitics major, and they were involved in the subphonemic cues project. 


ABBY SHUSTERMAN

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W&M Class of 2024

Abby joined the lab in the fall of 2022. She is a Linguistics and Psychology double major, and she was involved in the attitude verbs project. 


ALAINA COLLINGS

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W&M Class of 2023

Alaina joined the lab in the fall of 2020. She is a Psychology major, and completed an honors thesis on the role of feedback in the development of theory of mind reasoning. She has worked on the attitude verbs project.

ALICE BENJAMIN

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W&M Class of 2022

Alice joined the lab in fall of 2020 and graduated in 2022. She wrote a thesis on the role of environment in children's acquisition of motion verbs. She currently works as a French teacher in Baltimore, MD.

CAITLIN MCCASLIN

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W&M Class of 2022 

Caitlin joined the lab in the fall of 2020. They are a Biology and Linguistics double major, and are involved in the subphonemic cues project. Caitlin graduated in the fall semester of 2022, and is planning to go to graduate school for Speech Language Pathology. 

GRACE MARKS

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W&M Class of 2021

Grace joined the lab in fall 2017 and graduated in 2021. She was a Neuroscience major, and was involved in the pretend play project. Since graduating, she has worked for the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

MACKENZIE PHALAN

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W&M Class of 2020

Mackenzie joined the lab in fall 2019, and graduated in 2020. She worked on the bilingualism and emotion project, and helped to facilitate outreach to the Spanish-speaking community in Williamsburg. 

ABBY FERGUS

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W&M Class of 2021

Abby joined the lab in spring of 2019 and graduated in 2020. She wrote a thesis on children's sensitivity to subphonemic cues, combining her interests in Phonology and language acquisition. She currently works as a post-bac research assistant in the Linguistics department at the University of Iowa.

BECKI SMYDER

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W&M Class of 2020

Becki joined the lab in the summer of 2018 and graduated in 2020. She wrote a thesis on the acquisition of motion verbs in mono- and bi-lingual children. She is currently getting a master's degree in Speech Language Pathology at JMU. 

CAITLYN WHITESELL

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W&M Class of 2020

Caitlyn joined the lab in the summer of 2019 and graduated in 2020. She wrote an honors thesis on the role of bilingualism in emotion reasoning. She went on to earn her master's in education from W&M in 2021, and is now an ESL teacher in Richmond, VA.

VALERIE BAMBHA

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W&M Class of 2019

Valerie joined the lab in fall of 2016 (the first undergraduate language acquisition researcher at W&M!), and graduated in 2019. She wrote a thesis on the role of pretend play in theory of mind development. She is currently a PhD candidate in human development at Cornell University.