Research Team
Naomi Caselli, PhD Website Lab Website
Naomi Caselli is an Assistant Professor in the Deaf Studies and Deaf Education Programs at Boston University. She studies how language deprivation affects how people learn and process ASL signs. She is the co-developer of ASL-LEX, a lexical database for American Sign Language published in Behavior Research Methods. She earned a joint PhD in Psychology and Cognitive Science from Tufts University, as well as an Ed.M. in Deaf Education and an M.A. in Psychology from Boston University.
Jennie Pyers, PhD Website Lab Website
Jennie Pyers is an Associate Professor in Psychology at Wellesley College. Her research focuses on the relationship between language and cognition. Her research focuses on the relationship between language and cognition. In particular, she examines both language-general and language-specific effects on human cognition. To investigate which domains of cognition are impaired when language acquisition is delayed, she works with language-delayed deaf children and Deaf adults who have learned an emerging sign language, Nicaraguan Sign Language. She also investigates how experience with a sign language affects spatial cognition and categorization. Her recent research interests also include language processing in hearing bimodal bilinguals—Children of Deaf Adults who are fluent in both a signed and a spoken language—and the relationship between gesture and spatial cognition.
Amy Lieberman, PhD Website Lab Website
Amy Lieberman is an Assistant Professor in the Deaf Studies and Deaf Education Programs at Boston University. She studies child language development, with a particular interest in how deaf children learn to manage their eye gaze to perceive sign language and the surrounding world. Prior to joining the BU Faculty, Amy worked as a Research Scientist in the Mayberry Lab for Multimodal Language Development at UCSD and as an Early Childhood Teacher at Kendall School at Gallaudet University.
Erin Spurgeon, MA NIC is a Nationally Certified Interpreter for the Deaf based in Boston, Massachusetts and graduated with a Masters in Interpretation from Gallaudet University. She has worked within a variety of laboratories studying ASL acquisition and psycholinguistic research including Dr. Peter Hauser at Rochester Institute of Technology, Dr. Karen Emmorey at San Diego State University, Dr. Carol Padden at University of California San Diego and Dr. Laura-Ann Pettito at Gallaudet University
Anna Lim Franck, MA is a second year student in the Doctor of Education in Language and Literacy Education: ASL/Deaf Education program at Boston University. She graduated with a Master’s degree in Linguistics from Gallaudet University. She has worked on Haskins Laboratory’s ASL SLAAASh (Sign Language Acquisition, Annotation, Archiving and Sharing) project for linguists Drs. Diane Lillo-Martin and Julie Hochgesang. She is interested in research on L2 pedagogy/acquisition of Deaf learners and educational issues in bilingualism in Deaf classrooms.
Graduate Students
Mia Goldberg is a graduate student in the Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development, pursuing in Deaf Education. After graduating, Mia plans to teach at school for the deaf. She also is interested in the process of language acquisition for the Deaf Children.
Alumni
April Bottoms is a graduate of the Deaf Education program at Boston University. She also worked as a volunteer teacher in the Marshall Islands. April is interested in language deprivation and its impact among deaf children.
Megan Canne is a graduate of the Deaf Education program at Boston University. Megan is interested in language deprivation and acquisition in deaf children.
Stephanie Pennetti is a graduate of the Deaf Education program at Boston University. She also completed her BA at Boston University in Elementary education. She is currently a student teacher at the Learning Center for the Deaf.
Interested in studying language deprivation and ASL acquisition? Let us know if you are interested in joining our research team!