People

Lab Director

Amy Lieberman, Ph.D.
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.

Post Doctoral Researchers

	Tory Sampson, PhD Tory Sampson is currently a postdoctoral scholar in the Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences NIDCD training grant program. She earned her doctoral degree in Linguistics and Cognitive Science from the University of California, San Diego, where her research focused on historical grammaticalization and nonverbal predication in American Sign Language (ASL). Beyond these areas of study, she is investigating reduplication in lexical signs and its potential impact on predicational strategies within ASL and other sign languages. Tory’s research focuses on language change and grammaticalization in sign languages.
	Amelia Becker, PhD Amelia Becker, PhD is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the LAVA and Lex Labs at Boston University. She graduated with an MA in Linguistics from Gallaudet University and earned her PhD in Linguistics from Georgetown University. Her research focuses on phonology and iconicity in American Sign Language and the interplay between the two. Along with Drs. Naomi Caselli, Amy Lieberman, and Jennie Pyers, she is currently investigating the mechanisms of lexical acquisition in Deaf children with hearing caregivers. Her work also aims to develop resources for studying signed languages and examines the extent to which traditional linguistic research methods are useful for studying signed languages.
	Emily Saunders, PhD Dr. Emily Saunders is a postdoctoral research associate in the Language Acquisition & Visual Attention (LAVA) Lab at BU Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. Her research centers on the dynamics of visual attention between deaf children and their signing caregivers, with a particular focus on early literacy activities such as shared book reading. As a doctoral student in the San Diego State/UC San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Language & Communicative Disorders, Dr. Saunders studied the cognitive processes of reading for deaf adults, investigating language co-activation, morphological awareness, and unique eye movement behaviors. Research from her dissertation, “Eyes on Morphology: Investigating the role of morphological processing for deaf readers,” was published in the Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education.
	Jennifer Sander, MSc Jennifer Sander is a research scholar at Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. Her research focuses on the role of visual attention in social interactions between children and their caregivers, and how this shapes the child’s language development. She employs head-mounted eye-tracking in naturalistic interactions, as well as screen-based eye tracking, behavioural and observational data. Before joining BU Wheelock, Jennifer Sander conducted her doctoral research under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Caroline Rowland and Dr. Yayun Zhang at the Language Development Department of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen in the Netherlands. Research from her dissertation titled “Through the Eyes of the Learner: How Language Modality and Visual Attention Reshape Perspectives on Word Learning” has been published in journals such as Developmental Science and First Language.

Doctoral Student Researchers

Michael Higgins, MA
Mike Higgins is a PhD student in the Department of Education at Boston University. He graduated with a degree in Bilingual Teaching from the University of California, San Diego and has 5 years of experience teaching early childhood and high school.
Mike holds an interest in language development and predictive abilities in young children. Tangentially, he is currently examining the impact of ASL rhythms and rhymes on deaf children.

Elana Pontecorvo, EdM
Elana Pontecorvo is a PhD student in the Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences PhD program. She holds an EdM in Deaf Education from Boston University. She joined the LAVA Lab to pursue her interest in sign language acquisition, and was the lab manager for the LAVA Lab and Dr. Naomi Caselli’s Lex Lab before beginning her doctoral studies. She is interested in how deaf children with hearing families acquire sign language as a first language. She strives to conduct research which can be applied to ensure early language access for deaf and hard of hearing children.

Graduate Student Researchers

	Lissen Turner, BA Lissen Turner is a graduate student pursuing her Master’s in Deaf Education at Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. Lissen earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Rochester in American Sign Language, with concentrations in Psychology and Brain & Cognitive Sciences. During her undergraduate studies, she worked as the ASL Department Assistant, as well as in the UR Language Center, where she was able to further immerse herself into language studies and gain experience supporting students. Lissen is passionate about language acquisition, bilingual education, and finding meaningful ways to empower Deaf students in education worldwide.
	Sean Cosslett, BS Sean Cosslett is a graduate student pursuing a Master’s in Deaf Education: Research, Leadership, and Advocacy at Boston University. Sean earned his B.S. in Psychology from the Rochester Institute of Technology. While working on his undergraduate degree, Sean was a human subject research coordinator at the University of Rochester Medical Center under Dr. Aileen Aldalur, exploring the acceptability and feasibility of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Treatment-Seeking (CBT-TS) with Deaf individuals. Currently, Sean is a Research Assistant working with Dr. Amy Lieberman and Dr. Tory Sampson on ASL annotation for the PLAY projects, examining parent-child interactions. Sean is passionate about teaching American Sign Language (ASL) to the community, advocating for language acquisition, addressing language deprivation, and raising awareness about mental health.
	Zara Thompson, BS Zara Thompson is a second-year graduate student pursuing a Master’s in Deaf Education at Boston University. Originally from Austin, Texas, she graduated with a B.S. in marketing from Rochester Institute of Technology, along with a minor in Management and a focus in Mathematics. She wants to become a math teacher for Deaf students. In the future, she hopes to pursue an administrative or curriculum-related position. Currently, she works as a research assistant with Dr. Tory Sampson and Michael Higgins.
	Isaac Burge, BA Isaac Burge is a full-time graduate student pursuing a Master’s in Deaf Education at Boston University. They earned their B.A. from University of California San Diego in Linguistics with a specialization in Cognition & Language. At UCSD, they were a volunteer research assistant in the Mayberry Lab working under Dr. Rachel Miles, documenting argument structure in the emerging Vanuatu Sign Language. Their research interests include iconicity in sign languages, the cognitive and social effects of language deprivation, as well as the formation and acquisition of emerging sign languages.
	Ashley Pothier, BA Ashley Pothier is a graduate student pursuing an EdM in Deaf Education with a focus on research, leadership, and advocacy at Boston University. She earned her BA from the College of the Holy Cross, where she double majored in Psychology and Language Acquisition & Deaf Experiences, and spent a semester studying at Gallaudet University. As an undergraduate, Ashley worked as a teacher’s aide at the Willie Ross School for the Deaf and The Learning Center for the Deaf and conducted independent research examining Deaf children’s use of egocentric speech and the academic motivation of Deaf and hard of hearing college students. Her research interests include language acquisition, the relationship between early language access and developmental outcomes, and using research to inform policies and practices that improve language and educational access.
	Shayna Dash, BS Shayna Dash graduated from Boston University with a B.S. in Deaf Studies and a minor in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. She is now continuing her master’s in Deaf Education at BU with the hopes of pursuing teaching and continuing research. Shayna’s interests are in language development, cognition, and acquisition for Deaf children. She has interned at the University College London Deafness, Cognition and Language Research Center (DCAL) and is currently a research assistant in the LAVA Lab.
	Jingyi He, BS Jingyi He is a graduate student pursuing a Master’s degree in Deaf education at Boston University, interested in specializing in teaching Deaf-disabled children. Jingyi grew up in Beijing, China. She got her BS in Education and Human Development, specializing in Deaf Studies from Boston University. She is currently an assistant teacher for toddler classrooms at Boston University Children’s Center. Jingyi is interested in studying Deaf children’s early language development and how that knowledge can be used in practical teaching settings.
	Anna Hayes, BA Anna Hayes is a graduate student pursuing a Master’s in Deaf Education with a specialization in Early Childhood Education at Boston University. She got her undergraduate degree from the interpreter training program at Troy University in her home state of Alabama, and has worked as a nationally certified ASL interpreter for 10 years. So far at BU, she has enjoyed seeing both research and practice of Deaf education in action – working as a research assistant for the LAVA Lab, and working as a substitute and paraprofessional in bilingual ASL-English classrooms. Anna aims to continue working in the classroom, and eventually to work in early intervention to increase resources for multilingual families with Deaf and hard of hearing children.

Undergraduate Student Researchers

Florencia
Florencia is an undergraduate student in her senior year at Boston University. She is originally from Mexico City, Mexico. Her major is Psychology, and she has two minors in Deaf Studies and Applied Human Development. In the Deaf Center, she has participated in studying the peripheral vision of deaf individuals and helped interview families of deaf children on their language acquisition. She hopes to pursue a career in child mental health counseling with an interest in accessibility and ensuring mental health services are inclusive to families of different cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

Alumni

	Paris Gappmayr, PhD Paris Gappmayr earned her PhD in Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences from Boston University. She received her B.A. from the University of British Columbia, where she worked on Dr. Kathleen Currie Hall’s SLPAA (Sign Language Phonetic Annotation & Analysis System) project, and in Dr. Darko Odic’s Centre for Cognitive Development. She is interested in learning how children acquire sign languages, and how Deaf individuals learn to read. Her broad goal is to investigate common features between spoken & signed modalities, and to advocate for ASL access for Deaf children. Paris is now a postdoctoral researcher at Purdue University!
	Erin Campbell, PhD Erin Campbell was a postdoctoral researcher in the Lex and LAVA labs at Boston University. She earned her MA and PhD in Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience at Duke University with Dr. Elika Bergelson, investigating vocabulary acquisition in children born deaf or blind. Her research centers on how young children integrate multiple sources of input (including language input and input from the senses) to learn words. Erin is now an Assistant Professor of Counseling & Human Development at the University of Rochester!
	Dorothy Steinle, EdM Dorothy Steinle earned her Master’s in Deaf Education with a specialization in Early Childhood Deaf Education from Boston University. Born and raised in Austin, Texas, Dorothy got her BA in Psychology and a Certificate in Children & Society from The University of Texas at Austin. While pursuing her undergraduate degree, Dorothy worked at Extend-A-Care YMCA as a Youth Developmental Leader, as a First-Grade Teacher at Austin Discovery School, volunteered at Texas School for the Deaf’s summer camps, and was a volunteer Co-Navigator at DeafBlind Camp of Texas. Dorothy is passionate about educational reform, language acquisition, and language deprivation. She hopes to someday establish, with a community of Deaf educators, alternative, teacher-led schools. Dorothy is now an elementary teacher at Texas School for the Deaf!
	Jessica Neri, EdM Jessica Neri earned her Master’s in Deaf Education in 2025 from Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. While pursuing her Master’s, Jessica was the lab manager for the LAVA and LEX Labs. Jessica also earned her Bachelor’s degree from Boston University with a major in Deaf Studies and a minor in Education, where she found an interest in ASL research and Deaf Education. Jessica is now a Biliteracy teacher at Horace Mann School for the Deaf!
	Marshall Hurst, EdM Marshall Hurst earned his Master’s in Deaf Education in 2025 from Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. Marshall is originally from Vineland Station, Ontario, Canada. Marshall received his bachelor’s degree in Business Management and a master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from Rochester Institute of Technology, where he worked as an ASL Consultant Manager for the Department of Access Services. Marshall strives to promote bilingual education as a priority for Deaf children and is interested in sign language acquisition and language deprivation of Deaf children. While working towards his Master’s degree, Marshall also worked as a Research Assistant and ran the social media accounts for the Deaf Center. Marshall’s goal in pursuing a career in teaching and research is to find ways to strengthen bilingual education for Deaf children worldwide. Marshall is now a high school educator at Texas School for the Deaf!
	Abigail Laughman, EdM Abigail Laughman earned her Master’s in Deaf Education in 2025 from Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. She graduated with a B.A. in ASL Interpreting from Georgia State University and has three years of educational interpreting experience. While working towards her Master’s degree, Abigail worked as a Research Assistant with Erin Campbell studying DeafBlind students’ language acquisition. Abigail’s goal in pursuing a master’s at BU is to work alongside others as agents of positive change in the world of educational interpreting and Deaf education in her home state of Georgia. Abigail is now an elementary educator at the Tennessee School for the Deaf!
	Ari Schifman, MA Ari Schifman graduated from BU in 2025, completing the combined Bachelor’s/Master’s program in Linguistics and Psychology. She was born and raised in southern Massachusetts. She is interested in psycholinguistics and the ways that sign languages are acquired by children and adults. Her goal is to continue studying the linguistics of sign languages. Ari is currently working on her PhD at UT Austin!
	Alexandria Strata, EdM Alexandria Strata graduated from Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development in 2024 with a Master’s in Deaf Education and a specialization in Teaching Deaf Disabled students. She graduated with a B.S. in Deaf Education from Kent State University and is a licensed Teacher of the Deaf and Hearing Impaired. Alexandria is passionate about teaching Deaf+ students, specifically Deaf students with autism spectrum disorders and intensive behavioral needs. She strives to conduct research studying language acquisition and application of functional communication using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) in Deaf children with disabilities. Alexandria now teaches at a school for the Deaf in New Jersey!
	Anna Lim, PhD Anna Lim received her Master’s degree in Linguistics from Gallaudet University. She earned her PhD in Language and Literacy Education, with a specialization in ASL/Deaf Education at Boston 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. Anna is now a faculty member at California State University, Long Beach!
	Sarah Cocroft, BA Sarah Cocroft graduated from Boston University in 2022 with a B.A. in Neuroscience and minors in Chemistry and Deaf Studies. She is interested in the intersection between cognitive sciences and sign language shown through language acquisition. She is now a Research Fellow for the STEPP Lab at Boston University.
	Elizabeth “Lilly” Heller, EdM Lilly Heller graduated from the Deaf Education Master’s program at Boston University. Previously, she graduated with a degree in Social Work from Gallaudet University and has two and a half years of experience working with deaf elementary students in Kansas School for the Deaf. Lilly is interested in studying sign language acquisition and strives to promote American Sign Language and Bilingual Education for all deaf children. She now teaches at Kansas School for the Deaf.
	Julia Leary, BS Julia Leary graduated from BU’s Sargent College in 2021, majoring in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences and minoring in Deaf Studies. She is interested in learning more about how Deaf children acquire sign language and communication skills and is now pursuing a Master’s in Speech Language Pathology at Emerson College.
	Erin Spurgeon, MAI Erin Spurgeon received her Masters in Interpretation from Gallaudet University and is a working interpreter for the Deaf in Boston, Massachusetts. She has worked within a variety of laboratories studying ASL acquisition and psycholinguistic research across the country.
	Allison Fitch, PhD Allison Fitch is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in both the Deaf Studies program and the Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences program at Boston University. She received her PhD in Developmental & Brain Sciences from the University of Massachusetts Boston. Her research addresses the interaction between word learning and extra-linguistic factors, such as visual attention, in both signed and spoken language.
	Carey M. Ballard, EdM Carey M. Ballard is a graduate of the Deaf Education program at Boston University. He formerly served as a Research Lab Coordinator for Dr. Ben Bahan & Dr. Marlon Kuntze’s Gesture Literacy research laboratory at Gallaudet. He was also previously involved in linguistics research projects at Gallaudet University and Georgetown University. He strives to promote American Sign Language, Bilingual Education and the Deaf way of being as a basic right for all Deaf children.
	Anne Wienholz, PhD Anne Wienholz is an Acting Professor of Sign Language Linguistics at the University of Hamburg and previously a postdoctoral associate in the Deaf Studies Program at Boston University. She investigates various factors affecting signers’ perception and language processing. She received her PhD in linguistics from the University of Goettingen, Germany, where she investigated language processing in signers of German Sign Language (DGS).
	Keri Chamberlain, EdM Keri Chamberlain is a graduate of the Deaf Education program at Boston University. She is passionate about providing Deaf students with educational equity through language access using a bilingual approach.
	Eric Setzer, EdM Eric Setzer is a graduate of the Deaf Education program at Boston University. He is passionate about making sure that no Deaf children are left behind in both home and school by providing them with opportunities to explore something new about themselves. In the future, Eric would love to work as a Teacher of the Deaf and soccer coach for Deaf youth.
	Lily Feinberg, MS Lily Feinberg is a graduate of the speech-language pathology program at Boston University. She studied applied psychology and human development and worked in a language acquisition lab throughout her undergraduate years at Boston College, and is interested in transitioning into research that explores this topic within the Deaf population.
	Louloua Almohanna Louloua Almohanna is an undergraduate student in CAS majoring in Neuroscience and minoring in Deaf Studies. She is interested in the attentional mechanisms underlying language acquisition in Deaf children to help minimize language deprivation in infancy. She is also interested in signed languages across different cultures and countries and plans to learn British Sign Language in the near future.
	Nikki Pire, BA Nikki Pire received her Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics from Northeastern University in 2018. In addition to her position at the LAVA Lab, Nikki has worked as a research assistant in the Psycholinguistics lab at the University of Kaiserslautern and The Center of Research and Training at The Learning Center for the Deaf.
	Raven Pentz, EdM Raven Pentz is a graduate of the Deaf Education program at Boston University. She is passionate about supporting the identity development of Deaf children. Raven’s long-term goal is to open a training facility that provides access to Deaf youth who are looking to build their skills in basketball.
	Lillian Brown, MS Lillian Brown received her MS in Speech-Language Pathology at Boston University in 2019. She is interested in how both signed and spoken languages are acquired and used in children. She previously worked as a research assistant in the Child Language and Literacy Lab at Vanderbilt University. Lillian began working at The Learning Center in Fall 2019.
	Justin Bergeron, EdM Justin Bergeron is a graduate of the Deaf Education program at Boston University. Before BU, he had an opportunity to travel around the world during his gap year to explore a bit more about himself and he has been to more than fifty countries in total. As a result, his travels led him to pursue a Master’s degree in Deaf Education and he hopes to somehow combine his passion of traveling and Deaf Education in his future endeavors.
	Julie Behar, BS Julie Behar graduated from Sargent College in 2019 majoring in Speech, Hearing, and Language Sciences and minoring in Deaf Studies. Julie is interested in learning about how to help ensure all deaf children have constant accessibility to language, and about signed language acquisition in adulthood. Julie began a doctorate in Audiology at the University of Texas in Fall 2019.
	Adrienne Sheh, BS Adrienne Sheh graduated from BU in 2019 majoring in Psychology and minoring in Deaf Studies and Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. She is interested in learning more about the acquisition of ASL to hopefully help further the research behind the linguistics of American Sign Language and to ensure that deaf children have early access to language. Adrienne began a Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology at San Diego State University in Fall 2019.
	Zoe Fieldsteel, EdM Zoe Fieldsteel received her Master of Arts in Education of the Deaf from Boston University in 2017. She was a high school English language arts instructor at the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind in Colorado Springs, and now works at The Learning Center for the Deaf in Framingham, Massachusetts.
	Aiken Bottoms, EdM Aiken Bottoms received their Master of Arts in Education of the Deaf from Boston University in 2018. They have worked as a volunteer teacher in the Marshall Islands and are a full-time instructor at The Learning Center for the Deaf.
	Deanna Gagne, PhD Deanna Gagne was a Postdoctoral Associate in the Deaf Studies and Deaf Education Programs at Boston University. She studies how children acquire, create, and change language in various atypical environments. She received her PhD at the University of Connecticut where she worked with homesigners, Nicaraguan Sign Language signers and hearing children of deaf adults in Nicaragua. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Linguistics Department at Gallaudet University.
	Brittany Farr, EdM Brittany Farr graduated from the Deaf Education program at Boston University in 2019. She is passionate about transforming the English curriculum for the Deaf programs by tailoring the English curriculum to learning approaches that are relevant to Deaf students and their native language, ASL.
	Conrad Baer, EdM Conrad Baer graduated from the Deaf Education program at Boston University in 2019. He is passionate about improving Deaf Education by using a bilingual approach to instruct Deaf students.