{"id":5695,"date":"2024-07-12T15:24:30","date_gmt":"2024-07-12T19:24:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/stepplab\/?page_id=5695"},"modified":"2025-06-02T13:34:26","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T17:34:26","slug":"2025-bsmcs","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/stepplab\/upcoming-events\/bsmcs\/2025-bsmcs\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

5th Biennial Boston Speech Motor Control Symposium<\/span>
\n12th\u201313th June 2025 \u2014 Boston, MA, USA<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Conference Timeline<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
10th<\/sup> Jan 2025<\/td>\nCall for Abstracts
\nTravel Fellowships Open<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
30th<\/sup> Jan 2025<\/td>\nRegistration Opens<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
28th<\/sup>\u00a0Mar 2025<\/td>\nAbstract Submission Deadline<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4th<\/sup>\u00a0Apr 2025<\/td>\nTravel Fellowship Submission Deadline<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
25th<\/sup> Apr 2025<\/td>\nNotification of Acceptance<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
9th<\/sup> May 2025<\/td>\nEarly Bird Registration Deadline<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
30th<\/sup>\u00a0May 2025<\/td>\nLate Registration Deadline<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
12th<\/sup>\u2013<\/span>13th<\/sup> June 2025<\/strong><\/td>\nBSMCS’25🔔<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\nAbout the Conference<\/span><\/p>\n

The Boston Speech Motor Control Symposium (BSMCS)<\/a> <\/span>is a regional conference aimed at providing an accessible and inclusive environment for those near the Boston area to share research involving speech motor control. We also welcome people from outside the greater Boston area\u2014join us for the two-day event, or make a plan for a summer vacation in Boston! We hope BSMCS will be a great opportunity to bring together students, researchers, and clinicians from the numerous subfields within speech motor control to ultimately highlight new research within these areas, generate new ideas, and foster faster clinical translation of important findings.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Invited Speakers<\/span><\/h2>\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/td>\nKeynote Speaker: Carol Espy-Wilson, PhD
\n<\/strong>Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park
\n<\/em>
\nDr. Carol Yvonne Espy-Wilson is a distinguished electrical engineer and professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Maryland at College Park, where she was the first African-American to achieve tenure and full professorship. She earned her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from MIT, becoming the first African-American woman to do so, after completing her B.S. in Electrical Engineering at Stanford. Her expertise spans signal processing, machine learning, and speech acoustics, with a focus on improving speech recognition by integrating articulatory and phonetic features. Dr. Espy-Wilson’s research includes developing a speech inversion system with applications in detecting and monitoring mental health conditions like depression and schizophrenia. She is a fellow of several prestigious organizations, including the Acoustical Society of America and IEEE, and has received numerous awards for her contributions to the field. Additionally, she founded OmniSpeech, a company that produces AI-powered speech processing software, which has garnered multiple awards and NSF grants.<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
Invited Speaker: Panying Rong, PhD<\/strong>
\nAssociate Professor, Department of Speech-Language-Hearing: Sciences & Disorders at the University of Kansas
\n<\/em>
\nDr. Panying Rong is an associate professor in the Department of Speech-Language-Hearing at the University of Kansas. Her interdisciplinary research program focuses on integrating precision medicine and computational approaches to enhance the understanding and individualized care of progressive neuromotor speech disorders. To achieve these goals, her research team has developed and tested a variety of automated computational tools for objective assessment, monitoring, prognosis, phenotyping, and tailored management of motor speech disorders secondary to neurodegenerative conditions such as ALS and Parkinson\u2019s disease. In addition, she is also interested in applying multimodal measurement techniques (e.g., facial surface electromyography, kinematic tracking, acoustic) for identifying novel subclinical markers to improve the screening and early detection of communication disorders in asymptomatic individuals at risk for developing neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer\u2019s disease. She has published across disciplines, including communication science and disorders, neurophysiology, and neurology.<\/span><\/td>\n		\"\"<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
\"Kimberly<\/td>\nInvited Speaker: Kimberly Dahl, PhD, CCC-SLP<\/strong>
\nPost-doctoral Fellow, Department of Speech, Language, & Hearing Disorders at Boston University
\n<\/em>
\nDr. Kimberly Dahl (she\/her) is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at Boston University. She researches speech motor learning in the context of multi-participant, dynamic interactions. Her work recognizes the considerable influence listeners have over speaker behavior and aims to understand how that influence affects articulatory and prosodic control in speakers with motor speech disorders.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
Invited Speaker: Alan Bush, PhD<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Co-Director, Brain Modulation Lab, Department of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital<\/span>
\n<\/em>
\nDr. Alan Bush studies the electrophysiology of the basal ganglia, the pathophysiology of movement disorders, and the mechanism of action of neuromodulation therapies like Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS). Through his work at the Brain Modulation Lab, he leverages the unique access to the human basal ganglia provided by DBS implantation surgery to explore the role of these structures in speech perception and production, aiming to optimize DBS therapy for improved speech outcomes.<\/span><\/td>\n		\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
\"Jason<\/td>\nInvited Speaker: Jason Whitfield, PhD, CCC-SLP<\/strong>
\nAssociate Professor, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Bowling Green State University
\n<\/em>
\nDr. Jason Whitfield is a faculty member in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Bowling Green State University (BGSU), where he conducts research on interactions between speech production and goal-directed attentional control. He values collaborating with internal and extramural colleagues and students at all levels, from undergraduates to doctoral trainees. Much of his research has examined how cognitive-linguistic factors interact with goal-directed and habitual speech motor control in talkers with and without Parkinson disease.Since 2021, Whitfield has served as the Diversity and Inclusion Faculty Facilitator in the College of Health and Human Services at BGSU. He is developing an emerging area of scholarly work focused on patterns of inequality and structural racism in higher education, including health and human service programs and speech-language pathology. He serves in other professional roles, including as the editor for Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups \u2013 SIG 19: Speech Science, an editorial board member of the Speech section of Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research and the Speech and Language section of Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, and as a member of the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee for the Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
Invited Speaker: Gemma Moya-Gal\u00e9, PhD, CCC-SLP<\/strong>
\nAssistant Professor, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Columbia University
\n<\/em>
\nDr. Gemma Moya-Gal\u00e9 is an assistantprofessor of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Teachers College, Columbia University. <\/span>Her primary interests focus on the development of novel treatment approaches,\u00a0<\/span>using automatic speech recognition,<\/span>\u00a0to improve communication and quality of life in individuals with Parkinson\u2019s disease (PD). Additionally, her clinical research aims at the inclusion and empowerment of underrepresented populations with PD, such as Hispanic\/Latinx\/Latin\u00e9, and her community outreach strives to maximize resources and services that are linguistically and culturally responsive for this population. She directs the Communication, Technology, and Language Diversity Lab, as well as\u00a0Speech for PD<\/i>, a university and community-based group speech rehabilitation program for individuals with PD.<\/span><\/td>\n		\"Gemma<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n

Registration<\/span><\/h2>\n

BSMCS’25 will be a hybrid event. Scheduled talks will take place in person and will be simultaneously broadcast to a virtual audience to maximize research dissemination. Concurrent virtual and in-person activities are planned, including a poster session and breakout rooms for networking. Registration is available until May 30, or until the conference venue reaches capacity (whichever comes first). All refunds will be processed three weeks prior to the symposium date and will subtract 20% of the registration cost for the administration fee. Questions regarding registration should be directed to the BSMCS organizing committee (bsmcs@bu.edu<\/a><\/span>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nIn-Person Admission<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\nVirtual Admission<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/em><\/td>\nGeneral<\/td>\n120 USD<\/td>\n<\/td>\nGeneral<\/td>\n30 USD<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nTrainee*<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n50 USD<\/td>\n<\/td>\nTrainee*<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n10 USD<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

*A “trainee” refers to undergraduate students, graduate students (including doctoral candidates), and post-doctoral scholars.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Registration is now closed!<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Conference Schedule<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h2>\n
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\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Tuesday, June 10th<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/td>\nThursday, June 12th<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/td>\nFriday, June 13th<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pre-conference Virtual
\nPoster Session<\/strong>
\n3:00 PM \u2013 6:00 PM<\/span><\/td>\n		<\/td>\nRegistration<\/strong>
\nFrom 8:00 AM onward<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n		<\/td>\nRegistration<\/strong>
\nFrom 8:00 AM onward<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nConference Opening<\/strong>
\n8:30 AM \u2013 8:35 AM<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n		<\/td>\nConference Opening<\/strong>
\n8:30 AM \u2013 8:35 AM<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\nPodium Session 1<\/strong>
\n8:35 AM \u2013 9:35 AM<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n		<\/td>\nPodium Session 4<\/strong>
\n8:35 AM \u2013 10:25 AM<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\nBreak<\/em><\/td>\n<\/td>\nBreak<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\nPodium Session 2<\/strong>
\n9:45 AM \u2013 10:45 AM<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n		<\/td>\nPodium Session 5<\/strong>
\n10:35 AM \u2013 11:50 AM<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\nBreak<\/em><\/td>\n<\/td>\nBreak<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\nTrainee Networking Event<\/strong>
\n(more details to come)
\n10:45 AM \u2013 12:25 PM<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n		<\/td>\nKeynote Address: Carol Espy-Wilson<\/strong>
\n12:00 PM \u2013 <\/span>1:00 PM<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\nLunch<\/em><\/td>\n<\/td>\nLunch<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\nPodium Session 3<\/strong>
\n2:00 PM \u2013 3:00 PM<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n		<\/td>\nPodium Session 6<\/strong>
\n2:30 PM \u2013 4:10 PM<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\nRoundtable Discussions<\/strong>
\n3:00 PM \u2013 4:30 PM<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n		<\/td>\nPoster Sessions 2\u2013<\/span>3 & Reception<\/strong>
\nSession 2: 4:10 PM \u2013 4:55 PM<\/span>
\nSession 3: 4:55 PM \u2013 5:40 PM<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\nPoster Session 1 & Reception<\/strong>
\n4:30 PM \u2013 5:30 PM<\/span><\/td>\n		<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\nClosing Remarks & Poster Awards<\/strong>
\nuntil 6 PM<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Click Here to Download the Full Program<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h2>\n
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Information for Presenters<\/span><\/h2>\n

Podium Presentations (15 minutes + 5 minutes for Q&A):<\/strong><\/p>\n

Presentations must be emailed to bsmcs@bu.edu<\/a> at least one week before the conference. Before submitting, be sure to test your slides\u2014including any audio or video\u2014to ensure smooth playback. Please note:<\/p>\n