Training Interests

I am currently involved in several training programs that provide funding for students (typically only US citizens and permanent residents) seeking to further their education through research involvement. These programs include:

1. NIMH predoctoral and postdoctoral program in "Variation in Mental Function and Dysfunction." This program provides full support for graduate students and postdocs. Within the context of this program, I am interested in working on topics in the areas of child language learning, language processing, bilingualism, second language learning, and computational linguistics. I am interested in both experimental and computational approaches, as well as work with fMRI and ERP.

2. The Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center. This program supplies support for undergraduate summer internships. Within the context of this project, I would be interested in working with students on one of two projects:

Studying the naturalistic learning of technical vocabulary in home and classroom contexts, as recorded in transcripts and video in the TalkBank and CHILDES systems.
Research based on the new online language tutoring systems we are building for beginning French and Chinese. For this work, I would need students who know either French or Chinese.

3. The PIER program. This program, which is supported by the Department of Education, provides full support for predoctoral students who are interested in applying concepts from developmental psychology to specific educational applications. In the context of this project, I am interested in: (a) studies of classroom and online second language learning, (b) experimental studies of literacy training, and (c) experimental studies of children's language processing.