I’m a Ph.D canditate in the Linguistics Department at the University of Georgia. I currently teach German 1001 and German 1002, though I’ve taught Introduction to Linguistics (in person and online) as well as a training course for graduate teaching assistants for several semesters previously. Teaching is a passion of mine rather than a burden. I am currently in the data collection stage of my dissertation.

In terms of areas on interest, I consider myself a phonetician with a lean towards sociolinguistics and historical linguistics. Regarding sociolinguistics, I am primarily interested in how phonetic cues are used by speakers to construct their social and cultural identities. My current research focus is on trends in the speech of transgender individuals. I believe that by studying this group’s speech, we can help give people transitioning a better idea of the changes in their voice that they can expect to experience due to hormone therapy as well as the possible changes through voice therapy alone. On the topic of historical linguistics,  I find the concept of utilizing large-scale perception experiments in an attempt to help explain historical language change very fascinating. Work I have done has primarily dealt with the development of Indo-European.

Outside of academia, I love hiking and gardening (both indoors and out). I also enjoy animated films especially Disney and Studio Ghibli.  Music is a passion of mine (you would be hard pressed to find me without headphones in), though I don’t devote as much time to making music as I would like to be able to.