People: UM


	Ben Munson, PI	munso005@umn.edu Ben Munson received his M.A. in speech-language pathology and his Ph.D. in Speech and Hearing Science from Ohio State University. He joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota in August, 2000. He is committed to conducting research that furthers our understanding of the factors that influence typical and atypical speech and language development, and, hopefully, improves the lives of children with communication disorders.
	Maria Swora Project Manager	swora004@umn.edu Maria Swora earned her BA in Linguistics from the Ohio State University, and holds a PhD and MPH from the University of Rochester, NY. Her research interests focus around qualitative research methods and analysis, health disparities, and social and cultural aspects of health and illness. She is responsible for the day to day activities of the Learning to Talk project. Contact her with...
	Kari Urberg Carlson, Graduate Student	urbe0001@umn.edu Kari Urberg Carlson is a Speech-Language Pathologist and PhD candidate with areas of expertise in voice disorders and motor learning. The title of her dissertation is "Muscle tension dysphonia as a disorder of motor learning." Kari has presented her work at the American Speech-Language Association annual convention and at meetings of the Acoustical Society of America. She was the recipient of a doctoral dissertation fellowship in 2010-2011.
	Sarah Schellinger, Graduate Student	schel204@umn.edu Sarah Schellinger is a Speech-Language Pathologist and a third-year PhD student. Her primary research interests involve investigating how adults perceive the speech of young children and the types of information speech-language pathologists use to conduct speech and language assessments. Sarah has presented her work at various conferences throughout the Midwest and has collaborated on a paper published in Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics.
	Jamie Byrne, Graduate Student	wennb012@umn.edu Jamie is a Speech-Language Pathologist and a first-year Ph.D. student. She recieved her B.A. in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences from the University of Minnesota in 2009 and her M.A. in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Minnesota in 2012. Her primary research interests are in examining predictive factors for typical and atypical speech and language development, assessment and diagnostic criteria, and intervention efficacy.
	Muhammad Abdurrahman, Graduate Student	abdu0128@umn.edu In his research, Muhammad Abdurrahman primarily focuses on sociophonetic variation. Currently, he is writing his dissertation on the regional sociophonetic variation of African American Vernacular English in lexicon development. Muhammad has also written on the effect of social networks and music in lexicon development. He is a former president of the Graduate Linguistics Association of Minnesota. He served as a University of Minnesota presidential scholarship mentor and as the Liberal Arts and...
	Marie Meyer, Graduate Student	meyer960@umn.edu Marie Meyer is a second year Master's student in Speech-Language Pathology. She received her undergraduate degree in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences from the University of Minnesota in 2010. Marie has conducted research in Dr. Munson's lab since 2009. Her work was incorporated into an article that was published in Clinical Linguistics...
	Amy Andrzejewski, Graduate Student	andrz007@umn.edu Amy is a second year master's student in Speech-Language Pathology. She graduated from University of Wisconsin -Madison where she worked with Dr. Jan Edwards on her senior honors thesis. This research examined the influence of listener expectations on their judgments of children's speech.
	Karen Evans, Graduate Student	evans329@umn.edu Karen Evans is a second-year Master's student in Speech-Language Pathology. She graduated from Brown University in 2009, where she majored in linguistics. Her undergraduate thesis work on pronoun reversals has been published in the Journal of Child Language.
	Laura Kawatski, Graduate Student	kawa0079@umn.edu Laura Kawatski is a second year Master’s student in Speech-Language Pathology. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin - Madison with degrees in Communicative Disorders and Spanish. Her interests include examining typical speech disfluencies and listener perception of their occurrence in spontaneous speech.
	Hannele Nicholson, Graduate Student	nich0082@umn.edu Hannele Nicholson is a first-year Master’s student in the Speech-Language Pathology MA program. She has previous degrees in Linguistics where she studied the interface between disfluent language and eye gaze during conversational interaction.
	Jill Pettit, Undergraduate Student	petti087@umn.edu Jill Pettit is a senior undergraduate majoring in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences and Spanish with a minor in Asian Languages and Literature. It is her second semester working as a research assistant in the lab.
	Jennifer Kim, Undergraduate Student	kimx1542@umn.edu Jennifer Kim is a senior undergraduate student taking classes in the Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences Department. She plans to be a Speech Pathologist so she can pursue a career working with children, language, and helping others. She loves reading and learning about new languages and cultures.
	Laura Madsen, Undergraduate Student	madse166@umn.edu Laura Madsen a senior undergraduate majoring in Speech-Language Hearing Sciences and minoring in Psychology. This is her second semester working as a research assistant in the lab. Additionally, she works as a Personal Care Assistant and volunteers at the Courage Center.
	Molly Prairie, Undergraduate Student	prair013@umn.edu Molly Prairie is a junior at the University of Minnesota working towards her major in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences. She recently attained her minor in Linguistics and is now preparing to do an internship abroad in Sydney, Australia next spring.
	Laura Ruuska, Undergraduate Student	sepp0056@umn.edu Laura Ruuska is a third year Honors undergraduate student majoring in Linguistics with minors in French and Computer Science. She has taught Finnish at the Concordia Language Villages and plans to get a teaching license in French and ESL. She is currently working on a study of language learning through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program.
	Tyler Ellis, Undergraduate Student	ellis496@umn.edu Tyler is a junior undergraduate honors student at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, working towards a degree in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences. He aspires to attend graduate school at the U of M and eventually attain his PhD in Speech-Language Pathology.
	Zuleika Billington, Undergraduate Student	billi172@umn.edu Zuleika is originally from Argentina. She began studying at the University of Minnesota in the fall of 2011 when she declared her major in Speech-Language and Hearing Sciences. She works for Minneapolis Public Schools in Early Childhood Screening conducting developmental screenings of children aged three to five. Zuleika will obtain her Bachelors of Arts in the spring of 2013 and will then pursue a Master’s in Speech Pathology.
	Cara Donohue, Undergraduate Student	donoh082@umn.edu Cara is a junior undergraduate student at the University of Minnesota studying Speech Language Hearing Sciences, minoring in teaching ESL, and learning ASL. Someday, she hopes to use these skills to interpret and to become a speech pathologist. In her free time, she also volunteers at Northern Voices, the cleft palate clinic at the U of MN, and helps teach ESL. Her interests include running and traveling.
	Jamie Anderson, Undergraduate Student	breh0036@umn.edu Jamie is a senior at the University of Minnesota majoring in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences. She is also involved with research examining speech patterns of individuals with Parkinson’s disease. She has previous work experience with children as a Behavioral Health Aide, Personal Care Attendant and Special Education Assistant Teacher. She plans on pursuing a career as a Speech-Language Pathologist.
	Amber Hogen, Undergraduate Student	hoge0058@umn.edu Amber is a senior majoring in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences. She currently works at a daycare center with young children and is hoping to focus her studies on children from birth to 3 years old. She is also interested in getting her license in Early Childhood Education. Her dream job is to someday have her own classroom of pre-K children and working with children with Speech and Language disorders!
	Julia Eckert, Undergraduate Student	ecke0191@umn.edu Julia is a junior at the University of Minnesota working on her major in Honors Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences. She plans on becoming a Speech Pathologist, specializing in working with children. She loves learning new languages; currently, Julia speaks Spanish, French, and American Sign Language.
	Courtney Huerth, Undergraduate Student	huert020@umn.edu Courtney is a senior at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities majoring in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences and Spanish. She plans to pursue a Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology after completing her undergraduate degree in the spring of 2013.
	Marcy Campbell, Undergraduate Student	campb615@umn.edu Marcy Campbell is a senior undergraduate student at the University of Minnesota majoring in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences and Spanish with a minor in Sociology. She plans on going to graduate school for Speech-Language-Pathology and is considering pursuing a graduate degree with an emphasis in Bilingual Speech-Language-Pathology.
	Sarah McGowan, Undergraduate Student	mcgow130@umn.edu Sarah is a sophomore at the University of Minnesota majoring in Speech-Language Hearing Sciences and minoring in Spanish and Neuroscience. This is her first semester working as a research assistant in the lab. She also volunteers at the Ronald McDonald House, is a member of Austism Speaks U, and serves on the professional-developmental committee of NSSHLA.
	Mandi Proue, Alumna	proue002@umn.edu 612-626-1935 Mandi Proue holds a bachelor's degree in Psychology from Luther College and a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Mandi's primary research area of interest is maternal and child health and family development. She worked as the first project manager for the SKILLS4Words project at the University of Minnesota.