770: Cued in to Environmental Factors Important for Children Learning Languages - Dr. Erin Conwell

People Behind the Science Podcast Stories from Scientists about Science, Life, Research, and Science Careers

Dr. Erin Conwell is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology and Coordinator for the PhD program in Visual and Cognitive Neuroscience at North Dakota State University. Erin studies how children aged 6 and younger learn about the structure of their native language. She is conducting studies to determine how they understand what we say to them and how they produce words, sentences, and phrases that are understandable to us. She also examines how children’s understanding and representation of language changes over the course of their first 6 years of life. Erin spends her free time hanging out with her husband and daughter. As a researcher of childhood development, she has often found herself closely observing and celebrating the milestones of her own daughter’s development. In addition, Erin is an avid reader who typically makes it through 80-100 books per year. Her other hobbies include knitting and curling. She received her undergraduate degree in Brain and Cognitive Sciences from MIT and her PhD in Cognitive and Linguistic Science from Brown University. Her dissertation research received the Peter W. Jusczyk Award. Afterward, Erin conducted postdoctoral research in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University. Erin is with us today to tell us about some of her experiences in life and science.