I am a linguistics PhD student who works on semantics, syntax, morphology and their interfaces, strongly emphasizing language documentation and fieldwork methodologies. Currently I am in my third year at Rutgers University, where most of my recent work has been on nominal structures and semantics in White Hmong (my partner’s language).

Me in Budapest 2025.

Me in Budapest 2025.

Language experience

But, I have worked with a range of languages. The language groups I have experience with are Algonquian (Ojibwe, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Shinnecock), Hmong-Mien (White Hmong), Semitic (Arabic varieties), and Polynesian (Cook Islands Māori). In field methods courses, I have also worked with an Igbo speaker and a Yemba speaker.

Academic journey

My language interests during my undergraduate degree at the University of Minnesota were theoretical syntax and Semitic languages (my minor was in Arabic). In a field methods course there, my interest shifted to Algonquian, after working with a Southwest Ojibwe speaker. Since this shift was near the end of my undergraduate program, while I was studying for my masters degree I mainly worked on Plains Algonquian (Cheyenne and Arapaho).