Jennifer Lauren Cabrelli Amaro
Email Address: cabrelli@uic.eduCollege: Liberal Arts and Sciences Department: Hispanic and Italian Studies
Title: Associate Professor
Office: 1712 University Hall Phone: 3129960925
Webpage: https://hip.uic.edu/research-groups/multiphon/
Participating in the Chancellor’s Undergraduate Research Awards program: Yes
Research Interest:
The Multilingual Phonology Lab uses speech perception, speech production, and speech processing methods (including eye-tracking) to understand how humans develop sound systems in their native and second (and third!) languages. Specific topics we study include (a) the interaction (mutual influence) of Spanish and English sound systems in bilingual speakers (b) the role of bilinguals' English and Spanish sound systems when learning a third language, and (c) ow learning a new language affects your existing languages over time (language attrition).
You can read more about our current projects and members on our lab's website. Minimum time commitment in hours per week: 6 Qualifications of a Student:
We are looking for undergraduates who are interested in linguistics, phonetics/phonology, and/or bilingualism and multilingualism and have completed SPAN 206 or LING 150. We give preference to students who will be starting their junior year, have a GPA of 3.0 or greater, can work in the lab 9 hours per week (much of which can be done virtually), and can participate in the lab for at least two semesters.
The ideal undergraduate RA is reliable, motivated, hard-working, detail-oriented, and eager to learn! Prior experience in a lab is not necessary. Desired (but not required!) skills include basic knowledge of R (programming language) and Praat acoustic analysis software, and proficiency in Spanish or/and Portuguese.
Please note: Course credit for SPAN 399 is available, working as an RA can also fulfill the Honors College activity requirement (and you can often work towards your Capstone), and hourly payment is possible for work-study qualified students via the Chancellor's Undergraduate Research Award. Brief Summary of what is expected from the student:
Ideally, you will have availability to dedicate approximately 9 hours a week to the lab, but we can accommodate most scheduling needs. We will start by orienting you to the lab and its projects and using the different equipment. Then, you will join an ongoing project. You will help with experimental design and/or collection and analysis of speech production and perception data. We will train you to do all these things!
In addition to participating in all aspects of research, RAs will attend lab meetings if their course schedule allows (Wednesday mornings 10-11:30 am), read up to one research article per week, and assist in lab administrative tasks.
Finally, if you are working on an independent study (SPAN 399), LASURI, or Honors Activity/Capstone, you will write your own paper about your work on the project and we will help you present it at a student conference.
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