My interest in languages all started when I worked alongside a group of Spanish international students at a summer camp. I was intrigued by the challenge of communicating with second language learners and relished the opportunity to connect with people from a different culture.  This experience let me to study Spanish, international studies, and linguistics during my undergraduate degree.  After graduation, my desire to put my language skills to use and daily live the challenge of crossing cultures led me to service in the Peace Corps.  From 2008-2010, I served as a Community and Youth Education volunteer in Niger, West Africa, where I worked taught English and partnered with community members to develop programs to keep girls in school.  I loved the experience so much that, in 2011, I served again with the Peace Corps in China, where I worked as an English instructor at Guiyang Medical University.  After returning from Peace Corps, I earned as Master’s degree in TESOL and continued onto the doctoral program in Second Language Studies here at Michigan State.
My primary research interests in the applied-linguistics field revolve around accent, second language assessment, and eye-tracking methodology as a research tool. In my Master’s thesis, I investigated English language learners’ attitudes toward ESL teacher’s accents, and I am currently conducting a follow-up study on nonnative speaker perceptual adaptation to nonnative speech.  My assessment-related research has focused on the use of computer-based language assessment for young learners in the context of reading assessment and for low-level learners in the context of writing assessment.  In my dissertation, I examine the psychological phenomenon of primacy and ordering effects in rater-rubric interactions.  These assessment studies have aimed to investigate various aspects of assessment validity.
During my graduate career, I have honed my language-instruction skills through teaching IEP and EAP English courses at the English Language Center (ELC).  I have grown my administration and organization skills through my work as a Special Programs assistant, organizing and supporting groups of students who come to study at MSU as part of a study abroad program.  I have also developed my practical language-assessment knowledge by working as a rater, item writer, and test developer for a variety of English placement and proficiency assessments at the ELC Testing Office.  I have also been involved with developing the WIDA ACCESS and ACCESS 2.0 during my internship at the Center for Applied Linguistics, and this coming summer, I will work as a Test Development intern at CaMLA.

In addition to studying and working in the SLS program, a formative part of my experience at MSU has been taking leadership roles in various student and professional organizations.  Throughout my time as a student, I have served as the Chair of the Student Organization of Second Language Acquisition and Pedagogy, a graduate representative for the Midwest Association of Language Testers, a departmental representative for the Graduate Employees Union, and as the President of the Graduate and Faculty InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at MSU.