People
Meet the Members of the Infant Language and Speech Lab!
Top Row: Liz Mathews, Amna Beg, Juwairia Sohail, Nida Qureshi, Elizabeth Johnson, Marieke van Heugten, Melissa Paquette-Smith, Dena Krieger, Susan Allison, Ceeja Vaidhyan
Bottom Row: Caterina Minaudo, Ysabel Domingo, Nazia Siddiqui
Missing: Nida Shahid, Tamara Bernstein, Rusan Lateef
Elizabeth Johnson (personal page -- departmental page)
Principal Investigator
Dr. Johnson received her BA from the University of Rochester, where she majored in Brain & Cognitive Sciences (minors: Linguistics, Italian) and completed a Take Five program in Developmental Biology & Evolution. She then earned her MA in Psychology and her PhD in Psychological & Brain Sciences at The Johns Hopkins University. Afterwards, Johnson accepted a post doc position at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, NL. While in Holland, she investigated language acquisition in Dutch- vs. English-learning infants, the perception/production of infant-directed speech, visual prosody, speaker recognition, sentence processing by toddlers, early word recognition, and the perception of language-specific prosody. Johnson is now an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto, and the Director of the UTM Infant Language & Speech Lab. She is enjoying being back in North America, but misses erwtensoep and biking to work.
Marieke van Heugten (personal page -- departmental page)
PhD Student
Marieke ([ma:'rikÉ™]) is currently a PhD student in Psychology in the Infant Language and Speech Lab. Her research focuses on early speech perception. More specifically, she is interested in how infants and toddlers start recognizing words from running speech. Prior to coming to Toronto, she graduated from Radboud University with a BA in Dutch Language and Culture and an MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience. She also worked in the MPI Baby Research Centre and the UQAM Language Research Group, examining function word acquisition in Dutch- and French-learning toddlers. Marieke likes green and pink. When she grows old, she wants to become a frog.
Melissa Paquette-Smith
PhD Student
Melissa is currently working on her PhD in Psychology in the Infant Language and Speech Lab. She received her MA in Psychology and her BSc specializing in Psychology and majoring in Biology from the University of Toronto. She joined the lab in 2009, conducting an Independent Research Project. Melissa also carried out her Honours Thesis in the Infant Language and Speech Lab, examining infants' response to auditory social cues. She has a passion for theatre and the performing arts. In her spare time, she teaches drama to a variety of age groups.
Dena Krieger
Master's Student
Dena joined the UTM Infant Language and Speech lab in September 2011 as a Masters student at University of Toronto. Dena is interested in cognitive development and this year she will be looking infants’ representations of words. Dena grew up in Vancouver, but received her BSc in Psychology from the other side of the country at Acadia University. Before starting at U of T, Dena worked as a Behavioural Interventionist and Special Education Assistant in Vancouver. In her spare time, she enjoys travelling and exploring Toronto.
Susan Allison (departmental page)
Administrative Assistant
Susan was born in Montreal, and moved to the Mississauga area when she was 9 years old. When not in school, she could be found at the gymnastics club -- she was a competitive gymnast for 10 years. Susan attended Lorne Park Secondary School, and then went on to complete her BA in Sociology at the University of Guelph. Upon graduation, she worked for a pharmaceutical company for 12 years. In 2003, she decided it was time for a career change, and began working as an Administrative Assistant in the Psychology Department at the University of Toronto Mississauga. Susan assists the Infant Language & Speech Lab in various ways; however she particularly enjoys interacting with the babies and parents who visit the lab. Susan is a busy working mom to two teenage boys. When not at the hockey rink, she enjoys spending time with her husband, family and friends, reading for pleasure and working out. Another interesting thing about her is that she has a twin brother.
Ysabel Domingo
Research Assistant
Ysabel graduated from the University of Toronto in May 2012. She has a double major in Biology for Health Sciences and Exceptionality in Human Learning and is interested in pursuing a career in Speech Pathology. She joined the lab in the summer of 2010 as a student volunteer. During the school year, she volunteers as a Peer Health Educator for the Health and Counseling Centre at UTM. Ysabel enjoys watching musicals and going shopping. She would like to start a collection of vintage purses and accessories.
Caterina Minaudo
Research Assistant
Caterina is a recent graduate from the University of Toronto Mississauga with a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Psychology and Biology. She began in the lab as an ROP student in the fall of 2010, and stayed as a Research Assistant throughout the summer. During the 2011/12 school year, Caterina worked on an Independent Research Project examining children's ability to predict upcoming words in speech. Career wise, she hopes to pursue a field in Speech and Language Pathology and currently has experience working with infants and adolescents with speech and hearing disorders. Her hobbies include reading, biking, baking and going to concerts.
Juwairia Sohail
Student Assistant
Juwairia is a second-year student studying Psychology at the University of Toronto. During the 2010-2011 academic year she worked as a Student Assistant in the Infant Language and Speech Lab. Intrigued by child development and abnormal psychology, she hopes to pursue a Master's in Occupational Therapy upon completing her undergraduate studies. Juwairia enjoys photography, reading, and is fascinated by the diversity of people - past and present - and their varying cultures, languages, and beliefs. Consequently, her other subject areas include Biology, Anthropology, and Archaeology. She loves traveling and hopes to someday embark on a journey to explore the world and its diversity.
Nazia Siddiqui
Student Assistant
Nazia Siddiqui is in her second year at UTM. She completed an ROP in the lab in the summer of 2011 and stayed in the lab as a Work Study. Nazia graduated from high school with an IB Diploma, and is currently planning on doing a specialist program in Behavior Genetics and Neurobiology. She intends on pursuing a Master's Degree at the University of Toronto. Nazia loves working with children and in the past, she has tutored and assistant coached. She wants to contribute to research in human development and learn more about the research in developmental neuroscience. In her spare time, Nazia loves reading about history and philosophy, especially anything that has to do with Ancient Rome.
Pauly Brar
NSERC Summer Student (USRA)
Pauly is a fourth year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto Mississauga, pursuing her HBSc in the Exceptionality in Human Learning Specialist Program. She is currently working at Dr. Johnson's Infant Language and Speech Lab as an NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award Student for the summer. Upon exploring fascinating subjects such as Psychology, Biology and Linguistics in her undergraduate program, Pauly has become interested by how the three disciplines overlap in the domain of speech. In the future, Pauly aspires to pursue a career as a Speech and Language Pathologist. In the past, Pauly has worked within many retail departments, has tutored
children, served as a camp counselor as well as held positions within U of T as an Invigilator as well as a volunteer lab assistant. As part of her leisure activities, Pauly displays her creativity through
interior decorating, event planning and photography.
Salma Faress
Research Opportunity Student
Salma is a third year undergraduate student in the Psychology stream of the Concurrent Teacher Education Program at the University of Toronto. After she graduates, she plans to become an elementary school teacher for children with learning disabilities. Salma loves working with children and is currently volunteering at Holland-Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital where she helps children with a vast range of physical and mental disabilities. She also volunteers in an after school program, tutors elementary aged children, and coaches a soccer team during the summer. In her spare time she loves to watch movies, read graphic novels, play soccer, and skate.
Zoya Kahn
Research Opportunity Student
I am a third year student at UTM, and am pursuing a Bachelors of Science, with a major in Psychology and minors in Linguistics and Religion. I have always been interested in studying the brain, behavior, and especially child psychology. Developmental Psychology was one of my favorite classes in UTM, and I really enjoy studying about the brain and language. I hope to become a Speech Language Pathologist in the future and work with kids, and it has been my dream since Grade 12! I grew up in New York, and completed an Honours Regents Diploma there, and then moved to Toronto after starting University. I love working with children, and in the past I have tutored various age groups of children, in Kumon and privately as well. In my spare time, I love to socialize with friends, spend time with my family, play basketball, play with my baby cousin, and watch movies. My dream is to travel all over the world and explore different cultures, languages, meet different people, and try various cultural foods. I am so excited to be a part of this lab! I hope it will be an experience I can learn from, and grow as a student and as a person.
Research Opportunity Student
Iqra is a second year undergraduate student, majoring in Biology for Health Sciences and French Linguistics. She likes learning about the human body and the production of sound, and also enjoys working with children (their chubby cheeks make her day!). She has volunteered as a Peer Health Educator at UTM and as a Reading Buddy at her public library. In her spare time, she bakes and reads. Iqra is an aspiring physician, but also hopes to start her very own bakery some day.
Josh Romano
Research Opportunity Student
Josh is an undergraduate student going into his third year at the University of Toronto. He grew up living in the Niagara Region before moving to Mississauga to study there. Currently, he is completing a specialist degree in psychology, and is especially interested in the social and developmental fields. After graduating, Josh hopes to pursue a Masters Degree in psychology. In his spare time, Josh loves to play soccer and snowboard. He is very interested in film and music, and enjoys reading on a regular basis.
Daniel DeSantis
IRP Student
My name is Daniel DeSantis. I'm in my final (fifth) year at UTM in the Psychology Specialist program. Over the course of the next year, I'll be a student in the Individual Research Project (IRP) course and the Thesis course. After graduation, I hope to obtain my Masters degree in Speech and Language Pathology and work for the Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board (DPCDSB) as a Speech and Language Pathologist. I am currently volunteering with the DPCDSB assisting children and teens with their verbal and nonverbal linguistic abilities. In my spare time, I enjoy swimming, playing video games, and slappin' my bass guitar!
Yuliya Kovalska
Volunteer
Yuliya currently completed her fourth year of undergraduate studies at the University of Toronto Mississauga, with a Specialist in Psychology and a Major in French. She is extremely interested in abnormal psychology, child development, and disability. Yuliya joined the lab as a volunteer in the Winter of 2011 and completed an ROP project in the summer of 2011. She loves languages so much, that she returned as a volunteer for the summer of 2012. Yuliya would like to pursue a career in Speech and Language Pathology. Even though Yuliya was born in the Ukraine, she absolutely loves the French language, culture and France in general.
Liz Mathews
Volunteer
Liz is a recent graduate from Saint Mary’s University in Halifax and is pursuing a career in Speech-Language Pathology. She is currently volunteering with an Aphasia Communication group at the Trillium Health Centre in Mississauga. She is passionate about working with children and is a tutor at the KUMON centre for Math and English. Liz enjoys travelling and has lived in seven cities. She also enjoys swimming and playing soccer.
Liz will begin her MSc in Speech Language Pathology at the University of Toronto in September 2012.
Nancy Diaz
Volunteer
As a current undergraduate student volunteer, Nancy has always been interested in research and feels passionate about psychology, neuroscience, and infants! In the future she hopes to go into Nursing, Pediatrics, Neurology, or Clinical Psychology.
