Principal Investigator
Lisa Goffman, PhD, CCC-SLP
Pronouns: she/her
Lisa is the Nelle C. Johnston Professor in Early Childhood Communication Disorders in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at The University of Texas at Dallas. Her research program focuses on how children, both typically developing and speech and language impaired, map motor actions to conceptual and linguistic goals. She is especially interested in how different motor, cognitive, and linguistic cues may facilitate language and speech learning in children with developmental language disorder (DLD).
Doctoral Students
Kathryn “Kate” Kreidler, MS, CCC-SLP
Doctoral Candidate
Kate is a PhD candidate who graduated with her bachelor’s from SUNY Geneseo where she studied English literature and speech-language pathology. She continued her clinical training at Purdue University, while also working in a research lab, graduating with her master’s in 2015. After this, Kate spent four years working as a pediatric speech-language pathologist in Massachusetts serving children and families in home-based and private practice settings. The skills Kate developed as a clinician combined with research experience gained at Purdue motivated her to pursue a PhD.
Kate’s non-lab related interests include weightlifting, making/eating bread, and reading poems to her cats.
Leah Sack, MS, CCC-SLP
Doctoral Candidate
Leah Sack is a doctoral candidate in the Language in Motion lab. After earning her BA in psychology at Kenyon College in Ohio, Leah completed her MS in communication disorders at UTD. She subsequently worked as a speech-language pathologist clinical fellow at the Callier Center for Communication Disorders. Leah now studies under the mentorship of Drs. Lisa Goffman and Christine Dollaghan. Her research interests include identification of early predictors of developmental language disorder, the interactivity among the language, speech, and motor domains, and better understanding the cognitive mechanisms that may underlie language impairment. Outside of the lab, Leah enjoys playing lacrosse, running, and getting back to the East Coast to visit family and friends!
McKenzie Cullinan, MS, CF-SLP
Doctoral Student
Pronouns: she/her
McKenzie is a third-year doctoral student and a speech-language pathology intern at the Callier Center. McKenzie’s interest in research developed while providing clinical intervention to children in the public-school setting in Dallas ISD. Her research interests include understanding how phonological and semantic representations develop in early childhood. Outside of research, McKenzie enjoys reading, playing with her dog, Dakota, and travelling.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Laiah Factor, PhD
Pronouns: she/her/they/them
Laiah Factor is a postdoctoral scientist working under the direction of Dr. Goffman. Laiah’s research centers around the embodied link between co-speech manual gesture, cognitive-linguistic development, and learning in children. Her current work in the Language in Motion lab investigates the phonological aspects of gesture and how the phonology of gesture relates to linguistic and extra-linguistic cognitive factors in children with and without developmental language disorder. Laiah is also interested in the spatiotemporal alignment of speech and gesture in children with impaired language. When she is not studying gesture and child language development, Laiah enjoys spoiling her dog and cat, playing board games, and fitness instruction.
Research Associates
Janna Berlin
Janna is a research associate and has worked for Dr. Goffman for many years. She enjoys research sessions with subjects and working with the many students who are affiliated with the lab. She likes to read and hang out with her dog, Murphy and husband Carl. When possible she enjoys traveling to beautiful places for camping, hiking, and fishing.
Hiranya Kumar
Hiranya is a 3rd year CE PhD student in the Multimedia Lab who has recently started working as a research associate for Dr. Goffman. He finished his masters in computer science at UT Dallas in 2018, and his research interests include 3D Vision, Virtual Reality and Machine Learning. He helps the lab with engineering or coding requirements. Outside of work, he likes reading science-fiction, traveling, exploring new places and going hiking.
Master’s Students
Katelyn Armstrong
Pronouns: she/her
Katelyn is a master’s student in the speech-language pathology program at The University of Texas at Dallas. She is from Austin, Texas and graduated from Baylor University with a BS in communication sciences and disorders. Katelyn’s clinical and research interests include typical and atypical language development in children and early intervention methods. In her free time, Katelyn loves reading, lifting weights, and spending time with friends and family.
Kaitlin Easley
Pronouns: she/her
Kaitlan is a master’s student in the speech-language pathology program at The University of Texas at Dallas. She received her BA in cognitive sciences, with a specialization in linguistics, and psychology from Rice University. Her areas of interest include iconic gesture and word learning in children with developmental language disorder, and she loves getting to learn more about atypical and typical language acquisition through an involvement with research and clinical intervention. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, gardening, and making friends with every dog within a 10-mile radius.
Natalie McGarry
Pronouns: she/her
Natalie is a master’s student in the speech-language pathology program at The University of Texas at Dallas. She is from Little Rock, Arkansas and graduated with her BA in communicative disorders with a minor in psychology from The University of Alabama. Natalie is interested in how cognitive cues influence speech and language development as well as the phonological development in typical and atypically developing children. In her spare time, Natalie loves going on walks, spending time with her friends and family, and exploring new places around Dallas!
Undergraduate Students
Mi Huynh
Pronouns: she/her
Mi is a third-year undergraduate student at UT Dallas majoring in psychology and plans to attend graduate school. She is interested in phonology and rhythmic structures as it relates to language acquisition. Her current work is on acoustic measures of prosody in adults. In her free time, she likes to go to the gym, try different cuisines, and play Pokémon games.
Janine Settle
Pronouns: she/her
Janine is a spring ’23 graduate of UT Dallas with a BS in child learning & development and psychology with a minor in Spanish. She joined the lab as part of the National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates program within The Center for Children and Families at UTD. Her interests range from early intervention practices to the characterization of atypical language and motor disorders in young children. Janine hopes that the appreciation and love for research she is fostering helps her to be a great pediatric occupational therapist one day in the near future. For recreation, Janine enjoys lifting weights, playing basketball, and roller skating.