Meet our lab memebers!
Joshua Hartshorne
Principal Investigator
B.A. Mathematics, Oberlin College
M.A. Psychology, Harvard University
Ph.D. Psychology, Harvard University
I am interested in understanding what allows humans, but not current machines, to learn language – and why it is that children, despite their salient limitations of both cognition and experience, are so much more successful at language learning than adults. I am particularly interested in applying new and emerging methods (such as computational modeling and crowdsourcing) to core problems in the language sciences.
Samantha Gutierrez
Lab Manager
I graduated from Swarthmore College with a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Linguistics. I’m interested in all things relating to language, especially English neopronouns and language processing in general. Excited to get to work at the lab!
Wei Li
Graduate Student
website
I graduated from Cornell University with a major in developmental psychology. I’m interested in how children learn words, concepts, and language in only a few years with limited cognitive capacity and limited experience with the world. I’m also interested in integrating computational modeling and big data into cognitive development research.
Tianyi Li
Graduate Student
I earned my bachelor degree in software engineering and then a master in cognitive neuroscience. Having been exposed to a diverse of perspectives from different disciplines along the way, I am broadly interested in cognitive science, especially language and cognition related topics. I seek to learn how people understand each other through learning, exchanging, and interpreting abstract information and how this knowledge in turn can help us more intelligent machines. I use a combination of computational modeling and empirical studies.
Allie Janineh
Master's Student
I graduated from UMass Amherst with a major in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, and am continuing my education at the MGH Institute for Health Professions seeking my Doctorate in Occupational Therapy. I'm interested in helping others improve their quality of life through a variety of avenues... technology being one of them!
Amanda Rose Yuile
Postdoc
My research investigates the cognitive mechanisms that support real-time language comprehension and word learning in early childhood. I focus on how young children draw on their growing knowledge of events and language to make sense of words as sentences unfold, using tools like eye-tracking and large-scale language data.
Joel Iglesias Lopez
Lab Coordinator
Hi, I'm Joel, a junior at Boston College, where I'm studying applied psychology, transformative education, special education, and social work. After graduating from BC I plan on pursing a career in social work, and eventually in the field of clinical psychology. As the LC at AI4CommSci, I work with lab members and affiliates to help run the lab smoothly, particularly with scheduling and administrative tasks.
Hunter Scheppat
Undergraduate RA
Hi, I'm Hunter, a senior majoring in Finance and Computer Science. I'm thrilled to be a Research Assistant here at the AI4CommSci Group, where I get to delve into the Pushkin project. My goal is to harness the power of data analytics and machine learning to drive innovation and make impactful contributions to both the scientific community and the business world. Looking forward to an exciting and productive time at the lab!
Omar Tall
Undergraduate RA
Hello, I’m Omar, an undergraduate Computer Science student at Boston College. I’m passionate about leveraging my background in computer science to develop projects that enhance people's lives and deepen our understanding of the world. My academic journey has fueled my interest in AI and language processing, driving me to explore how technology can bridge communication gaps and preserve endangered languages. I am excited to join the lab and continue my work on language processing models and the Formosan Project.
Elie Salem
Postbac RA
Hi, I’m Elie and I graduated Harvard in December with a degree in Computer Science and Philosophy. After studying the philosophy of mind in my senior year, I became interested in pivoting to a career in psychology research. Looking forward to working with Formosan languages at the AI4CommSci lab!
Nuria Lopez
Postbac RA
Hi! My name is Nuria Lopez, I recently graduated from the University of Texas at Austin ('25) with a degree in psychology and a minor in law, justice, and society. Throughout my undergraduate years, my areas of interest were primarily child development, cognition, and mental disorders, with a focus on minorities and immigrant communities. I am now in the process of applying to law school and am pursuing family law alongside immigration law. I am excited to contribute towards this research and hope my background will be of benefit, for I love working with kids :)!
Moeka Koyama
Undergraduate RA
I am a sophomore ('27) at Harvard College double majoring in Linguistics and Molecular and Cellular Biology whilst dabbling in a bit of philosophy on the side. I was born in the UK and have lived in New Zealand for most of my life but my native tongue is Japanese. I am excited to be part of the AI4CommSci group and analyze some Japanese sources!
Dorothy Peters
Undergraduate RA
Hello! I'm a junior at Wellesley College ('27) and I'm studying Computer Science and Linguistics. I'm interested in algorithm design, large language models, and language processing in humans and computers. I am excited to contribute to the lab and better understand how natural language processing can applied to endangered languages
Wasa Magari Ball
Postbac RA
I graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in linguistics and philosophy, with a minor in anthropology. I'm interested in an interdisciplinary exploration of language most broadly, with a focus on morphosyntax and a commitment to endangered language documentation. At AI4CommSci, I'm excited to be working with the Formosan corpora project.
Caroline Kowalski
Undergraduate RA
I am a rising Senior at Boston College majoring in Linguistics and Psychology and minoring in History and Computer Science. I will be completing a Master’s in Psychology at Boston College with a Fifth-Year Program. I am from Buffalo, New York and am a huge Bills fan! I am passionate about the intersection between human cognition and behavior with language processing and I am a Research Assistant working with the Formosan Corpora.
Heidi Trinh
Postbac RA
I graduated from the University of California, Davis with a B.A. in Linguistics and a B.S. in Computer Science. I am interested in using computational models to better understand how humans process and produce language. I am excited to be working on the Formosan corpora project at AI4CommSci!
Iris Oved
Affiliated Researcher
B.A. Interdisciplinary Studies (Psychology, Philosophy, Symbolic Systems), University of Arizona
Ph.D. Philosophy, Rutgers University
Postdoc, NSF Computing Innovations Fellow, University of Arizona
I am interested in mental and linguistic representations in humans and machines, with a special focus on concept acquisition through perception and language. My favorite insights come from designing virtual human toddlers who learn by exploring their virtual environments.
