Sander Nederveen had no clear direction during his undergrad at Radboud University in the Netherlands, where he majored in English language and culture. It wasn’t until he was approached by his professor requesting a TA for his syntax course. Nederveen stated that his professors’ “enthusiasm for syntax was really contagious.” Too contagious, it seems, for Nederveen’s immune system, as his enthusiasm for syntax is now spreading to others through him.

While Nederveen’s undergraduate degree was not in linguistics, he had and took the opportunity to take as many linguistics courses as he could. As he states, he “simply wanted to learn more, ideally through a combination of coursework and research.” Having not sated his appetite for linguistic knowledge, Nederveen thought that pursing a graduate degree in this field was the right move for his academic career.

The Experimental Syntax Lab was what most enticed Nederveen to choose SFU as his school of choice for his mater’s degree. Nederveen was excited by the profiles of the department members, their specializations, and especially the type of research that takes place at SFU.

Some of the highlights of Nederveen’s master’s program include his attendance at the LSA Summer Institute in California, as well as his ‘semester abroad’, working under Keir Moulton at the University of Toronto.

Nederveen is grateful for all the encouragement and support he received from the linguistics department at SFU. Nederveen’s  was able to a lot about research methods in the Experimental Syntax Lab – how to put together a good experiment and how to effectively tap into people’s language intuition. These are skills that he put to use on his master’s thesis, and that will accompany him on his future academic career as a syntactician. Additionally, through his coursework and thesis writing, noting that there is always room for improvement, Nederveen reflects on how much his writing ability has improved over the last two years.

The biggest piece of advice that Nederveen has to offer to current and future undergrads is: “Don’t be shy, reach out to people in your department! Professors and grad students typically appreciate that,” adding that seeking counsel for difficult decisions can be very helpful, or, if a decision has already been made, asking for recommendation letters or examples of successful applications to further studies can be extremely helpful.

We wish Nederveen the best of luck in his linguistics PhD at UBC, which will keep him busy for the next few years while he stays involved with the Experimental Syntax Lab at SFU.