Our Team
Pritika Purba
SUMMER 2022 -
Pritika is an undergraduate student in her fourth year, majoring in Behavioral Neuroscience at SFU. Her academic interests include language acquisition, developmental psychology, and language disorders in children and infants. Pritika plans to pursue further studies in the area of Psychology or Speech-Language Pathology after completing her undergraduate degree. In her free time, she enjoys reading, painting, watching Netflix and playing with her 3 year-old mini poodle!
ASHLEY RUSKOWSKI
SPRING 2024 -
Ashley Ruskowski is currently in her fourth year at SFU. She is working towards a Bachelor's Degree with a Major in Linguistics and a Minor in Learning and Developmental Disabilities while also completing a Certificate in Speech Sciences. Ashley hopes to obtain her Masters Degree in Speech Language Pathology after finishing up at SFU. Her goal is to become a Speech Language Pathologist which will allow for her to continue doing what she loves which is working with children. Ashley enjoys spending time in the outdoors hiking, paddle boarding, running, and of course walking her golden doodle named Chester.
NINA BAUTISTA
SPRING 2024 -
Nina Bautista is currently a fifth-year student at SFU majoring in Linguistics, minoring in Education (Curriculum & Instruction), and also completing the Teaching English as a Second Language and Speech Sciences Certificate programs. She has a deep interest in multilingualism, language acquisition, and sociolinguistics. She is aiming to go to graduate school for her MSc in Speech-Language Pathology. When she has free time, you will find her cooking in the kitchen, watching K-dramas, or playing video games with friends!
Rasanpreet Dhami
SPRING 2024 -
Rasanpreet Dhami is a fourth year student majoring in Psychology at SFU. Her research interests include language acquisition and language processing, specifically, in multilingual settings. She enjoys cooking, traveling, and spending time with family and friends.
Daniela Garcia Ariza
SPRING 2024 -
Daniela is a Linguistics student in her 4th year at SFU. She is pursuing a minor in Learning and Developmental disabilities in the faculty of education, as well as a Speech Sciences certificate and a French certificate. Eventually, she would love to pursue a career in the Speech-Language Pathology field. She is interested in first language acquisition, as well as second language acquisition since she comes from a background where she had to learn languages while in her teen years. During her free time, she enjoys hiking and roller skating. She also likes to explore and go on adventures to new places.
Alexandra Samosseiko
SPRING 2024 -
Alexandra is a fourth year student at SFU, majoring in cognitive science with a minor in psychology. Her research interests include studying language acquisition in bilingual households, second language acquisition in adulthood and its implications in everyday life. In her free time, she enjoys reading, listening to music, and going on long walks around Vancouver.
Melissa Timmermeister
Summer 2024 -
Melissa is studying cognitive science in her fourth semester at the University of Osnabrück in Germany. She is interested in language acquisition, especially in children growing up in multilingual families, and in the relationship between language, thinking and perception. In her free time, she enjoys reading, crocheting, and playing card games with her friends and family.
Teresita Garduno
Fall 2024 -
Teresita is an undergraduate student pursuing a Post-Baccalaureate Diploma in Linguistics. She graduated with a BA in Linguistics and Psychology. Her research interests include Bilingualism and Language acquisition in Multilingual settings. In the future, Teresita aspires to pursue a Masters degree in Speech-Language Pathology. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, painting and reading. She continues to be curious and tries to find new adventures.
Puneet Sidhu
Fall 2024 -
Puneet is a fourth-year undergraduate student working towards an undergraduate degree in Psychology and double minoring in Linguistics and Learning and Developmental Disabilities. She is also completing a Certificate in Speech Sciences. Puneet hopes to pursue a career as a Speech-Language Pathologist in the future. Growing up in a multilingual household, she is interested in first and second-language acquisition. During her free time, Puneet enjoys reading, cooking, and spending time with loved ones.
Ellie Dueck
Fall 2024 -
Ellie is a fourth year SFU student majoring in Linguistics. Her research interests include language acquisition, historical linguistics, and sociolinguistics. She hopes to continue learning at SFU post-graduation by pursuing a master’s degree in General Linguistics. In her free time, Ellie loves spending time with her three young nephews, going on spontaneous adventures, and baking treats for her family and friends.
Justin Yan
Fall 2024 -
Justin is a Joint Major in Computing Science and Linguistics with a Minor in Cogntive Science who is looking to apply for Graduate Programs in Linguistics after graduating. His academic and research interests align more on the computational side of things, including NLP, AI, Computational Linguistics and Data Science. He also has an interest in technology and hardware, and has both built and modified computers before.