Application Information:

UMD-REACH (Research Equity and Access in Communication and Hearing) is designed to address the critical need to increase diversity in the field of communication sciences and disorders.  We are particularly interested in training students who are considering going into research-oriented fields or considering a career in speech and hearing, and who come from groups underrepresented in science. This includes students from groups who are underrepresented on the basis of race, ethnicity, disability, or those students coming from first-generation and/or low-income backgrounds.

This program provides under-represented undergraduate students with the opportunity to participate in cutting-edge research and receive mentorship and professional development training via a year-long paid training program. This provides a rich environment for teaching and learning from each other.

If you have any questions please email us at umd-reach [at] umd.edu

Dr. Rochelle Newman is one of the directors of REACH, as well as the director of the  Language Development Lab (LDEV), the Brain Injury and Language Development Lab (BILD), and the Canine Perception Lab. She is also the former Hearing and Speech Science (HESP) Department Chair.  LDEV focuses on how perception of language changes with development. The BILD Lab focuses on how concussions impact language. The Canine Perception studies dogs and looks to see how our canine companions understand spoken commands.

Dr. Matt Goupell is one of the directors of the REACH program. He also is the director of the Auditory Perception and Modeling Lab. This lab currently focuses on the benefits of having two cochlear implants, how new cochlear implant processing strategies might improve speech understanding in noise and sound localization, and how natural aging impacts the brain's ability to encode and interpret sound across time.

Carol Espy-Wilson is the head of the Speech Communication Lab. Research in this lab combines knowledge of digital signal processing, speech science, linguistics, acoustic phonetics and machine learning to conduct interdisciplinary research in several speech-related areas.

Nik Francis is the Principal Investigator for the Francis Lab within the Biology Department. The Francis lab aims to clarify the neural mechanisms of listening and advance our understanding of how brain function relates to behavior.

Catherine Carr is in charge of the Carr Lab within the Biology Department. This lab focuses on how the brain uses time differences (ITDs) between the two ears to localize sound. The Carr Lab studies the neural circuits underlying the computation of ITDs in barn owls and other reptiles.

Yi Ting Huang is the head of the Language and Cognition Laboratory. This lab focuses on answering multiple questions including, "How do we close opportunity gaps?", "Can we predict effective interventions?", and "How does society address variable language outcomes?"

Veronica Kang is in charge of the Autism, Family, Culture, and Communication Education Lab (ACCEL Lab). The ACCEL lab works with children, families, and practitioners in early intervention. The ACCEL lab focuses on early childhood education, special education, applied behavior analysis, and related fields.

Dr. Jared Novick studies how adults (and sometimes children) process and understand language in real time, as it unfolds moment by moment in the Cognition and Language Processing Lab.

Dr. Overton is one of the REACH career mentors as well as an Assistant Clinical Professor and the LEAP Preschool Director. Learn more about Dr. Overton here!

Dr. Ratner studies the development of fluent speech production and the acquisition of language in the Language Fluency Laboratory.

Jonathon Simon is the co-director of the Computational Sensorimotor Systems Lab. This interdisciplinary lab studies how the brain processes speech and also how the brain processes different aspects of speech differently in different parts of the brain.

Dr. Ana Taboada Barber leads the Reading Engagement and Diversity (READ) Lab. The READ Lab studies how bilingual – and multilingual – children engage their growing minds in reading tasks. 

Dr. Butler leads the Cognition and Development Lab where his research focuses on the development and consequences of social learning in early childhood. 

Melissa Caras leads the Caras Lab on campus. It is known that practice can improve our ability to detect, discriminate, and identify sounds. The goal of the Caras Lab is to understand how this transformation, from auditory novice to auditory expert, is implemented in the brain. 

Yasmeen Faroqi-Shah's research focuses on understanding the neural underpinnings of language, with a particular focus on language breakdown following brain injury (aphasia) and bilingualism. Dr. Yasmeen Faroqi-Shah is the principal investigator for the Spanish-English Bilingual Project, as well as for the Aphasia Research Center.

Dr. Sandra Gordon-Salant is the Lab Director of the UMD Hearing Research Lab. The focus of the Hearing Research Lab is to understand the relative contributions of peripheral and central auditory abilities, cognitive capacity, and stimulus characteristics to age-related speech understanding problems. 

Dr. Hoover leads the Hearing Technology Lab. Research in this lab focuses on hearing aids and related hearing assistive devices as well as values in hearing healthcare, hearing assessment, speech perception in noise, and psychoacoustics.  

William Idsardi's research is on speech sound systems and how they function as a "mental address system" for words. He and his students do analyses on various languages and investigate speech perception using behavioral experiments and brain imaging (MEG).

Dr. Samira Anderson is the lab director of the Hearing Brain Lab on campus and is also the Hearing and Speech Science (HESP) Department Chair. The Hearing Brain Lab investigates how the brain processes speech, using behavioral and electrophysiological testing.

José Ortiz leads the Language Diversity Lab and studies issues related to the identification of communication disorders in bilingual children, technology-assisted language assessment, and culturally responsive treatment approaches.

Danielle Powell leads the Hearing and Health Research Center. This research focuses on assisting older adults who are affected by hearing loss. 

The Language, Experience, and Development (LEAD) Lab is directed by Dr. Rachel Romeo. This lab investigates how children’s early experiences—both favorable and adverse—influence their neural, cognitive, and academic development.

Bob Slevc leads the Language and Music Cognition Lab (LMCL). This lab studies how we process the complex sound and structure characteristic of both language and music.

Eliza Thompson is one of the REACH career mentors; she is an SLP and Assistant Clinical Professor in the Dept. of Hearing and Speech Sciences. Learn more about Eliza Thompson here!

Dr. Kane is running a new lab on campus currently titled, "Kane Lab." Dr. Kane is an audiologist and hearing scientist specializing in pediatric auditory skill development. Her lab studies how children with hearing loss develop skills to navigate complex listening environments, like the classroom. She is also interested in advancing hearing healthcare for children with developmental disabilities. Email Dr. Kane at slgkane [at] umd.edu for more information! Website coming soon!

Jennifer Rae Myers is Co-Director of the Culturally SMART. This collaborative lab focuses on multicultural advocacy and communication science research in technology.

Jonet Artis studies the language development of individuals with neurodevelopmental conditions. Their current study investigates the early receptive language development of autistic children. They aim to determine which measures best help us to know the words autistic children understand. In addition, they are investigating how the language environment of autistic children may vary based on their language skills. Their long-term goal is to inform clinical practices on the most effective assessments and interventions for children who demonstrate language delays and/or language disorders.

Favour Bright-Agindotan is a graduate assistant for the REACH program. Her position focuses around the mentorship of the REACH students.  She is a first year graduate student in the Speech Language Pathology program. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Utah where she studied communication sciences and disorders as well as theatre.

Lexi Stefanic is a graduate assistant for the REACH program. She is currently a first year student in the Speech Language Pathology program. She received her bachelor's degree at the University of Maryland in Hearing & Speech Science. She focuses more on the behind the scenes of REACH and research going on within the program.

Diana is a rising senior. She is a Hearing and Speech Sciences major and is minoring in human development. Her area of interest is bilingual language development. In the REACH program, she will be working in Dr.Newman’s language development lab. She hopes to gain knowledge and experience in working with children and their families as well as learn about language development in bilingual and monolingual children. Her future goal is to pursue a master’s in Speech-Language Pathology in order to provide therapy services to bilingual children.

Ama Wootan will be Mentored by Dr. Yasmeen Faroqi-Shah, a professor in the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences at the University of Maryland. Wootan is a Junior Hearing and Speech Sciences major and works in the Aphasia Lab. Her current primary research interests include Aphasia and voice. Passionate about breaking down barriers to accessing trans voice, Wootan also does work with Scinguistics, an online voice-science enthusiast space that provides free gender-affirming voice services. She also releases educational content on her YouTube channel, AmaRoseLessons. Ama hopes to go to graduate school to become a Speech-Language Pathologist.

Sharon Idowu attends the University of Maryland College Park, the Flagship university of the state of Maryland. From Baltimore Maryland by way of Lagos Nigeria, she has a strong passion for community which can be seen through her many campus activities and leadership roles. SI is part of the class of 2026 pursuing a double degree in Psychology and Human Development. Her area of research interest is in the cognition and development of young children, particularly in a social and educational perspective, Currently, she works under Dr.Butler in the cognition and development lab. Post graduation she plans to work as a school psychologist while pursuing a PhD in counseling psychology to fulfill her passion for serving underprivileged children.

Morgan Platnick is an undergraduate junior at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is a Hearing and Speech Sciences major with a Disability Studies Minor. Morgan was born and raised in Boyds, MD and has worked with populations of all types before and after starting at UMD.She began working as a one-on-one aid to children with disabilities at the age of 13, this sparked a passion for teaching and working with underserved populations and made Morgan want to learn more about how to best help people with disabilities. This helped her realize her interest in audiology and working with the Deaf community, she intends to pursue an Au.D following graduation and work in the field of pediatric audiology. Outside of this, Morgan is a coordinator for a tutoring program for elementary schoolers. She has experience working in a lab using eye-tracking to collect research data studying comprehension of children with Developmental Language Disorder in a therapy setting. Her research interests include barriers the Deaf community faces when it comes to adequate medical care in all fields as well as how to eliminate these hurdles.

Isabella Cropper is a rising Junior at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is a Hearing and Speech Major, and an Italian minor. Through the The Every Child Project at UMD, she has been tutoring children in her free time. Isabella is from Severna Park, Maryland. Ultimately, she intends to get her Master's degree in Speech-Language Pathology and then hopes to do clinical work with children in a school or a hospital setting. Currently, she is interested in researching Bilingual language acquisition and developmental language delay

Kevin Eguida is a rising senior at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is majoring in Computer Engineering with a special focus on computer sciences. Kevin lived most of his life in Africa where he obtained his Highschool diploma. He grew up in countries like Rwanda, Tunisia, or Senegal which contributed in shaping his culturally rich background. During his first two years in Maryland, he obtained an Associate’s degree in General Sciences from Montgomery College, and he is now pursuing a Bachelor’s degree at the University of Maryland with the intent of obtaining his master’s degree after. He plans on expanding his knowledge and polishing his skills by exploring the field of research thanks to UMD-REACH.

Afia Obeng attends the University of Maryland, College Park. She is a Public Health science major, double minoring in Black women studies and Humanities, Health, and Medicine. Her area of research interest is health disparities in black maternal care and maternal morbidity/mortality rates. One of her many interests in the UMD-REACH is its focus on diverse research on diverse populations tackling important and under-represented communities. She hopes this type of research could be her way of playing a role in combating health disparities while forming relationships with like minded faculty and peers. Working as a patient care technician she has seen how these disparities effect patients and families and create distrust in the healthcare community. Being on the for front of this research could allow her to make a small change the best way she can. Ultimately her goal is to obtain a masters in Physician Assistant Studies And work in the forefront of medicine.

Madisen Bonner is a junior at The University of Maryland, College Park. She is a Biology major on the pre-med track. She is from Baltimore, Maryland and is a part of the University of Maryland Honors College. Her field of interest is anesthesiology and helping those in underrepresented communities. In the future, she plans on attending medical school to obtain her doctorate degree. Madisen will work closely with Dr.Hoover in his research lab to closely identity people’s values and how they contribute to their want for hearing aids.

Telise Arce-Reed is a rising senior at the University of Maryland, College Park, studying Criminal Justice/Criminology and Human Development. As a first-generation student of Honduran and African American descent, she is passionate about addressing disparities in the justice system while connecting educational equity with early crime prevention. As an undergraduate research assistant in the Language, Experience, and Development Lab, Telise studies the impact of adverse childhood experiences on adolescent language development. Her dedication is also reflected in her recent acceptance into the Rawlings Undergraduate Leadership Fellows Program for the 2024-2025 academic year. Following undergrad, Telise aspires to work in public policy or non-profit research where she aims to link her passions for human development and criminal justice.

Marah Simonis is a rising senior at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland. She is a hearing and speech science major with a human development minor. Currently, Marah is interested in language development, bilingualism, and cognitive development. Marah hopes REACHwill further expand her research interests and persuade her to continue research in the future. She would like to become a speech-language pathologist after pursuing her master's and sees herself working with children in the future.

Janasia Thomas is a sophomore at the University of Maryland studying Neuroscience. She is from Waldorf, Maryland. At the university, Janasia is currently a member of the Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society, Charles R. Drew Pre-Health Society, and serves as a coordinator for Terps for Change. In the future, she plans to pursue a MD/PHD program. After completion of a MD/PHD program, she plans on entering neurosurgery while also continuing research. Her research interests include the relation between brain structure and developmental disorders, communication disorders, and mental health disorders. She will be mentored by Dr. Nikolas Francis.  

Fatou Sall is a senior at the University of Maryland who is passionate about addressing research disparities in neuroscience. She is majoring in Neurobiology and Physiology with a minor in business. Her primary research interest includes studying the effects of different socioeconomic upbringings on cognitive development. Additionally, she aims to delve into medical disparities, such as how dermatology is predominantly geared towards white skin, and explore the various factors that cause biases in medical research and practice. In the future, Fatou plans to attend medical school and obtain an MD/PhD. Through her work, Fatou strives to contribute to a more equitable and inclusive understanding of health and science

Erica is a rising junior. She is a Psychology major and will be mentored by Dr. Jared Novick, associate professor in the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences. Her specific interests are developmental, clinical, and cognitive psychology. In particular, she would like to learn more about the psychological approach to Autism. Additionally, she is interested in the study of memory distortion. She is also a part of the Science and Global Change Scholars program, where she recently completed her practicum and academic showcase on the gaps in therapy for underprivileged children. In the future, she plans to pursue a Master’s & Ph.D. in child psychology.

Cynthia Amaghi is a sophomore majoring in Neuroscience at the University of Maryland, College Park, and a Design Cultures and Creativity Honors College member. She serves on the Executive Board of the Charles R. Drew Pre-Health Society, where her organizational skills and goal-oriented mindset are significant assets in ensuring a successful year for the board and its outreach efforts. After college, she plans to attend medical school to specialize in Neurosurgery. Through the REACH program, her first in-lab experience, Cynthia aims to gain advanced research skills and insights that will support her future academic and professional endeavors. Dedicated to diversity and inclusion in the healthcare field, Cynthia is committed to supporting underrepresented students in pursuing their goals. With her combination of skills, experiences, and dedication she seeks a future in medical research and neurosurgery.

Makayla Dizon is a senior Hearing and Speech Science major with a minor in Human Development. She has recently participated in the university’s LEAP Program. Through this, she was able to get first-hand experience with specialized speech therapy for children with developmental language delays. Makayla plans on attending graduate school in hopes of receiving a masters degree in Speech-language Pathology. Her research interests pertain to the early speech and language development of children. Additionally, she is interested in the perception of speech when affected by diversity differences, such as various accents of dialects.

Abria Simmons is a former REACH student in the 2023-2024 cohort. She is a current senior pursuing a Psychology degree with a minor in Human Development. After graduation, she hopes to obtain her doctorate in Counseling Psychology and ultimately wants to provide counseling services to adolescents. For her, REACH helped better prepare her for applying to graduate schools for the 2025 cycle. It also gave her a better understanding of what it takes to conduct research.

Denilson Mejia-Rivera is a former REACH student who participated in the 2023/24 cohort. He is a current senior pursuing a double degree in Hearing and Speech Sciences & Information Sciences. After graduation, he hopes to pursue a Master’s in Speech-Language Pathology to work with multilingual populations and ultimately pursue a PhD to continue his research in bilingualism. For him, REACH was his first ever experience in research and awakened his interest to continue pursuing research throughout his career.

Vanessa Reyes is a former REACH student who participated in the 2023-2024 cohort. She is a current Hearing and Speech Sciences senior who plans on graduating in May of 2025. She plans on pursuing a clinical doctorate in audiology after graduation. For her, the REACH program helped instill a passion for research and helped her develop valuable skills that will support her throughout her academic and professional career.

Veronica Kandro is a former REACH student who participated in the 2023-2024 cohort. She is pursuing her undergraduate degree in Neuroscience and plans to graduate in May of 2025. After graduation, she hopes to work in a clinical research setting before continuing to graduate school. REACH was able to open the door to not only gain valuable research experience and develop professional skills but also allow for meaningful connections with passionate students in the program.

Onike Dana Walker is a former REACH student who participated in the 2023-2024 cohort. She is pursuing her undergraduate degree in Hearing and Speech Sciences and plans to graduate in May of 2025. After graduation, she hopes to enter an amazing graduate program to pursue her Master’s in Speech Pathology. She is thinking of working and gaining experience in multiple areas including hospitals, schools, and research. REACH provided an opportunity for her to learn the pathway from undergrad to potentially a PhD program. She also learned many things related to researching including starting a project and everything that goes into it. She created meaningful connections and collaborated with other underrepresented students in her Hearing Speech Sciences. She is grateful for her experience in the program and plans to use what she learned to further her future education and career.

Saintania Myrtil is a former REACH student in the 2023-2024 cohort. She is still pursuing her undergraduate degree in Psychology with a minor in Human Development. After graduating in May 2026, she hopes to pursue a Masters of Science in Physician Assistant and a Masters of Science in Social Work. REACH helped her advance her research skills and science writing. REACH also helped her solidify the demographic (kids) she’d like to work with in the future.

James Harvey is a former REACH student who participated in the inaugural 2023-2024 cohort. He is currently finishing his final semester and will take over as the lab manager for the Aphasia Research Center in January. Participating in REACH gave James insight into the life of a researcher, and the skills that are often overlooked from the outside looking in.