People

Staff, grad student, postdocs, and undergraduate members of the Bergelson lab stand smiling in a classroom with a maze. The image changes to a silly one when the mouse rolls over it.
BLAB end of year celebration, Spring 2024

Dr. Bergelson stands in front of a white wall smiling and wearing a black shirt.
Photo credit:
Zachary T. Kern
Dr. Elika Bergelson
Principal Investigator
Dr. Bergelson is an Associate Professor in Harvard's Psychology Dept.( personal page ). Dr. Bergelson received her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, where she first became interested in infant word-learning, after receiving research training at the University of Maryland as a Baggett Fellow , and a B.A. at NYU in Language and Mind. Her training is in psychology, linguistics, and cognitive science. Before coming to Harvard, she was a postdoc and then research prof at URochester's Brain & CogSci Dept, and then a professor in Duke's Psych & Neuro Dept. Dr. Bergelson's work has been funded by the NSF and NIH; she is the recipient of an NIH Early Independence Award and R01, and an NSF CAREER Award. Dr. Bergelson thinks figuring out how babies learn language is just about the coolest question out there. 		Dr.Bergelson, pictured as a two year old, claps in front of a birthday cake
Photo credit:
Vitaly Bergelson
Dr. Hartman wears a bright blue shirt and smiles in front of a brick building.
Dr. Jasenia Hartman
Postdoctoral Researcher
Jasenia finished her PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is interested in how infants use social and linguistic cues available on the face to support their learning. Jasenia is an aspiring plant mom and DIY-enthusiast. 		Dr. Hartman as toddler standing and grinning in front of a plaid chair in a blue polka-dotted dress
Dr. Meylan smiles up at the camera in bright sunshine wearing a navy sweater
Dr. Stephan Meylan
Postdoctoral Researcher
Stephan splits his time between the Bergelson Lab and the Computational Psycholinguistics Lab at MIT working on computational models of language acquisition and language processing ( personal page ). He recently completed a PhD in the Computational Cognitive Science Lab at UC Berkeley, focusing on how to represent adults’ and children’s abstract knowledge of language with probabilistic graphical models. 		Dr. Meylan as a baby, sitting in a high chair looking bemused
Rainy smiles at the camera wearing a blue sweater and a black leather jacket
Dr. Rainy Dong
Postdoctoral Researcher
Rainy recently completed her PhD in Experimental Psychology from the University of Oxford, focusing on children’s language and emotion development. She is very interested in children and language acquisition, and is excited to learn more about infant word learning. In her free time, she enjoys playing table tennis, watching movies, and trying out different cuisines. 		Rainy as a baby, sitting in the grass with a pink coat on. She has a smudge of red paint on her forehead.
Genia faces the camera wearing a dark sweater and glasses.
Genia Lukin
2nd Year Graduate Student
Genia studied psycholinguistics at Tel Aviv University and theoretical Linguistics at Boston University. She is interested in how sensory impairments impact language-learning, and how babies compensate for them. In her spare time, she tries to read all the books, sings classical choir, and has very strong opinions about Mediterranean cuisine. 		A sepia-toned portrait of Genia as a young child. She sits on a wooden box wearing a gingham dress.
Kristen stands in front of a stone wall wearing a blue blazer
Kristen Gilyard
2nd Year Graduate Student
Kristen recently graduated from Harvard University with an A.B. in Neuroscience and Mathematics. Kristen wants to acquire more knowledge about how infants learn specifically how infants create semantic representations. Kristen also enjoys reading, knitting, and bird-watching. 		Baby Kristen looks at the camera while drinking from a bottle
Lily has sholder length black heair and a bright smile. She wears a white blouse and small pearl earrings.
Lily Zhu
1st Year Graduate Student
Lily studied Cognitive Science and Data Science at Johns Hopkins University. She is interested in how children integrate multiple sources of information for language learning and develop their compositional knowledge. In her free time, Lily enjoys running, gaming, and experimenting with desserts. 		Baby Lily lay on her back in a crib. Her black hair is sticking up everywhere and she is playfully grabbing her foot.
Lilli sits in a white adirondack chair and smiles while holding a duck on her lap
Lillianna Righter
Lab Manager
Lilli graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park with a B.A. in Linguistics in 2020. There, she worked on research looking at infants’ acquisition of long-distance syntactic dependencies and wrote a thesis about early verb learning. She is thrilled to join BLAB and learn more about language development. Lilli loves her ducks, playing D&D, and theater. 		Baby Lilli sticks both fingers up her nose while her staticky hair sticks to a balloon
Sophie sits at a table holding a small cake and smiling. She has brown hair and brown eyes and is wearing a black top.
Sophie Schoenbohm
Lab Manager
Sophie graduated from Grinnell College with a B.A. in Psychology and a Concentration in Linguistics. At Grinnell, she conducted research on bilingualism, slang, and wrote her senior thesis on language development in children with developmental disabilities. She is interested in Speech Language Pathology and how those with sensory impairments acquire language. In her spare time, Sophie loves reading, knitting, watching reality TV shows, and baking all kinds of treats. 		Baby Sophie wears an orange dress over a long-sleeved white shirt. She sits at a table with her arms raised above her head and mouth open like she's cheering.
Michika stands in front of some small pine trees. She is wearing a puffy black winter coat and smiling at the camera. She has brown eyes and short dark hair with bangs.
Michika Ito
Lab Manager
Michika graduated from Wellesley College with a B.A. in Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences with a concentration in Psychology. At Wellesley, she conducted research on the effects of familiar song melody on word learning skills in preschool children. She is interested in Speech Pathology as well as exploring how children mentally represent the meaning of words in relation to bilingualism/multilingualism. In her free time, she likes to cook, play tennis, and watch movies. 		Baby Michika reads a magazine. She is wearing a pink pajama top and rainbow striped pajama pants.
Zhenya looks to the side while standing in front of a whiteboard and wearing a blue and white striped shirt
Zhenya Kalenkovich
Lab Technician
Zhenya graduated from HSE University, Moscow in 2017 with an MSc. in Cognitive Science. After graduating, he was involved in research into phoneme perception, negative sentence processing, and neural correlates of syntactic processing. He joined the lab in November, 2021. He is interested in the Language Development as a major window into cognition in general. At the lab, he performs a variety of programming/technical duties involved in managing and analyzing the corpus and experimental data as well as providing technical support for the researchers in the lab. In his free time, he enjoys bouldering, short hikes, and trying new things. 		Baby Zhenya pictured in black and white, looking surprised, sitting on a booster chair and holding a picture book with tigers
Olivia sits on the beach holding a slice of pizza. She has blonde hair put back into a ponytail and wears a yellow dress with blue flower print.
Olivia O'Connell
Research Intern
Olivia is a third-year undergraduate Psychology student at the University of Bath, currently undertaking a year-long placement in the lab. She is interested in various aspects of developmental psychology, including whether shaping linguistic input can influence child language acquisition. In her free time she enjoys cooking, running and eating brunch. 		Baby Olivia wears a light pink sweater and sits behind the steering wheel of an inflatable car.
Nicole has brown hair and black square glasses. She wears a denim jacket and beams while holding a bouquet of flowers.
Nicole Calderon
Research Assistant
Nicole is a senior at Harvard from Miami, FL studying Psychology and Education. She is interested in early language development, how language is taught, and finding out how young learners can be best supported in their growth! In her free time, she loves latin dancing, cooking, and crochet. 		A close up of baby Nicole, with a matching lavender sweater and beret.
Grace smiles on a rooftop in Europe. She has shoulder length brown hair, blue eyes, and wears a puffy green jacket with a black and white scarf.
Grace Benkelman
Research Assistant
Grace is a senior at Harvard from Montana studying Psychology and Linguistics. She is interested in various topics in social psychology and psycholinguistics. She loves to hike, run, rock climb, and be outside in her free time! 		Young Grace dances very seriously in a dark room, wearing a bright orange dress with yellow hibiscus print.
Jordan stands in the woods, smiling gently. She has shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes, and wears a cream cardigan over a blue shirt with a gray scarf.
Jordan Mitchell
Research Assistant
Jordan is a junior at Harvard from Gates, North Carolina studying Linguistics, Psychology, and Human Evolutionary Biology. She believes that the optimal approach to studying language prioritizes integration across the cognitive sciences. Her academic interests include multilingualism, child and adult language acquisition, and neurolinguistics. In her free time, Jordan enjoys playing tennis, reading, and traveling. 		A close-up of baby Jordan. She has pig-tails in her hair and she wears a light blue dress with a white collar and a pink bow.
Will has brown hair and brown eyes and a kind smile. He stands in front of a lake wearing a blue shirt and floppy hat.
Will Raidt
Research Assistant
Will is a senior at Harvard from Chicago concentrating in Psychology with a secondary in Environmental Science and Public Policy. His specific interest in the realm of Developmental Psychology is how educational policy can influence the development and mental health of students. He enjoys playing/watching sports, reading fiction, and traveling. 		Baby Will looks up with a pout. He is wearing a blue checkered raincoat and yellow rainboots. He is not enjoying the wet and cold.
Taft stands on a staircase smiling at the camera. He has short brown hair, brown eyes and wears a black and blue coat and headphones.
Taft Foley
Research Assistant
Taft is a junior at Harvard from Houston, Texas studying Psychology and Social Anthropology. He is interested in Clinical and Developmental Psychology and is particularly interested in language acquisition. He enjoys reading, running, and spending time with his friends in his spare time. 		Baby Taft stands in a carpeted room smiling and walking towards the camera. He is wearing a black onesie.
Oyewumi is standing in front of an inflatable snowman. Her dark hair is up in space buns and she is wearing a plum coat and headphones around her neck.
Oyewumi Oyeniyi
Research Assistant
Oyewumi Oyeniyi is a freshman at Harvard College who currently intends on pursuing a double concentration in History of Science and Psychology. They are interested in social and developmental psychology especially when it comes to how people develop their perceptions of society. In her free time she enjoys reading speculative fantasy novels and attempting to finish various animes. 		Baby Oyewumi wears a adorable pink dress and headband. She is laying on a bed of daisies looking at the camera.
Christina has dark hair and dark eyes, she is wearing a black coat and smiling to the camera.
Christina Wang
Research Assistant
Christina is a junior at Berklee College of Music majoring in music therapy and piano performance and minoring in psychology. She is particularly interested in how children acquire linguistic skills from their environment and the nurture side of developmental psychology. She hopes to integrate the insights into her work to provide the best therapy to others in the future. In her spare time, she enjoys doing yarn work, transcribing music, and exploring new cafes! 		Baby Christina wears a light pink shirt and sits on a bench in front of a flower garden.
Veronica has light brown hair and brown eyes. She stands in a grassy field in a black turtleneck.
Veronica Whitford
Research Assistant
Veronica is a freshman at Harvard from Charlottesville, Virginia studying Linguistics and Government. She is interested in multilingual language acquisition and child language development, especially in children with developmental disabilities and sensory impairments. When she's not in the lab, you can find Veronica reading, Irish dancing, or playing board games. 		Baby Veronica wears a light blue dress with a white collar and yellow flowers. She is sitting and giggling.

Lab Alumni (Where they are now)

  • Dr. Charles Davis, Postdoctoral Researcher, 2022-2023 (Postdoctoral Associate at Duke University)
  • Dr. Erin Campbell, PhD student, 2018-2023 (Postdoctoral researcher at Boston University with Naomi Caselli and Amy Lieberman)
  • Ethan Chaves '26, research assistant, 2023-2024
  • Stephanie Zaragoza '25, research assistant, 2023-2024
  • Sarah Latzke '25, research assistant, 2023-2024
  • George Romero '24, research assistant, 2022-2023
  • Samantha Chaney '24, research assistant, 2022-2023
  • Isabella Liu '24, research assistant, 2022-2023
  • Daisja Honorable '25, research assistant, 2022-2023
  • Mary Kate Merenich '25, research assistant, 2022-2023
  • Serena Raj '25, research assistant, 2022-2023
  • Anika Pawlak '25, research assistant, 2022-2023
  • Hallie Garrison, research associate, 2017-2023
  • Malini Narula '23, research assistant, 2022
  • Dr. Federica Bulgarelli, Postdoctoral Researcher, 2018-2022 (Assistant Professor of Psychology and Learning and Instruction, University at Buffalo)
  • Jessica Steil, visiting scholar, 2022 (PhD candidate at the University of Tübingen)
  • Dr. Shannon Dailey '22, PhD student, 2017-2022 (Post-doctoral Associate at Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University)
  • Jingxuan Liu '22, research assistant, 2019-2022 (PhD student, Columbia Business School)
  • Olivia Leggio '22, research assistant, 2019-2022 (Programmer, Neurology Department at UNC)
  • Jasmine Pflepsen '22, research assistant, 2020-2022 (Learning Support research assistant, American Institute for Research)
  • Taylor Horowitz '22, research assistant, 2020-2022 (Clinical Research Coordinator, Cohen Children's Hospital)
  • Sophie Barry '22, research assistant, 2021-2022 (Digital marketing, Michael Kors)
  • Kyra Lewis '23, research assistant, 2020-2022
  • Janani Ramadurai '21, research assistant, 2019-2021 (Linguistics Master's student at UNC)
  • Madi Yancy '22, research assistant, 2019-2022 (English teaching assistant in Spain)
  • Natalie Chou '23, research assistant, 2021-2022
  • Mihika Rajvanshi '23, research assistant, 2020-2022
  • Janis Zhu '24, research assistant, 2021
  • Dr. Charlotte Moore '21, PhD student, 2016-2021 (Post-doctoral researcher with Dr. Krista Byers-Heinlein at Concordia University)
  • Dr. Carla Fernandez, Postdoctoral Researcher, 2019-2021
  • Crismely Fermin, Visiting summer ICIS intern, 2021
  • Isha Mahadeshwar, High school summer intern, 2021
  • Lauren Mitchell '22, research assistant, 2019-2020
  • Justin Kim '22, research assistant, 2021
  • Sebastian Sanchez '22, research assistant, 2021
  • Sarp Uner, Lab Technician, 2019-2021 (Data Science Master's student at Vanderbilt)
  • Halden Levin, high school research assistant, 2020
  • Junette Yu '20, research assistant, 2020
  • Aahnix Bathurst, Project Manager, 2019-2020
  • Irene Tang, Lab Manager, 2019-2020 (PhD Student at University of Chicago in Linguistics)
  • Sarah Yang '20, research assistant, 2018-2020 (Senior Clinical Research Specialist, Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development)
  • Jessica Marlow '20, research assistant, 2019-2020 (Master's of Science student in Global Health at National Taiwan University)
  • Sophie Hurewitz '22, research assistant, 2019-2020
  • Georgia Price '22, research assistant, 2019
  • Gladys Baudet, lab technician, 2018-2019 (AI Engineer at AnotherBrain)
  • Estelle He '20, programming research assistant, 2016-2019
  • Webster Bei '20, programming research assistant, 2016-2019
  • Meghan Beck, co-op visiting research assistant, 2019 (research assistant Co-op at Institute of Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering)
  • Danielle Mayorga-Young '19, research assistant, 2017-2019 (Clinical Research Specialist at Duke)
  • Chandler Richards '19, research assistant, 2017-2019 (IRTA Research Assistant at NIMH-SFIM)
  • Katya Khlystova '19, research assistant, 2017-2019 (Ph.D. candidate at UCLA)
  • Emma Zhang, NCSSM high school research assistant, 2018 (Undergraduate at UNC)
  • Natasha Derezinski-Choo '18, research assistant, 2016-2018 (Fullbright recipient, "Many Medicines and Many Languages: The Sociolinguistic Underpinnings of Medical Pluralism.")
  • Micaela Brewington, research assistant, 2016-2018 (Public Health Analyst at RTI International)
  • Naseem Dillman-Hasso, summer research intern, 2018 (Lab Manager of the Perception Lab at Carleton College)
  • Natasha Vernooij, summer research intern, 2018 (Ph.D. candidate at the University of Michigan; Studying multilingual cognition)
  • Ellie Breitfeld, summer research intern, 2018 (Psychology Ph.D. candidate at University of Wisconsin-Madison’s)
  • Savanna Groft, research assistant, 2016-2018 (Clinical Medical Interpreter at Duke)
  • Erich Hess, high school research assistant, 2018 (Undergraduate at UNC)
  • Andrei Amatuni, lab technician, 2015-2018 (Ph.D. candiate at Indiana University in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences)
  • Afua Ansah, research assistant, 2016-2018 (Ohio-Illinois District Youth Assistant Secretary, Presbyterian Church of Ghana)
  • Angela Tawfik, research assistant, 2017-2018 (Senior Research Fellow at Duke University)
  • Reena Jasani, research assistant, 2016-2017 (Medical Student at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School)
  • Alexis Aberman, high school research assistant, 2017 (Undergraduate at Cornell University)
  • Maia Donald, high school research assistant, 2017 (Undergraduate at Barnard College)
  • Kelsey Shelofsky, research assistant, 2017 (Clinical Research Coordinator at Massachusetts General Hospital, Dept. of Neurology)
  • Claire Patrick, high school research assistant, 2017
  • Dr. Catherine Laing, postdoctoral researcher, 2016-2017 (Lecturer in the Centre for Language and Communication Research at Cardiff University, Wales)
  • Emmaline Drew, graduate practicum student, 2017 (Doctoral student in cognitive psychology at Duke University)
  • Hannah Ballock, research assistant and independent study student, 2016-2017
  • Ryan Bloom, programming research assistant, 2017 (Associate Consultant / Software Engineer at Levvel.io)
  • Nick Groszewski, programming research assistant, 2017 (Senior Associate Data Engineer at Capital One)
  • Liwen Zhang, programming research assistant, 2016-2017 (Data Scientist at GM Financial)
  • Cristopher Alvarado, high school research assistant, 2016 (Undergraduate at Swarthmore College)

If you are interested in joining our lab, see here!