Speech and Hearing Science 2022 Student Awards and Scholarships

Madison Barrera

Madison will complete her degree with a focus on speech-language pathology next year. She plans to pursue a master's degree and hopes to work as a bilingual speech-language pathologist for the Chicago Public Schools. She is a member of Dr. Marie Moore Channell's Intellectual Disabilities Communication Lab. A Dean's List honoree and James Scholar, Madison volunteers with the Honeycomb Project, which works with children with physical and developmental disabilities.

Amber Dorn

After completing her degree next year, Amber plans to pursue a master's degree and career in speech-language pathology. She assists with research on how children with and without hearing loss understand speech in noisy environments in Dr. Mary Flaherty's Child Speech Research Lab. Amber worked for The Autism Program and currently is a course assistant for an introductory class in statistics. She participates in both the James Scholar and Campus Honors programs.

Nadia Hernandez

Nadia will pursue a master's degree and career in speech-language pathology after graduating in May, and hopes to specialize in early intervention with members of minority cultures. She also is interested in working with the Deaf community and is learning American Sign Language. A Dean's List honoree, James Scholar, and Hispanic Scholarship Fund Scholar, Nadia was a research assistant in Dr. Marie Moore Channell's Intellectual Disabilities Communication Lab.

Diana Morales

After graduating in May with a degree focused on neuroscience, Diana will enter the Ph.D. program in Kinesiology. She is a research assistant in Dr. Susan Aguinaga's Health Equity and Aging Lab in the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, and assisted with research in Dr. Keiko Ishikawa's Voice and Speech Rehabilitation Research Lab in the Department of Speech and Hearing Science. Diana is a Dean's List honoree and a James Scholar.

Maame Agyarko

After completing her degree next year, Maame plans to pursue a master's degree in speech-language pathology and hopes to develop early intervention programs for low-income communities. She is a member of Dr. Keiko Ishikawa's Voice and Speech Rehabilitation Research Lab. A Dean's List honoree, Maame took part in the Summer Undergraduate Research and Internship Experience in Acoustics, sponsored by the Acoustical Society of America, and presented at its conference.

Kelsey Libert

Kelsey will pursue a master's degree in speech-language pathology after graduating in May and plans to specialize in pediatrics. She was an undergraduate research assistant in Dr. Mary Flaherty's Child Speech Research Lab, Dr. Marie Moore Channell's Intellectual Disabilities Communication Lab, and Dr. Keiko Ishikawa's Voice and Speech Rehabilitation Lab. A Dean's List honoree and James Scholar, Kelsey volunteered at Carle Auditory Oral School in Champaign.

Hannah Streeter

Hannah will complete her degree in May and plans to pursue a career in speech-language pathology in a school or early intervention setting. She was an undergraduate research assistant in Dr. Laura Mattie's Development in Neurogenetic Disabilities Lab and served as vice president of Education and Training for Health, which visits schools to teach children about the importance of healthy eating. Hannah is a Dean's List honoree.

Natalia Rzepa

After completing her degree in 2024, Natalia will pursue a master's degree and career in speech-language pathology. She hopes to work in a hospital setting and is particularly interested in helping individuals with swallowing difficulties. A Dean's List honoree, James Scholar, and Chancellor's Scholar, Natalia is a member of Dr. Raksha Mudar's Aging and Neurocognition Lab and a participant in the College of Applied Health Sciences' Student Aging Researchers in Training program.

Melissa Bruce

After graduating in May, Melissa will pursue a master's degree and career in speech-language pathology. She was a member of Dr. Marie Moore Channell's Intellectual Disabilities Communication Lab and a senior nutrition education specialist for a course on contemporary nutrition. A Dean's List honoree and James Scholar, Melissa received the 2021 Students Preparing for Academic-Research Careers Award from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Nadia Hernandez

Nadia will pursue a master's degree and career in speech-language pathology after graduating in May, and hopes to specialize in early intervention with members of minority cultures. She also is interested in working with the Deaf community and is learning American Sign Language. A Dean's List honoree, James Scholar, and Hispanic Scholarship Fund Scholar, Nadia was a research assistant in Dr. Marie Moore Channell's Intellectual Disabilities Communication Lab.

Hannah Lynch

After graduating in May, Hannah will pursue a master's degree at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro and a career in speech-language pathology. She was a member of Dr. Keiko Ishikawa's Voice and Speech Rehabilitation Lab and shadowed clinicians at the University of Illinois Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Clinic. A Dean's List honoree and James Scholar, Hannah served as volunteer chair for the National Student Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Simin Soleimanifar

After completing her Ph.D. next year, Simin plans to continue her research on cochlear implants. Mentored by Dr. Justin Aronoff, she studies how individuals using the devices benefit from binaural hearing, and how the brain integrates disparate information from the two ears. She has presented her work at the Conference for Implantable Auditory Prostheses, the Acoustical Society of America Conference, and the American Auditory Society Annual Scientific & Technology Conference.

Rebekah Bosley

Rebekah will complete her Ph.D. in 2024 and hopes to work as a principal investigator in a university clinic. Mentored by Dr. Marie Moore Channell, she is studying maternal input to school-age children with Down syndrome. A certified speech-language pathologist, Rebekah received the Goldstick Family Fellowship for the Study of Communication Disorders and is an Illinois Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities, or LEND, trainee.

Gibbeum Kim

Gibbeum hopes to pursue interdisciplinary research in auditory neuroscience after completing her Ph.D. in 2025. Mentored by Dr. Fatima Husain, she is working to identify biomarkers of tinnitus and other sound tolerance disorders by examining brain mechanisms and the psychological, neurological, and audiological aspects of the disorders. Gibbeum worked as a research and clinician at a major hospital in Korea, conducting brain imaging studies of single-side deafness.

Celine Auriemma

Celine will complete her Doctor of Audiology degree next year. She completed external placements with the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Care Center and the Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital. Mentored by Dr. Ian Mertes in the Hearing Research Lab, she explores ways to increase the clinical usefulness of transient-evoked otoacoustic emissions. She recently completed a research traineeship funded by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.

Rachael Price

Rachael hopes to work as a pediatric audiologist after completing her Doctor of Audiology degree next year. She studies whether implicit voice familiarization can improve children's speech recognition in noise in Dr. Mary Flaherty's Child Speech Research Lab. She presented her work at the 2022 American Auditory Society conference and received the Mentored Research Poster Award sponsored by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.

Caroline Baginski

After completing her master's degree in speech-language pathology in May, Caroline plans to work with children with communication disorders in a school setting. She served as a teaching assistant for the introductory class in psychology and was a research assistant to Dr. Raksha Mudar in the Aging and Neurocognition Lab, where she administered the Montreal Cognitive Assessment to stroke survivors and others. Last fall, she was a tutor to two middle school students.

Katrina Blum

Katrina will complete her master's degree in speech-language pathology this year and hopes to work in an elementary school in Chicago. She gained clinical experience through placements with Carle Home Health, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, and Larkin's Place, a program for children offered by the Stephens Family YMCA. As an undergraduate, she assisted Dr. Marie Moore Channell with a study of Down syndrome and childhood communication.

Miranda Simon

After completing her master's degree, Miranda plans to become a bilingual speech-language pathologist working with Spanish-speaking communities. The recipient of a prestigious Most Promising Pediatric Clinician Award, Miranda has worked with clients requiring child speech and language service, gender-affirming voice therapy, stuttering therapy, and executive dysfunction treatment. Her most recent placement has been with the Urbana Early Childhood School.

Callie Brennan

Callie will receive her Doctor of Audiology degree next year after completing her fourth-year externship at the Cleveland Clinic. As a graduate research assistant in Dr. Fatima Husain's Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, she investigated disorders such as tinnitus, hyperacusis, and misophonia. She presented her research at the 2022 Marquam Hill Audiology Grand Rounds, sponsored by the National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research.

Elena Frizzell

Elena will complete her master's degree in speech-language pathology in August. As an undergraduate student at Illinois, she worked in park districts as an inclusion assistant for children with disabilities and was a research assistant on a study of code-switching by a bilingual individual with autism. During her graduate studies, she was a pre-professional graduate assistant with the eating disorders outreach team of the University of Illinois Counseling Center.

Alaina Arthurs

Alaina will complete her master's degree in speech-language pathology in May and hopes to work with children in a school or outpatient clinic. She has provided speech, language, and literacy services to children aged 3 and older and gender-affirming voice therapy to transgender adults. The recipient of a Graduate College Aspire Illinois Fellowship, Alaina recently completed placements in two elementary schools in the Urbana School District.

Becy DeAcetis

Becky will complete her master's degree in speech-language pathology next year. She is a teaching assistant for a course on the language and culture of Deaf communities and has been a tutor for American Sign Language in the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics for five semesters. Her research and clinical interests include the impact that speech and language disorders have on academic performance, and the intersection of bilingualism and disorders.

Idalis French

After completing her master's degree in August, Idalis hopes to work as a speech-language pathologist in a school or medical setting. She has completed placements at the University of Illinois Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Clinic, Stephen's Family YMCA in Champaign, Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center in Mattoon, and Eastlawn Elementary School in Rantoul. Idalis received a Graduate College Master's Fellowship and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha.

Hannah Li

Hannah will complete her master's degree in August and hopes to work as a speech-language pathologist in a medical setting. She has had clinical experience with articulation and phonology disorders, dysphagia, aphasia, gender-affirming voice therapy, and childhood apraxia of speech, Hannah recently completed a placement at the Urbana Early Childhood School and was a graduate research assistant in Dr. Keiko Ishikawa's Voice and Speech Rehabilitation Lab.

Yadira Alonzo-Espinoza

Yadira will complete her Doctor of Audiology degree in 2025. Mentored by Dr. Fatima Husain in the Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, she investigates hearing loss among Hispanic populations and also is interested in hearing conservation programs, pediatrics, and educational audiology. Yadira serves as vice president of the Student Academy of Audiology's campus chapter and represents the University of Illinois on the Illinois Academy of Audiology Student Board.

Margo Lanier

Margo plans to work with children in an early intervention or school setting after completing her master's degree in speech-language pathology next year. As a research assistant in Dr. Marie Moore Channell's Intellectual Disabilities Communication Lab, she investigates how pragmatic language skills are affected by intellectual disabilities. Margo has worked as a registered behavioral technician with children with autism spectrum disorder in both clinical and home settings.

Kristen Moore

After completing her Doctor of Audiology degree next year, Kristen plans to become a vestibular audiologist. She will complete her fourth-year externship at the American Institute of Balance, a nonprofit organization that focuses on helping people with dizziness and balance disorders. Kristen serves as secretary for the campus chapter of the Student Academy of Audiology. With a passion for volunteering, she has raised money for scholarship funds and organized food drives.

Quinn Robinson

Quinn will complete her master's degree next year and hopes to work as a speech-language pathologist in a children's hospital. Her interests include the language development of children with autism and augmentative and alternative communication modalities. She works with children aged 9 and under in the University of Illinois Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Clinic and serves on the program policy board in the Department of Speech and Hearing Science.

Rohit Ananthanarayana

Rohit will complete his Ph.D. in 2026. Mentored by Dr. Brian Monson in the Auditory Neuro Experience Lab, Rohit's research interests include auditory plasticity and development, and the mechanisms that allow complex auditory scene analysis. He is assisting with one study of neonatal sound exposure, and another study of the benefits of extended high frequencies for speech perception. He is active in the registered student organization Acoustics@Illinois.