Hello and thank you for visiting my page!
I am an Associate Professor of Linguistics in the Department of Languages, Linguistics, Literatures, and Cultures (formerly Department of Linguistics) and the director of the Language Development and Experimental Syntax Lab at the University of Iowa. I am also a Research Affiliate at the UI Center for Social Science Innovation. I specialize in child language development, second language acquisition, heritage languages, and experimental syntax. My research has investigated morphosyntactic phenomena such as relative clauses and island effects. I have primarily conducted research on Tagalog and Japanese, but I am excited to learn about more languages through collaboration.
I received my PhD in Linguistics and an advanced graduate certificate in Second Language Studies from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, an MA in Linguistics from the University of Pittsburgh, and a BA in Behavioral Sciences (Specialization: Cognitive and Information Sciences) from Chiba University. Prior to joining the University of Iowa in Fall 2024, I was on the faculty of the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Indiana University Bloomington‘s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.
For Current/Former Students
If you are a current or former student thinking about requesting a letter of recommendation, please see this page.
For Prospective Students
I am accepting graduate students for Fall 2026. Please see the lab page for more information.
Recent Updates
- Nov 25 – Poster Presentation: Complex NP island sensitivity in L2 Japanese: L1 effects on covert wh-movement (with Boyoung Kim) at BUCLD 50
- Sep 25 – In Press: Subliminal island effects in Japanese complex NPs with argument wh-in-situ, Linguistic Inquiry
- Aug 25 – Invited Talk at the University of Kansas
- Jul 2025 – New Publication: Multiple scrambling in Japanese: An experimental investigation (with Justin Tanaka, Brian Agbayani, and Shin Fukuda), Japanese/Korean Linguistics 31
- Jun 2025 – New Publication: Less-commonly taught world language programs (with Wenhao Diao and Elisa Räsänen), The Routledge Handbook of Language Program Development and Administration
- Jun 2025 – Oral Presentation: Complex NP islands with argument wh-in-situ in L2 Japanese: A formal acceptability judgment study (with Boyoung Kim) at JK32
