What is your role in the lab? 

As Communications Specialist, I support all of the lab's marketing efforts. For example, I maintain our website and social media accounts, design e-newsletters and print materials, manage advertising, write news stories (like this one!), and coordinate events. Plus, I'm always looking for new ways to support our lab's recruitment and help teach others about stuttering research.

What excites you most about your work?

I enjoy being able to bring my creativity into all the projects I work on for the lab. My role requires being a "jack of all trades," and I love that every day is a little bit different than the one that came before it. I particularly enjoy working in the lab because I get to learn about the team's brand new research findings before anyone else. It feels a bit like hanging out backstage at a show and seeing your favorite artist before they go on. Just with a lot more science!

What do you like to do in your free time? Do you have any hobbies?

I'm a writer, so I spend a lot of my "free time" working on novels. When I'm not writing, I usually read, play video games (BioWare games are some of my favorites!), or walk/run at the park. I try to get as much outdoor time as I can, especially during Michigan's (fleeting) warmer months.

Besides the unknowns around stuttering, what’s another scientific mystery that you find interesting?

I find most everything interesting, but if I had to pick just one scientific mystery, I think it would be extraterrestrial intelligence. The universe is incomprehensibly large and expanding every moment, so the probability of other life existing in the universe is very high. For me, the mystery is less about whether life exists/has existed—I assume that's probably a given—and more about what life is like in other parts of the universe. Are they searching the stars, either from our past or future, trying to find us too? Will we ever be able to communicate with them across the vast distances of space and time? It's cool to think about!