Research & Institute Staff

Administrative Staff

Erica (Riki) Stevens, Assistant Director

In her capacity as Assistant Director of the Institute, Ms. Stevens runs the day-to-day operations, works closely with the Co-Directors, facilitates the work of Institute scientists, manages the staff, and acts as liaison with campus organizations, donors, and the public. She received her master’s degree in Speech and Hearing Sciences at the UW and for more than 10 years managed the UW Speech Research Laboratory. She has also worked in industry, designing speech interfaces for handheld computers and mobile devices. Ms. Stevens returned to the UW to oversee Institute operations.

Jenine Isawa, Budget Supervisor

Jenine Isawa has a degree in Accounting from the University of Washington, and previously held the position of Administrative Director at the UW Engineered Biomaterials NSF Engineering Research Center. She is responsible for the Institute's day-to-day fiscal matters, such as budget planning and grants management. She also works with university officials and outside agencies on grant and contract issues.

Lois Yamamoto, Fiscal Specialist

Ms. Yamamoto handles fiscal matters such as petty cash for research subjects, reimbursements for travel, payroll, and procard and budget reconciliations. She received her bachelors in elementary education from the University of Hawaii.

Research Staff

Elif Aksoylu, Research Assistant, Speech Research Lab

Ms. Aksoylu is a third-year Neurobiology major in the Honors Program at the University of Washington. She currently holds a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Biological Sciences Undergraduate Research internship, studying cross-linguistic speech perception in 7- and 11-month-old infants. Under the tutelage of Dr. Maritza Rivera-Gaxiola, she is using both event-related potentials (ERPs) and the head-turn technique to investigate infant speech perception of English and Spanish sounds. She is especially interested in early bilingual and multilingual language acquisition and how the underlying cognitive mechanisms of this acquisition change with age.

Rechele Brooks, Research Scientist, Infant Studies Lab

Dr. Brooks is a developmental psychologist whose interests include infant social cognition, gaze-following, and how these concepts relate to theory of mind. She is investigating whether infants conceive of others as sentient beings with perceptions, emotions, and goals. She examines how infants interpret social cues, such as eye contact and gaze, which are in turn crucial for learning about others’ emotions and language.

Sharon Coffey-Corina, Research Coordinator,
Speech Research Lab

Ms. Coffey-Corina, currently working at the University of California-Davis, also continues her work in the Kuhl lab with extensive training and experience as an event-related potentials (ERP) technician, and special expertise in testing children and special populations. She received her bachelors degree in Psychology at the University of California-San Diego. Prior to working in Patricia Kuhl’s Speech Research Lab, Ms. Coffey-Corina worked in the Neuropsychology lab at the Salk Institute with Helen Neville and with Phillip Holcomb.

Calle Fisher, Research Study Coordinator, Infant Studies Lab

Ms. Fisher earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology at the University of Oregon. Since 1979, she has administered developmental tests and conducted internet research in Dr. Andrew N. Meltzoff's lab. Her area of expertise is as a behavioral coder as well as a person who tests children in experimental settings.

Craig Harris, Research Coordinator, Infant Studies Lab

Mr. Harris has a masters in Early Childhood Special Education from the University of Washington. He oversees research in Dr. Andrew N. Meltzoff's lab studying early development, including studies on imitation, intention, and memory. Harris also has special expertise in statistical analyses having completed workshops and classes in biostatistics and with Jim Sackett.

Dawn Hathaway, Research Assistant, Infant Studies Lab

Ms. Hathaway received her bachelor of arts degree in English from Seattle University and previously worked at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. She handles recruitment and scheduling of research subjects and other administrative duties.

Lindsay Klarman, Research Technician, Speech Research Lab

Ms. Klarman assists with ERP studies and behavioral techniques, such as the preferential-looking paradigm and head-turn technique. She is currently overseeing data collection for collaborative bilingual research studies and is a member of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. She holds two bachelor’s degrees; one in Cognitive Science from the University of California/San Diego, earned under the direction of Dr. Elizabeth Bates and a Bachelors of Science from the University of Washington’s Speech and Hearing Sciences. She has also completed a Masters in Non-Profit Leadership from Seattle University.

Denise Padden, Research Coordinator, Speech Research Lab

Ms. Padden has a masters in Audiology from the UW and works in Dr. Patricia K. Kuhl's lab. Using behavioral and neuroimaging techniques such as head-turn and event-related potentials (ERPs), she investigates the effects of language experience on speech perception in infants, children, and adults. Her interests include infant speech-perception development and the relationship between infant speech perception and language learning.

Justin Reichel, Manager, Core Scientific Services

Mr. Reichel oversees the Institute's mixed platform computing environment in the areas of networking, desktop applications, custom programming, and system hardware. After graduating from the UW with a degree in Informatics, he provided technical support for the UW Center on Human Development and Disability and the Washington State Employment Security Department.