About the Director

Amy Pace, Ph.D., CCC-SLP (She/Her), joined the Speech and Hearing Sciences faculty in 2016. She completed her postdoctoral training in the Department of Psychology at Temple University and received her doctorate in Language and Communicative Disorders from San Diego State University and the University of California, San Diego.

Dr. Pace's research focuses on language acquisition, assessment, and early intervention from birth to five, with emphasis on children from diverse, historically underrepresented, or environmentally adverse backgrounds. The primary goals of this research are to understand the environmental factors and learning mechanisms that contribute to successful language acquisition, and to apply this knowledge to develop targeted, community-centered interventions that support positive developmental outcomes in early childhood and beyond.

When she is not in the lab, you can find Dr. Pace swimming outdoors, welding, hiking, reading, or hanging out with her family.

Affiliated Faculty

John C. Thorne, Ph.D., CCC-SLP: Associate Teaching Professor; Discipline Leader for Speech-Language Pathology, University of Washington Center On Human Development and Disability; clinician and researcher, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Diagnostic and Prevention Network. Dr. Thorne's research to date has focused on interdisciplinary assessment in children with prenatal alcohol exposure and other neurodevelopmental disabilities. As a speech-language pathologist & special educator, he has over 30 years experience as a direct service provider to school-aged children with special needs and their families.

Research Coordinator

Emily Fowler, B.S. is a UW graduate from Biology and Psychology, with a passion for how the brain works. She's loved being part of the Speech and Hearing Sciences Department and learning new things about language acquisition, development, and interventions in different populations. In the lab, she oversees the various projects in process and assists with keeping things running smoothly and working on IRB Applications for research studies currently in the works.

Additionally, she is a team member in the Speech & Hearing NeuDLL Lab working on language studies, and Seattle Children's Research consenting & interviewing study families during the weekends.

She loves visiting the Seattle Symphony (especially when they are playing movie soundtracks), tending her myriad of plants, and getting in cat snuggles when she can at the Meowtropolitan Cat Cafe in Wallingford.

Research Study Assistant

Lili Correa

Graduate Students

Laura Guo (She/Her) is a PhD student in the Speech and Hearing Sciences Department at UW. Laura’s research interests include bilingual language development in young children (birth to 5), parent-mediated language intervention, bilingual language assessment, and social communication in young children with autism. In her free time, Laura enjoys cooking, doing Barre classes, and playing Pokemon Go with family.

Research Assistants

Sonia De Los Rios studied Early Childhood Education and Family Studies at the University of Washington and is now pursuing a Masters in Speech Language Pathology. Her interests include bilingualism, language acquisition, development and early intervention. Sonia runs a Spanish workshop for children and enjoys boxing, spending time with family and writing in her spare time.

Calvin Lin (he/him) is a fourth year undergraduate student in the Speech and Hearing Sciences department with aspirations of becoming an audiologist. In his free time, he enjoys exploring Seattle's outdoors with friends and watching movies with his hedgehog.

Anna Nolan is a postbac student in UW's Speech & Hearing Sciences Department and a future school-based SLP. She became interested in language acquisition and development while working in a kindergarten classroom and is excited to be supporting research that can have immediate impacts for children and their learning. Outside of her studies, Anna works as a real estate broker in West Seattle, where she lives with her partner Josh. You can find them at the Paramount on Silent Movie Mondays!

Jami Fung is a senior at the UW majoring in Speech and Hearing Sciences as well as an aspiring SLP. As Jami also speaks Cantonese and Mandarin, she is particularly interested in early childhood language development and bilingualism. Outside of school, Jami also enjoys hiking with her friends!

Lauren Morales

Hannah Sullivan

Bifeng Xiao

Timothy Berezhnoy

Alumni

Claire Nesbitt, Maritza Zaldivar-Lima, Theresa Le, Lily Parrish, Jiaharn Choo, Ellie Hurlbert, Celine Chien, Shina Cook, Linda Tashjian, Kimi Phippen, Frances Bueno, YingJu (Jessica) Lu, Minmin (Emma) Lin, Mark Cabrera, Hannah C. Valentine, Jessica Wi, Emily Nierman, Misha Gregg, Justin Brodt, Hannah Miller, Timothy Gaynor, Holly Durr