Chengjie (Gary) Huang is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences at University of Maryland College Park. His primary interest is in how sensory systems utilize various strategies to solve problems encountered in the environment. Trained as an animal physiologist in his Ph.D. at McGill University and his first postdoc at University College London, he investigated questions pertaining to the electrosensory system in Weakly-electric Fish and the auditory system in the Mongolian Gerbil respectively. Here at UMD, he is interested in extending his work to the human auditory system, focusing on simultaneous electrophysiology and pupillometry measurements to understand how the brain processes speech sounds and the role of listening effort in age-related hearing loss individuals.

Rachel is the lab manager of the APM Lab. She recently graduated from the University of Maryland with an undergraduate degree in Hearing and Speech Sciences and a minor in Human Development. Rachel has been a part of the lab since July of 2022 and has enjoyed her time here getting to work with the wonderful staff and participants!

Anna Tinnemore came to the University of Maryland College Park in 2017 to pursue a PhD in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science. Her research examines the effects of different sources of context on the speech understanding of listeners with and without cochlear implants. She earned her AuD from the University of Arizona (2017) and both a Master's in Computational Linguistics and a Bachelor's in Linguistics from the University of Washington (2007, 2005).

Paul Mayo received his Doctor of Clinical Audiology degree from the University of Maryland in 2023 and Masters in Audio Engineering from Belmont University in 2018. He spent his audiology externship with the Hearing Research Program (PI: Judy Dubno) at The Medical University of South Carolina, where he performed clinical tests for a longitudinal study of age-related hearing loss and developed machine learning models for interpreting handwritten audiograms. His engineering work involved nonlinear systems modeling, algorithm design, and audio signal processing. Paul's current research interests include digital signal processing, cochlear implants, sound localization, fine structure processing, and auditory neuroscience.

Obada AlQasem came to the University of Maryland College Park in 2022 to pursue a PhD in Hearing and Speech Science. He is a practicing audiologist, and he previously earned an MSc in Advanced Audiology from the University of Manchester (2020) and a Bachelor’s in Hearing and Speech Sciences from the University of Jordan (2013, 2017).

Becca is an Audiology student in the lab. She graduated from UMD with her B.A. in Hearing and Speech Sciences in December 2019. During her undergraduate career, Becca was involved in PULSAR, an interdisciplinary language science program, and defended an undergraduate Honors Thesis researching speech production in children with cochlear implants. Becca is now investigating the assessment of cognitive abilities in individuals with cochlear implants.

Angelina Bilokon is currently an Audiology student at the University of Maryland. Her focus of interest is in auditory processing and hearing loss due to auditory trauma. She is working in the Auditory Perception and Modeling Lab as a graduate research assistant for the binaural hearing project.

Marjan Davoodian is in her third year of the Doctoral Program in Clinical Audiology at the University of Maryland. During the summer of 2023, she completed her research internship with Dr. Monita Chatterjee at Boys Town National Research Hospital in Omaha, NE. There, she developed a diverse set of stimuli for emotion recognition among cochlear implant users and conducted validation studies. Her primary research interest lies in speech perception and emotion recognition in cochlear implant users.

Erin Doyle is an Audiology student in the lab. She graduated from the University of Maryland with her B.S. in Neuroscience in 2022 and joined the lab soon after. She is currently involved in research investigating the effects of aging on the auditory system.

Natalie Field is an Audiology student in the lab. She graduated from the University of Maryland with her B.A. in Hearing and Speech Science in 2023. She has an interest in tinnitus and hyperacusis research. She is currently involved in APM's pupillometry studies and investigates listening effort in individuals with cochlear implants.

Kylie Kelleher is a first year student in the Doctoral Program in Clinical Audiology at the University of Maryland. She graduated from California State University, East Bay with her B.S. in Speech Pathology and Audiology. Kylie is working in the APM Lab as a graduate assistant. Her interests include speech perception and cortical processing of sound in relation to cochlear implant users.

Pallavi Atluri is an undergraduate student in the lab. Pallavi is a senior at the University of Maryland majoring in Physiology and Neurobiology and minoring in Spanish on the pre-medical track. She has been a part of the lab since January 2022 and is especially interested in neuroscience. She is currently involved in researching the effects of aging on temporal processing.

Seren is an undergraduate student in the lab. She is majoring in Hearing and Speech Sciences and hopes to pursue an AuD degree after undergrad. She enjoys working with participants and learning about hearing and audiological research in the lab!

Vanessa Reyes is an undergraduate research student in the lab. She is a Junior Hearing and Speech Sciences major and an Art History minor. She is a member of the first ever REACH cohort, recently joining the world of research in the fall of 2023. She is interested in a future career in Clinical Audiology and hopes to pursue a specialty in pediatrics. Her research interests include temporal processing and speech perception among adults who wear cochlear implants.

Milana is a sophomore undergraduate student studying Physiology and Neurobiology at the University of Maryland. She has plans to work in the medical field in the future and has recently joined the lab, where she is currently assisting in research investigating the effects of aging on the auditory system.

Featured Alumni

Jordan Abramowitz

Mikayla Abrams

Ginny Alexander

Taylor Bakal

Mary Barrett

Regina Baumgärtel

Reem Bechara

Golda Bonaparte

Kristen Carlson

Ashley Chwastyk

Hannah Cohen

Stefano Consentino

Marina Cox

Shelby Creelman

Bailey Dibella

Sara Dougherty

Kyle Easter

Daniel Eisenberg

R. B. Ellis

Lauren Evans

Sarah Ferrell

Stephen Fong

Dayna Gager

Casey Gaskins

Alyssa Giammetta

Peyton Gomes

Samantha Green

Kia Griffith

Kelly Hanscom

Daeja Harvey

Allison Heuber

Hannah Johnson

Danielle King

Elizabeth Kolberg

Nishani Kuruppu

Patricia Laramore

Emily Leavitt

Tori Levi

Gavin Mahoney

Anna Martin

Angelo Molina

Debbie Moon

Liz McAllen

Abby Means

Kelly Miller

Udoka Oji

Leila Oyekola

Sasha Pletnikova

Alicia Proctor

Elisa Rademacher

Lindsay Roberts

Beth Rosen

Philip Saunders

Alanna Schloss

Sarah Shin

Matan Simhi

Olga Stakhovskaya

Madison Suarez

Laura Taliaferro

Paige Tunic

Emily Waddington

Arifi Waked

Erin Walter

Marti Weiner

Sarah Weinstein

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Lauren Wilson

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