Rachel is now an incoming assistant professor in linguistics with a black studies affiliation.

1. How did you become interested in cognitive science/psychology?

I am getting my PhD in linguistics and did not come to grad school with cognitive psychology in mind but because my program is so interdisciplinary I realized that some of my questions could be better answered utilizing some cognitive methods. For example, I took a class in language and social cognition and learned about how EEG can tell us about brain regions and language processing. I am now using virtual eye tracking to finish my dissertation because we cannot do EEG work right now.

2. What is the focus of your research?

I study sociolinguistics, specifically the way that those who speak minoritized variants of English are treated and what knowledge to people bring about language to the study. We know that language is a grammatical system, but the system is not treated the same by all people. We bring perceptions and expectations. If people are using unexpected grammatical structures, we can look at the neurological surprise response. I want to know what people know about Grammar and how they use what they know for how they handle this with race and gender manipulations. This allows me to study this implicitly because you cannot just ask people how they experience this. We can see differences with both EEG and eye tracking. All of this matters because of discrimination based on minoritized variants of English. I am also studying perceived emotional speech such as the idea of the “angry Black woman.”

3. What aspects of your work do people get really excited about? Recently

EEG is very sexy right now and the fact that I am doing it with social stuff everyone is interested. I make sure to always be clear that I am linguist using these methods.

4. Where do you see your research going over the next few years?

My five year plan is to answer a few more questions under the same umbrella. Right now I am using my audio for implicit judgments but I am also interested in production so have ideas about dyad research. I want to get people to produce other variants and see what people do with this request. I want to see if they have accurate stereotypes and replicate the grammatical variants. I would also like to find a way for EEG work to be more inclusive. Right now caps are sold as “Caucasian” or “Asian.” I’d like to work with engineers on this. There is a new cap on the market that may be moving in the right direction. We are doing bad science if we are not testing everyone.

5. Do you see yourself in industry or academics moving forward?

I want to be in academia. I want to teach. But I also recognize the difficulties of the job market, the tenure track, and the additional challenges of being a woman of color. You get put on all the committees and do extra advising/mentoring because you are one of a few options for students looking for a mentor from underrepresented groups.

6. What's it like being a person of color in cognitive science?

I feel out of my element a lot. I love being a grad student at UM. Faculty treat us like colleagues. I’ve been in a good space and feel respected at conferences. I have a large Black community overall at UM, but I had to get that out of the department, which had very limited Black grad students or faculty. I have had to also cultivate a community of scholars like me more deliberately.

7. Any advice for other graduate students of color?

I had to recognize that even if you want to mentor every student it is not possible. Also, make sure to find your community outside your department. Spend a lot of time and talk to people asking questions about what it is like there. Make sure you will like more than just your primary advisor. Being with supportive faculty outside my area has been helpful. Make sure funding is secure in all aspects. If they are funding two summers, ask what is open for other summers. Go to conferences and find the people who will be in your field along with you. Also, do the research that you want to do. Do not be afraid of your advisor. It is ultimately your science. Be willing to set your own deadlines with your advisor and push forward to meet those. You do not have to be a straight A student to be a good researcher. Keep afloat, meet your requirements, and find where you can flourish. For me that was research and teaching. My imposter syndrome is still in existence but so much less than before.

8. What changes have you noticed in your field or the field more generally?

Working across subfields has been huge. Language is not just in heads; it is also social. We might want to control everything in the laboratory, but it is not how language works. Most people are not monolingual. We need to alter our methods to account for this. We are moving from a thinking model to a more experimental model.

9. Do you see spaces where diversity will change how/what questions cognitive psychology/cog Science is asking?

Context is going to be more crucial. We should not only expect Black linguists to be studying Black language. This creates pigeonholing. Diversity of thought will diversity the question we ask which can lead us to better understand the 7000 languages of the world. I hope this also brings more people into the field.

10. How do you protect your time?

I try to have strict rules about work. I live strongly by my calendar, so I make sure this has other things besides work including exercise and social event. I try to do a 9-5 schedule. In pre-Covid times, I was going to dance studios that also let me meet additional communities. Making sure my brain can do other things is crucial. This keeps me from getting burnt out. Friends are just as much a priority as work. I prioritize rest and have consistently gotten 7-8 hours of sleep during graduate school. I also do not expect perfection because there is no such thing.