I am a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Zurich, Switzerland (2025-present). Prior to my current position, I was a postdoctoral research associate and senior scientist (2023-2024) and a research associate (2022-2023) at the University of Salzburg, Austria, I worked as a lecturer in German as a foreign/second language and as Academic Programs Manager at Salzburg College in Salzburg, Austria (2020), and I held graduate teaching and research scholarships at Bowling Green State University (2019-2020). Additionally, I have taught German as a second language courses at various adult education institutes in Austria (2021-2022). I received my BA (2015–2019) and MA (2019–2020) in German studies from Bowling Green State University (Ohio, USA) and my PhD (2020–2023) in German linguistics with a focus on second language acquisition and variationist sociolinguistics from the University of Salzburg, Austria (supervised by Prof. Andrea Ender, University of Salzburg, PD Irmtraud Kaiser, University of Salzburg, and Prof. Simone E. Pfenninger, University of Zurich).
My primary research interests include psycholinguistics, variationist sociolinguistics, and second language acquisition (SLA) in adulthood, especially as concerns quantitative approaches and statistical methods. In my work on SLA, I am interested in the role of psychosocial, linguistic, and cognitive factors on the acquisition of sociolinguistic variation in L2 learning during (young) adulthood, and how socioaffective, experiential, and contextual variables impact additional language learning among mature adults. My habilitation project merges psycho- and sociolinguistic approaches in order to investigate how major life events (e.g., entry into the workforce, parenthood, retirement) affect language variation and change across the lifespan.
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Awards & Grants
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“Early Career Research Grant” 2024 (€ 94.415,00)
FWF, ÖAW, and Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, Austria
Project Description
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“Young Investigators Award” 2022
Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, Austria
Award Description
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Team Lead for the winning team for the “World Summit Awards Youth for Innovation (WSA YFI)”
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“Erwerb soziolinguistischer Variation in der Zweitsprache” (€ 1.500,00)
Salzburg Stadt: Kultur, Bildung und Wissen
Education
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09.2020 – 05.2023
Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, Austria
Doctoral Program in (German) Linguistics and SLA
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10.2021 – 09.2022
Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, Austria
Certificate Program: Applied Statistics
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09.2019 – 05.2020
Bowling Green State University, USA
Master of Arts in German Studies
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03.2019 – 11.2020
Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, Austria
Certificate Program: German as a Second/Foreign Language
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06.2018 – 10.2018
Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
Exchange semester
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09.2017 – 07.2019
Bowling Green State University, USA
Bachelor of Arts in German Studies
Research Interests
Second language acquisition
- SLA across the lifespan
- Variationist approaches to SLA
- Acquisition of bidialectalism and sociolinguistic variation in L2 learning
- Individual differences in cognitive, socio-affective, linguistic, and instructional variables affecting SLA
- The love factor in (variationist) SLA
Variationist sociolinguistics and dialectology
- Language variation and change across the lifespan
- Effects of major life events on post-adolescent linguistic (in-)stability
- Individual differences in cognitive and psychobehavioral factors affecting linguistic variability
- Language attitudes and attitude development
- Dialectometry and geostatistical modeling of the interplay between social and spatial factors on linguistic variation
Multilingualism
- Bilingual and bidialectal (cognitive) advantage
- Effects of migratory experience on linguistic variability in the L1 and L2
Research methods
- Statistical methods for operationalizing individuality and intra-individual variability
- Novel experimental designs and elicitation instruments (e.g., virtual reality) to control for the role of context
- Reconciling quantitative and qualitative methods as a means of explaining predications