Panels, Posters, and Hot Ones at Language Science Day 2026

Language Science Day brought 250 language scientists to UMD for panels, posters, and "Hot Ones: Language Scientist Edition."

On September 18, 2026, language scientists gathered at Adele H. Stamp Student Union at the University of Maryland for Language Science Day 2026. The event featured a full afternoon of discussion, research, and networking, with approximately 250 language scientists attending! The event began with lunch and networking, giving language scientists the opportunity to connect with members of the community across multiple departments and universities. After lunch, attendees attended parallel panel discussions exploring interdisciplinary topics: 

• Interdisciplinary Aphasia Research
  Panelists: Yasmeen Faroqi Shah (UMD, Hearing and Speech Sciences), Brenda Rapp (Johns Hopkins, Cognitive Science), and Peter Turkeltaub (Georgetown, Neurology and Rehabilitation Medicine). Moderated by Bob Slevc (UMD, Psychology).
• Bilingual Language Development and Community-Engaged Research
  Panelists: Ellie Taylor-Robinette (UMD, LEAD Lab), Noelani Kong-Johnson (Georgetown, Center for Brain Plasticity and Recovery), and Leher Singh (University of Maryland-Baltimore County, Psychology). Moderated by Jessica Nolasco (UMD, Hearing and Speech Sciences).
• Deaf Perspectives on Language Access
  Panelists: Jill Bradbury (UMD, School of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies), Brittany Farr (UMD, Applied Linguistics & Language Education), Michael Dunham (UMD, Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education), and Gregoire Youbara (Gallaudet, World Languages and Cultures). Moderated by Deborah Chen Pichler (Gallaudet, Linguistics) and Tonia Bleam (UMD, Linguistics).

The event’s poster sessions highlighted 30 research projects from students and faculty across UMD, Gallaudet University, Georgetown, American University, George Mason University, University of Delaware, and UMBC. Topics ranged from aphasia recovery and bilingual reading to AI language models. 

A poster competition for UMD affiliates recognized the top posters and presenters, with the following two posters taking the prize:

• He Who Must Not Be Named (Yet): Sustained Anterior Negativity May Index Active Cataphor Processing
  Alba Jorquera, Jackson Confer, Philip Resnik, Ellen Lau
• From Sequence to Structure: Hierarchical Orthographic Learning in L2
  Yi Dai, Min Wang, Xianglin Zhang

The day ended with “Hot Ones: Language Scientist Edition,” our version of the popular Hot Ones interview show. Jeff Lidz (LING), Valentine Hacquard (LING), Jared Novick (HESP), and Rachel Romeo (HDQM) answered pressing questions while eating increasingly hot wings.