Our Team
Our Research Team, led by Dr. Malandraki, includes a Research Associate, two doctoral students, one graduate student, two undergraduate students, and multiple research collaborators. Several undergraduate students per semester are also involved in our research projects through Undergraduate Research credit hours (learn more here).
Research Associate
Barbara Brown, MS, CCC-SLP
brownb@purdue.edu
Research Associate
Short Bio:
Barbara Brown is a certified speech-language pathologist with extensive clinical experience in addition to serving as the project coordinator for NIH-funded grants awarded to Purdue faculty in the areas of the physiology of stuttering, motor speech development, and grammatical morphology in children with specific language impairment. Barbara currently co-teaches the Stuttering course and her interests include evidence-based practice and treatment outcomes in patients with communication and swallowing disorders.
Research Assistants
Cagla Kantarcigil, MS
Doctoral Student (PhD Candidate)
Research interests:
- Investigating the application of telehealth in dysphagia diagnosis, rehabilitation, and consultation
- Developing evidence-based protocols for dysphagia rehabilitation
Anumitha Venkatraman, MS
Doctoral Student (Major Advisor: Dr. Sivasankar)
Research interests:
- Investigating the neurophysiological and biomechanical relationships between the functions of swallow and voice (specifically, pitch elevation)
- The effect of using altered vocal qualities on voice production and listener ratings
Paige Cornille
Graduate Student
Research/clinical interests
- Investigating swallowing and feeding behaviors in children with cerebral palsy
- Identifying neurophysiological mechanisms of swallowing behaviors
- Pediatric dysphagia
Samantha Mitchell
Undergraduate Student
Involved in lab projects including:
- Investigating swallowing and motor speech functions and efficiency in children with cerebral palsy and typically developing children
- Identifying electromyographic correlates of swallowing and speech in children with cerebral palsy and typically developing children
- Providing advanced technological and media support for various lab projects
Jennine Bryan
Undergraduate Student
Involved in lab projects including:
- Investigating mealtime behaviors and eating efficiency of children with cerebral palsy and typically developing children
- Exploring the speech intelligibility of children with cerebral palsy for adult listeners
- Providing media support for various lab projects
Interested in Joining our Dream Team?
If you are a graduate student or a prospective doctoral student and you have an interest in joining our team, please send an email and your CV directly to Dr. Malandraki at malandraki@purdue.edu.
If you are an undergraduate student and are interested in learning more about research and how to participate in our lab, please complete this application (google doc). If we have a vacancy in the lab and you qualify, we will contact you! Thank you for your interest.
Alumni
- Robert B. Fujiki, PhD Candidate
- Graduate research assistant (2016-2017)
- Robert is now completing his last year of his PhD at Purdue under the direction of his primary advisor, Dr. Sivasankar.
- Valerie Steinhauser, MS, CFY-SLP
- Graduate research assistant (2016-2017)
- Val is now completing her clinical fellowship at the Jewish Child and Family Services in Chicago, IL.
- Natalie Tomerlin, MS, CFY-SLP
- Graduate research assistant (2016-2017)
- Natalie is now completing her clinical fellowship at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas
- Abby Oliver, BS
- Undergraduate research assistant (2014-2017)
- Abby is now completing her MS in Speech Pathology at Purdue.
- Naomi (Mia) Dreyer, MS, CCC-SLP
- Graduate research assistant (2014-2016)
- Mia is now an SLP in California.
- Lucia Figueiredo-Mourao, PhD
- Post-Doctoral Researcher (2014-2016)
- Lucia is a Professor at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas in Brazil.
- Pratik Kashyap, BS
- Graduate research assistant (2015-2016)
- Pratik is a PhD student at the school of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue.
- Kausar Abbas, PhD
- Graduate research assistant (2015)
- Kausar is now a faculty member at the University of Management and Technology in his home country, Pakistan.
