Our project brings together researchers, educators, and staff committed to increasing diversity in the linguistic sciences. The team investigates the linguistic choices underrepresented minority students make as they navigate higher education, integrating research with hands-on mentorship.
Project Leadership
The REU site is funded through the NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Sites program in the SBE Directorate (award number 1757654), with additional support from the University of California UC-HBCU Initiative. Faculty leads guide scholars through research on language and social mobility.
Research Mentors
Scholars work closely with faculty mentors across linguistics and related disciplines. Mentors provide training in data collection, analysis, and academic writing while supporting each student's independent research project.
Welcoming Tracy Conner, PhD, CCC-SLP
We are pleased to welcome Tracy Conner, PhD, CCC-SLP to the team. Dr. Conner brings expertise in speech-language pathology and a strong commitment to advancing diversity in the language sciences.
Meet Our Scholars
Learn more about the undergraduate researchers who have participated in the program:
The project's central mission is to widen the pathways into the linguistic sciences for students from historically underrepresented backgrounds, particularly those attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions. Through a structured summer research experience, undergraduate scholars learn to gather and analyze sociolinguistic data, conduct interviews, and document the ways language shapes educational and social mobility. The program pairs each participant with faculty mentors who guide them through the research process from initial question to public presentation. Beyond the technical skills of linguistic analysis, scholars develop professional competencies that serve them well in graduate school applications and future careers in academia and beyond.
The research focus on language and social mobility sheds light on the linguistic choices that minority students make as they navigate college life, revealing how these decisions intersect with identity, belonging, and academic success. By examining real speech samples and interviewing participants about their experiences, the project generates findings with direct implications for teaching practices and mentoring approaches across higher education. The broader impacts extend beyond the individual scholars, as the program builds a more diverse and representative community of linguistic researchers whose varied perspectives enrich the field. This work demonstrates how rigorous scientific inquiry can serve both academic knowledge and social benefit.