Meet Our Students

Rose Baker

Rose Baker is a second-year doctoral student and linguist who hopes to focus her research on the intersection of social communication, neuroscience, and linguistic theory. She received her BA from Gordon College in Massachusetts and has experience working in minority language development. Her current work focuses on speech accommodation theory, neuroscientific methods such as EEG and pupillometry, and communication with older adults or nonnative speakers of English.

Shailesh S. Gardas

Shailesh S. Gardas earned his BS and MS in Physical Therapy with concentration in neurorehabilitation from Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Nashik, India. Shailesh is a third-year doctoral student. His research interests include exploring novel rehabilitation approaches utilizing newer technologies and their influence on the brain structure and functional recovery in children with neuromotor disabilities.

 

Imani Gilbert

Imani Gilbert is a fourth-year doctoral student. She received both her BS and MS from East Carolina University. Imani’s current research interests are related to speech imaging and anatomical correlates of speech production. She is also passionate about the scholarship of teaching in learning within the field of communication sciences and disorders.

Ankur Padhye

Ankur Padhye is a third-year doctoral student and licensed physical therapist. He earned his BS in Physical Therapy from Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, India, and his MS in Health Sciences from the University of Indianapolis. Ankur’s research interests relate to movement analysis of sports injuries and injury prevention. Currently, his research is directed towards understanding foot biomechanics in the athletic population.

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Amber Faircloth

Amber Faircloth is a first-year doctoral student and speech-language pathologist. She received both her BS and MS from East Carolina University. Amber’s research interests include understanding contributing factors to the experience of stuttering and developing clinician-friendly tools and treatment methods for people who stutter.

Taylor Snodgrass

Taylor Snodgrass is a fourth-year doctoral student and craniofacial SLP at ECU’s clinic. She received both her BS and MS from West Virginia University. Her research interests include anatomical and physiological variations of the velopharyngeal mechanism, speech outcomes in children who present with speech sound disorders secondary to cleft palate, and surgical outcomes related to craniofacial anomalies.

Kiavash Sharifi

Kiavash Sharifi joined Dr. Meardon’s lab group in the Fall of 2024. He has a background in Biomechanical Engineering. He earned his M.Eng. in Biomechanical Engineering and B.Eng. in Biomedical Engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Iran. His master’s research focused on the biomechanical behavior of the lumbar intervertebral disc under repetitive compressive loading, using experimental and computational methods. His research interests include movement analysis, orthopedic biomechanics, and musculoskeletal modeling related to treating and preventing musculoskeletal injuries.