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Hello there!
My name is Shai ('shy') Nielson and I am a Linguistics and Cognitive Science joint PhD Candidate at UC San Diego. Broadly, I am interested in sign language linguistics from a psycholinguistic perspective. My main focus is on the effects of late first language acquisition on phonological processing in American Sign Language. I am also doing work on cross-linguistic sign language phonological typology. If you would like to learn more, please check out my research page.
Outside of research, I am a strong advocate for equitable and student-centered education and am the co-facilitator for the Anti-Racist and Inclusive Linguistics Pedagogy Learning Community in my department. You can find out more on my teaching page.
You can also look at my CV, find out how to reach me, and see what I've been up to lately (see Announcements below).
Announcements
July 2024
In addition to being accepted for a poster presentation at the Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD 49) in November 2024, Shai received a Paula Menyuk Travel Award to attend the conference in person.
June 2024
Shai was accepted for a stage presentation at the Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research (TISLR 15) Conference in Addis Abba University in January 2025 for her work, "Effects of Late Age of Acquisition on Phonological Perception in American Sign Language".
After 42 hours of advanced pedagogy training, Shai received the Certificate of Completion in Student-Centered College Teaching & Course Design from the Teaching and Learning Commons at UCSD.
February 2024
Shai was awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Linguistics Program Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement (Ling-DDRI) grant to fund her dissertation research on "Late first language acquisition effects on phonological processing in American Sign Language". This grant will fund her behavioral and neuroimaging studies investigating how late first language signers produce, perceive, and process phonology in ASL.
December 2023
Shai was awarded a National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute on Deafness and Other Communicative Disorders (NIDCD) F31 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards Predoctoral Fellowship to support her doctoral training and dissertation work on "Effects of late first language acquisition on phonological processing in American Sign Language". This fellowship supports promising doctoral candidates and allows them to focus on their research and career development as they finish their PhD and progress into independent researchers.
Shai was accepted into the UCSD Summer Graduate Teaching Scholars program which includes pedagogy training, and mentorship. As part of the program, Shai will be the course instructor for LIGN7 (Sign Languages and Their Cultures) during Summer Session II.
July 2023
Shai was accepted into the UCSD Cognitive Science Interdisciplinary PhD Program (IDP) and upon graduating will receive a joint PhD in Linguistics and Cognitive Science. This program has requirements beyond those of the home department including additional courses, further dissertation committee requirements, and the requirement for an interdisciplinary dissertation to receive the joint degree.
June 2023
At the end of school year celebration, Shai received the Distinguished Achievement in Service Award from the UCSD Linguistics Department for her on-going work in anti-racist and inclusive linguistics pedagogy.
May 2023
After much preparation, Shai successfully advanced to candidacy after submitting and presenting her dissertation proposal as part of the UCSD Linguistics Department qualifying exam.
April 2023
Collaborative work between Shai, UCSD faculty Marc Garellek & Emily Clem, and UCSD Librarian Tamara Rhodes on the creation of a History of Phonetics course from a social justice lens will be presented as a poster at the 20th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS) conference in August 2023.
September 2022
Co-authors Shai and fellow UCSD Linguistics PhD student Rachel Miles gave a stage presentation for their work on cross-linguistic distribution of handshape and presented a poster for their work on cross-linguistic markedness of handshape at the Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research 14 conference in person in Osaka, Japan at the National Museum of Ethnography.
June 2022
After completing the last course requirement, Shai received her Master of Arts (MA) in Linguistics at the end of the Spring 2022 quarter at UCSD, still on her way to get her Ph.D.
After all recorded presentations were submitted to the International Conference on Sign Language Acquisition 4, Shai received the Best Theory Presentation by a Student Researcher award from an independent review panel.
Shai presented on her work looking at age of acquisition effects on the phonological system of ASL signers at the International Conference on Sign Language Acquisition 4, to be held virtually in June 2022.
November 2021
At the 2021 Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD46), Shai presented her latest research titled "Late First Language Acquisition Alters the Organization of the Phonological System of American Sign Language" in poster session 1.
September 2021
Shai was accepted into the UCSD Changemaker Fellowship in Anti-Racist Pedagogy along with UCSD Linguistics Assistant Professor Emily Clem. As part of the fellowship, Shai and Emily will participate in the Anti-Racist Pedagogy learning community and work on their Anti-Racist and Inclusive Linguistics Pedagogy project.
May 2021
After a (covid) year of data analysis and writing, Shai completed and passed her comprehensive exam in the UCSD Linguistics Department with her paper titled "Late First Language Acquisition Changes the Phonological System of American Sign Language".
June 2020
Shai received the TA Excellence Award from the UCSD Linguistics Department for the 2019-2020 school year.
May 2019
For the summer of 2019, Shai was selected as a fellow of the Competitive Edge program at UCSD.
March 2019
Shai is excited to announce her admittance to UCSD's Linguistics Department as a PhD student starting Fall 2019. She will be working with Dr. Rachel Mayberry and the incredible researchers in the Mayberry Laboratory for Multimodal Language Development.