Meet The Lab! CCANDL PhD Students and Postdocs

Highlighting the postdocs and Ph.D. students driving our research forward at CCANDL:

– Deling He

– Madeline Hale

– Hayley Olson

– Amanda DeWitt

– Phoebe Crumpton

We appreciate all the hard work they put into supporting the lab, and we’re so lucky to have them!

Purple floral background Meet The Lab! PhD Students and Postdocs CCANDL
Purple floral background Deling is a postdoctoral researcher in the lab who recently earned her Ph.D. degree in CS&D from the University of Memphis. She is passionate about incorporating multidisciplinary research to understand the sensory-motor neurocognitive processing of speech (e.g., neural oscillations, speech rhythms, semantic memory). Currently, she is focusing on the early acoustic speech changes of natural spoken language for the risks of Alzheimer’s disease as well as the underlying neuropathological and cognitive mechanisms. She is also interested in fostering open-access research and promoting diversity and inclusion in the academic community. Deling He
Purple floral background Madeline received her B.S. degree from the University of Texas at Dallas, double majoring in Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology and Neuroscience. She is currently a student in the MS/PhD program in Speech-Language Pathology at UW-Madison. Madeline is interested in studying the cognitive-communication changes that result from neurodegenerative disease, specifically in AD dementia. She is especially interested in investigating measures of fluency as a possible early detection tool for subtle cognitive changes along the disease spectrum and their relation to AD biomarkers. Madeline Hale
Purple floral background Hayley received her Bachelor of Science from the University of Kansas in Neuroscience with a minor in Linguistics in 2020. She is currently a student in the Ph.D. program in Communication Sciences & Disorders at UW-Madison. Hayley is interested in studying testing measures of language in persons with Aphasia and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), neuroimaging to understand language organization in the brain, and fluency as it pertains to early detection of AD. She is also interested in increasing access to research in underrepresented groups and diversifying AD research. Hayley Olson
Purple floral background Amanda holds a BS in CS&D and an MA-LIS with a concentration in Data Management and Analytics, both earned from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Prior to doctoral study, she served as academic staff on multiple interdisciplinary research teams focused on investigating the relationships between behavioral, biological, and social-contextual factors and cognitive and neuropathologic outcomes in ADRD. Her research interests include speech and language change in the context of ADRD, robust and accessible speech-language based cognitive assessment techniques, and the relationship between social determinants of health and cognitive outcomes. Amanda DeWitt
Purple floral background Phoebe (she/her) is a certified SLP and a doctoral student in the CS&D department at UW-Madison. She earned both her B.A. in CS&D and her M.S. in SLP from UW-Madison. Phoebe completed her SLP clinical fellowship at the New Mexico VA Health Care System in Albuquerque. She has worked clinically with patients across the lifespan in both medical and educational settings. Her research interests center on identifying effective, modified counseling strategies for individuals with cognitive-communication disorders and their care partners, particularly those affected by AD and ADRD. She is also interested in the development of an evidence-based counseling protocol tailored for SLPs. Phoebe Crumpton