People

Director

Elaine J. Francis

• Professor, Department of English and Department of Linguistics, Purdue University
• Ph.D. Linguistics, 1999, University of Chicago
• B.A. Linguistics, 1993, College of William and Mary
• Research interests: syntax, semantics, discourse information structure, psycholinguistics, filler-gap dependencies, word order alternations
• For more information, please see her Profile page. 
• Contact: ejfranci@purdue.edu
• Please note: Elaine Francis regrets that she will be unable to supervise any new graduate students for the upcoming cycle (applying in fall 2025 and entering in August 2026). 

PhD Students

Jingying Hu

• Ph.D. Student, Linguistics, Purdue University
• M.A. TCSOL, 2022, Peking University
• B.A. Chinese Language and Literature / Finance, 2019, University of International Business and Economics
• Interests: Chinese linguistics, second language acquisition, psycholinguistics, predictive processing
• ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jingying_Hu3 
• Contact: hu880@purdue.edu

Yue Li 

• Ph.D. Student, Linguistics, Purdue University
• M.A. Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, 2021, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
• B.E. Electrical Engineering and Automation / English Language and Literature, 2014, Hohai University
• Interests: language production, sentence processing, syntax-semantics interfaces, second language acquisition
• Contact: li4207@purdue.edu

Postdoctoral Researcher

Shaohua Fang

• Ross-Lynn Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of English, Purdue University
• Ph.D. Linguistics, 2023, University of Pittsburgh
• M.A. Applied Linguistics, 2017, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
• B.A. English Education and TESOL (Honors), 2014, Ningbo University
• Interests: psycholinguistics, second language acquisition, processing of temporality, predictive processing in L2, scope phenomena, experimental research methods
• Homepage: https://shaohua-fang.com/ 
• Contact: fang413@purdue.edu

Research Affiliate

• Associate Director, Oral English Proficiency Program, Purdue University
• Ph.D. Second Language Studies, 2021, Indiana University Bloomington
• M.A. Second Language Studies, 2016, Indiana University Bloomington
• B.A. Romance Languages and Literatures, 2011, University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Interests: adult second language acquisition, sentence processing, syntax, wh-dependencies, anaphora
• Contact: krswanso@purdue.edu

Undergraduates

Marley Mack

• Sophomore majoring in Linguistics, Political Science, and French
• Interests: computational linguistics, case law

Lauren Mackenzie Matthews

Graduate Alumni

Vanessa Sheu

• AI Research Associate, Keyword Studios
• Ph.D. Linguistics, 2025, Purdue University (advisor: Elaine Francis)
• M.A. TESOL, 2015, Teachers College Columbia University
• B.A. Comparative Literature, 2009, University of Michigan
• Interests: sentence processing, psycholinguistics, Mandarin heritage speakers
• Homepage: https://vsheu.weebly.com/
• Contact: sheuv@purdue.edu

Josh Weirick

• Sr. Editor, Content Engineering, Digitive
• Former Research Scientist, Cascade Reading
• Former Postdoctoral Fellow, Aphasia Lab, Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Purdue University
• Ph.D. Linguistics, 2021, Purdue University (advisor: Elaine Francis)
• M.A. TESOL, 2016, Central Michigan University
• B.S. English, 2014, Central Michigan University
• Interests: syntactic alternations in English, the syntax-information structure interface, sentence processing, adult second language acquisition, language production and comprehension in aphasia, reading comprehension

Maria Pritchett

• Publishing Director at Read With You
• PhD. Linguistics, 2020, Purdue University (advisor: Felicia Roberts)
• M.A. Linguistics, Purdue University
• B.A. Calvin College
• Interests: sociolinguistics, corpus, corpus for applied linguistics, lexical variation in online reviews, advanced second language writing studies

Carol Chun Zheng

• Senior Faculty Specialist in Second Language Acquisition, National Foreign Language Center, University of Maryland
• Ph.D. Linguistics, 2017, Purdue University (advisor: Elaine Francis)
• M.A. Linguistics, 2012, Purdue University
• B.A. English Applied Linguistics, 2007, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies
• Interests: syntax-semantics interface, psycholinguistics, language processing, structural priming in language production, second language acquisition and pedagogy
• Contact: czheng66@umd.edu

Charles Lam

• Lecturer, English for Academic Purposes, University of Leeds
• Ph.D. Linguistics, 2015, Purdue University (advisor: Ronnie Wilbur)
• M.A. Linguistics, 2007, Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Interests: English for academic purposes, language and culture, formal syntax and semantics, experimental syntax and semantics, digital humanities, corpus linguistics

Ethan Myers

• GenAI Trust and Safety Specialist, Meta; Co-founder of Lyres for Hire
• ABD, Linguistics, Northwestern University
• M.A. Linguistics, 2015, Purdue University (advisor: Elaine Francis)
• Interests: Generative AI ethics and safety, large language models, RPG content creation and team building, ellipsis, complementizers and discourse particles, syntactic islands, evidentiality, language preservation and documentation, minority languages in China

John Hitz

• Professor of English, University of Central Oklahoma
• Ph.D. Second Language Studies, 2012, Purdue University (advisors: April Ginther and Elaine Francis)
• M.S. Applied Linguistics, 1998, Georgia State University
• Interests: Influence of the first language on Second Language Acquisition, Turkish Linguistics, Chinese Linguistics, and the relationship between language processing and grammatical representations.
• For more information, please see his ResearchGate page.

Undergraduate Alumni

 Liz Ancel

• Ph.D. Student at the University of Minnesota and Speech-Language Pathologist 
• M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology, 2018, Purdue University
• B.S. in Speech-Language Pathology, 2016, Purdue University

 Arianna Deldar

Yongjia Deng

• Ph.D. Student in Language Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison
• B.A. in Linguistics, 2024, Purdue University

 Becca Duggan

 Corinne Feight

• Professional Writer/Editor, New York 
• B.A. in Professional Writing, Creative Writing, Photography, 2013, Purdue University

 Xuebo Gong

• Strategic Media Planner, Beijing
• M.S. in Marketing, University of Texas at Dallas, 2018 
• B.A. in Public Relations, 2013, Purdue University

 Austin Keen

• Ph.D. Student in Linguistics, Northwestern University
• M.S. in Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, 2022, Purdue University
• B.A. in Linguistics and Asian Studies, 2018, Purdue University

 Jenna Kuhns

• Technical Services Analyst, Indiana 
• B.A. in Linguistics and Asian Studies, 2016, Purdue University

Ben Riggs

• B.A. in Linguistics, 2024, Purdue University 

Morgan Robertson

 Jiaqiao Cecilia Xiao

• Master’s student in Public Policy, University of Chicago
• B.A. Strategic Communication and Public Relations, 2018, Purdue University

 Anna Zhang

 Miao Zhang

 Zuyang Jerry Zhang

• Ph.D. Student, Waseda University
• M.A. in Linguistics and Cultural Studies, Nagoya University
• B.A. Linguistics, 2019, Purdue University
• Interests: second language acquisition, language typology, syntax, language teaching