Dr. Meghan

Dr. Meghan is an Associate Professor of Linguistics at Stanford University, with a cross-disciplinary specialization in speech, language variation, and cognition. Her work tests predictions of and contributes to the development of a dynamic adaptive socially-anchored model of the human comprehension system – in other words, she is figuring out how we all understand one another as quickly and adeptly as we do, and how how we sound as individuals influences that. She received her BA in Anthropology, PhD in Linguistics, and an NIH NRSA Postdoctoral Fellowship in Cognitive Psychology. In addition to those core areas, her current collaborations include work with scholars in medicine, computer science, and various community partners. This varied background has been the foundation of her cross-disciplinary research program and has informed her approach to education and mentoring.

She has served as an undergraduate pre-major advisor, graduate admissions chair, laboratory director, and has been a panelist for various funding agencies. She is a seasoned mentor with nearly two decades of experience in research and implementation (e.g., time management, aligning experimental designs with research questions, dissemination, funding), communication (e.g., audience-designed talk and materials prep, communicating with committees, partners, collaborators), grant proposal development, and preparing students for graduate and professional schools and/or academic and non-academic positions.

Her favorite part of working at Stanford has been student mentoring. As an undergraduate, she had no clue what graduate school was, and one single professor changed the course of her life by taking an interest in her and suggesting she apply to graduate school. She took with her the idea that a single person can have a huge impact on the life of another, if we take the time to engage. Once at Stanford, meeting with her students weekly and growing a thriving, nurturing and productive community, she found herself conducting impromptu advising sessions with various undergraduate students, graduate students, postdocs, and junior faculty at conferences, school visits and even non-professional social gatherings. Her passion for student growth and empowerment follows her everywhere.

As a first-generation student from a low-income background and the mother of a child with a disability navigating the accommodations landscape, she is highly sensitive to the gaps, biases, and expectations in educational settings and is consistently working toward finding ways to address them in her own classroom, mentoring style, and at colleges and universities more broadly. For example, she has recently partnered with Stanford Impact Labs to find ways to improve accommodations for students who have experienced childhood trauma. Scientific rigor, curiosity, creativity, empathy, straight (but kind) talk, and a growth-mindset are her hallmarks. She is genuinely excited about any opportunity she has to pass on what she has learned in her personal and professional pursuits.