K-CORE – Laura Spinu

Kingsborough Collaborative Research and Conference Bootcamp

K-CORE’s overarching goal is to train students to conduct collaborative experimental research projects and present them at conferences, providing STEM exposure and hands-on experiential training. K-CORE student research projects receive constant guidance from one or more faculty members and experienced student aides. Participants work in groups and submit abstracts to various conferences focusing on speech and language research. Students from any major are welcome to participate, as long as their projects address a speech/language-related topic.

Apply HERE

What is a K-CORE?

Image reproduced from the elegantly designed website Chaos Like Home.

We chose our name based on an acronym+blend of the words behind the concept: K(ingsborough)-CO(llaborative) RE(search). The term describes a mathematical concept, one that we loved right away. In particular, “The concept of a k-core was introduced to study the clustering structure of social networks” and this is exactly what we are, a network, a group of interconnected people who are learning from each other and working together towards many common goals. Our group grew from a 1-core to a 2-core, to a 18-core at the moment, and we will all see what’s next. If you are interested in joining us, please read the info on the Joining K-CORE page and then submit an application for the next cycle of the program. Feel free to contact us with any questions that you may have.

Current Research Assistant

Aspen Shearer is a graduate speech-language pathology student at Brooklyn College and the current Research Assistant for K-CORE. She holds a B.A. in Italian and Linguistics from Binghamton University and brings extensive experience in academic coordination, language-focused research, and supporting both students and faculty across research and instructional activities.

Collaborators

The K-CORE program benefits from a network of national and international collaborators, including scholars from Stony Brook University, the French National Centre for Scientific Research, and Nicolae Bălcescu National College in Romania. United by a deep commitment to mentoring and inspiring the next generation of researchers, these partners bring a passion for student-centered collaboration that continues to enrich K-CORE’s interdisciplinary and cross-cultural learning environment.

Gabriela Georgescu, Teacher, National College “Ion C. Brătianu”, Pitești, Romania
Jiwon Hwang, Assistant Professor, Department of Asian & Asian American Studies, Stony Brook University, New York, USA
Laura Muscalu, Lecturer, Department of Psychology, Ithaca College, New York, USA
Florin Spinu, Chief Technical Product Manager, PivotalPath, New York, USA
Ioana Vasilescu, Research Director (DR2), French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS),
Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Digital Sciences (LISN), Université Paris-Saclay, France

Selected papers first-authored by K-CORE students

Hanini, R., Spinu, L., Rafat, Y. and Alkhudidi, A. Childhood language exposure: does early experience affect sound perception and production in speakers with reduced language proficiency? Rao, Rajiv (ed.). Forthcoming (late 2022/early 2023). The Phonetics and Phonology of Heritage Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dugaillard, B., & Spinu, L. (2019, December). An investigation of articulatory skill in monolingual and bilingual speakers. In Proceedings of the International Symposium on Monolingual and Bilingual Speech (pp. 31-37).
Mosseri, N., & Ortega, J. A gamified approach to teaching the expression of emotion in English to native speakers of tone and stress languages. ESSLLI & WeSSLLI, 149.
Ciccone, M., Hanini, R., & Sciannantena, M. A Cross-Linguistic Examination of Geminate Consonant Attrition. ESSLLI & WeSSLLI, 173.

Selected conference presentations by K-CORE students

2024

The 187th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America
- The connection between articulatory skill and higher-level executive function in monolinguals and bilinguals
CUNY GC Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences Student Research Poster Day
- Exploring Articulatory Skill in Monolinguals and Bilinguals: An Ultrasound Study
- Is there is an additive effect of speaking more than two languages on the performance of mental arithmetic tasks?
- Examining the role of variability In L2 phonetic training

2023

The 184th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America
- Exploring bilingual effects on iconic memory using 2D and 3D visuospatial recognition tasks
CUNY GC Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences Student Research Poster Day
- Research with Wordle: does slower bilingual performance on lexical decision tasks carry over to more holistic tasks involving word retrieval?
- Does articulatory skill differ by gender?
- Childhood language exposure: does early experience affect sound perception and production in speakers with reduced language proficiency?The role of sensorimotor mechanisms in phonetic and phonological learning
- Exploring bilingual effects on iconic memory using 2D and 3D visuospatial recognition tasks
- Learning a novel accent: does specific language background modulate phonetic and phonological learning in bilingual speakers?