Our Team

Dr. Giang T. Pham is a Professor of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. She completed her clinical training in bilingual speech-language pathology at San Diego State University and her doctoral training at the University of Minnesota. Read more about her on the director's page:

Lynn graduated from the University of California of Los Angeles and received her Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry. She had worked for a few biotech companies and her most recent position was a validation specialist at Bavarian Nordic. Lynn is thrilled to join the BDC team and she is looking forward to contributing her research experience to the team.

Linh is a second-year Ph.D. student in the SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Language and Communicative Disorders with concurrent clinical training. She grew up as a bilingual Vietnamese-English speaker and learned the importance of using her languages in different environments. This motivates her interests in research on bilingualism in the context of communication disorders. Her specific research interests include grammatical and phonological development of bilingual Vietnamese-English speakers.

Ngoc is a second-year Ph.D. student in the SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Language and Communicative Disorders. Outside of research, she enjoys hosting social and cultural events as a master of ceremonies (MC), where she proudly shares her Hanoi accent and passion for connecting people through language and culture. This love for communication first brought her to the BDC lab in 2016, when she volunteered to record Vietnamese research materials for a project based in Hanoi. What began as a hobby soon evolved into a research passion—leading her to become a research assistant in 2017, a full-time research specialist in 2021, and now a Ph.D. student. Ngoc finds great fulfilment in contributing to society through research and community engagement. She is grateful for the opportunity to continue growing within the lab and her doctoral program, participating in projects that create meaningful social impact. As she advances in her studies, Ngoc is excited to explore new research directions and further her contributions to the field and society.

Jide is a third-year student in the SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Language and Communicative Disorders. Before entering the program and joining the BDC, he worked for ten years as a bilingual speech therapist in healthcare and school settings across the Bay Area and southern Arizona. His clinical and research interests center on promoting equity in early intervention access, bilingual language development, and the ethic-racial identity development of minoritized children.

Tatiana is a multilingual and bicultural life-long learner. She is presently enrolled in her third year as a PhD student in the SDSU-UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Language and Communicative Disorders. She has worked as a bilingual Speech and Language Pathologist providing school-based services. Her research interests include typical and atypical language acquisition in multilingual populations and culturally sustaining assessment and intervention practices for minoritized populations.

Catarina is a first-year M.A. student clinician in the Speech-Language Pathology program at SDSU’s School of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. She previously studied and worked in child development, where she enjoyed working with various communities to foster safe and educational environments for children in the San Diego area. Growing up as a bilingual child, she continues to be eager to learn about and research multiple aspects of language development in children and how that knowledge can be applied to better help and understand young individuals. She looks forward to continuing her journey in the SLHS field and the BDC lab!

Emily Kim is currently a first-year M.A. student in the Speech-Language Pathology program at SDSU. She fell in love with all things language-related while studying Cognitive Science and English at Pomona College, and has kept up her Spanish skills through regular trips to Mexico City as well as talking to herself in the car. She is interested in the development of appropriate language assessments for bilingual children and hopes to eventually become a certified Spanish-English bilingual SLP. She is also practicing her Korean, but those skills unfortunately pale in comparison.

Thi is an undergraduate student studying Speech Language and Hearing Sciences (SLHS) at SDSU. She grew up in Vietnam and did not start to learn English until she moved to America in her early twenties. She became interested in SLHS after discovering how few people there are to support Vietnamese speakers both in Vietnam and America.

Samantha is an undergraduate student at San Diego State University studying Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences and minoring in Psychology: Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience. She has always been passionate about working with children, a passion that really flourished while she was a gymnastics instructor to students of all ages. Growing up in a Spanish-English bilingual household has strongly shaped her interests and inspired her to be a part of the BDC Lab. She is eager to combine her passion for research with her lived experience as a bilingual individual to contribute to this lab.

Casey is a second-year undergraduate student studying Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. She developed a strong interest in the field through working with young learners with special needs, including those in the foster care system and from diverse cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. She is very excited to deepen her education and research experience through the BDC lab while also connecting more to her Vietnamese culture.

Chuong is a second-year undergraduate student pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Statistics with an emphasis in Actuarial Science with a minor in Computer Science. He grew up in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where he had the opportunity to interact with peers and teachers in English alongside Vietnamese. Ever since moving to the United States as a first-generation immigrant, Chuong has wanted a chance to reconnect with his cultural roots, and is enthusiastic to join the BDC research team as a research assistant to support other bilinguals.