Crow Spotlight: Welcome New Researchers!

We’re excited to welcome our new researchers to the Crow team for AY23-24. Based out of the University of Arizona, North Carolina State University, and Purdue University, our new researchers are focused on writing grants, continuing corpus and repository development, and assisting with Crow’s website redevelopment for the upcoming year.

Our new Arizona researchers:

Dilara Avci is a first-year doctoral student in Second Language Acquisition & Teaching program at the University of Arizona. She completed her Master’s Degree in Teaching English as a Second Language program at the University of Arizona in 2023. She has taught English across diverse backgrounds and age levels including K-12 and college-level English Composition. Her research interests are second language writing and material design with the application of innovative approaches such as genre pedagogy and corpus linguistics.

Bernard Brefo Cassie is a second-year MA TESL student at the University of Arizona. He has taught first-year writing classes at the University of Ghana and is currently a graduate teaching assistant in the writing program at the University of Arizona. His research interests include corpus linguistics, gamification of L2 learning materials and second language writing.

Gözde Durgut is a PhD student in the Second Language Acquisition and Teaching (SLAT) program at the University of Arizona. She holds an MA in TESOL and Applied Linguistics, and is currently teaching First-year Composition at the UofA. Her research interests include L2 writing, corpus linguistics, the applications of AI in language learning and education, as well as learner and user experience research in SLA contexts. Other general areas of interest include human language technology and the intersection of linguistics and computation.

Alona Kladieva is a PhD student in the SLAT program and a teaching assistant in English Composition at the University of Arizona. Her research interests include second-language writing, genre-based pedagogy and gameful learning. She graduated from MA TESL program and has been teaching English for over five years. She used to teach General English and English for Specific Purposes to professional adults and helped students prepare for language proficiency exams in Ukraine. After coming to the US, she volunteered to teach English to immigrants in a non-profit organization. For fun, she likes reading books, listening to true crime podcasts and spending time outdoors.

Wei Xu is a fourth-year PhD candidate in the Second Language Acquisition and Teaching (SLAT) program at the University of Arizona. She holds an MA degree in TESOL and is currently working as Graduate Assistant Director (GAD) for the International Writing Program, English Department. She has taught ESL courses in various contexts and Foundations Writing at UofA. Her research interests include genre studies, multimodal composition, and second language writing.

Our new North Carolina State researchers:

Lindsay DeQuick is an undergraduate student majoring in English at North Carolina State University. Her concentration is in Professional Writing and Rhetoric. She is also minoring in Science Communication. Her research interests include grant writing strategies, website content development, and web/document design. Post-graduation she aims to work in technical writing and eventually specialize in medical writing. In her spare time, Lindsay enjoys singing, playing pickleball, and watching new shows.

Alec Horner is an undergraduate student at North Carolina State University majoring in English with a concentration in Literature. They are also minoring in Japanese Language. They have experience in communications writing and language teaching, and their current research interests include grant writing and website/social media content strategy. They enjoy reading and creative writing.

Our new Purdue researchers:

Sarah Buwick is a junior at Purdue University studying Professional Writing with a minor in Communication. Her career interests include editing, publishing, media writing, and graphic design. In her spare time, she enjoys writing fiction, watching football and baseball, and keeping up with the latest in film and TV.

Naomi Islas is a junior at Purdue University studying Professional Writing with two minors in Organizational Leadership and Law and Society, and is also employed for Purdue Dining and Culinary. In the future, she plans to continue her education in the law and society field. In her spare time, Naomi enjoys writing, reading, and collecting vinyl records.

We’re looking forward to seeing the incredible work our new researchers will do this year!