Principal Investigator
Şeyda Özçalışkan, PhD
Şeyda Özçalışkan is a Professor of Psychology. She received her PhD in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley and worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Psychology Department at the University of Chicago before joining the faculty at Georgia State University. CV_Ozcaliskan_2024
Google scholar
Research.gate
Faculty Page
Graduate students
Irmak Su Tütüncü, MA
Irmak received her BA in Psychology from Ege University in 2019 before joining the lab in Fall 2019. She is working on a project examining cross-linguistic similarities and differences observed in co-speech and silent gestures across different languages. Irmak’s work has been funded by a GSU Scholar Award and by the Turkish National Science Foundation. Research.gate
Adrienne Wyble, MA
Adrienne graduated from Louisiana State University with a BS in Psychology with a concentration in Cognitive Neuroscience before joining the lab in Fall 2023. Her research interest includes the role of nonverbal abilities (gesture, drawing) in the spoken language skills and multi-modal communicative development of children with autism. Adrienne’s work is funded by the Language & Literacy fellowship. Research.gate
Maryam Zilouchian, MA
Maryam graduated from Florida Atlantic University with a BA and an MA in Educational Psychology before joining the lab in Fall 2024. She is interested in the representation of disability in children’s books and the gesture-speech link in children with developmental disorders. Maryam’s work is funded by a GSU scholar award.
Kalyn Lane, BA
Kalyn graduated from Georgia State University with a BA in Psychology before joining the lab in Fall 2024. She is interested in the multi-modal communicative development of children with autism.
Katarina Vozarova, MA
Katarina graduated from Paneuropean University in Slovakia first with a BA and then an MA in Psychology before joining the lab in Fall 2025. She is interested in the multi-modal communicative development of children learning different languages. Katarina’s work will be funded by a GSU Scholar Award.
Emily Peeks, BA
Emily graduated from Franklin & Marshall College with a dual degree in Psychology and Public Health before joining the lab in Fall 2025. She is interested in how educational technologies influence learning and literacy in children, particularly those who are Deaf or hard of hearing. Emily’s work will be funded by a Diversity Scholar Award.
High school, undergraduate and postbac students
CURRENTLY WORKING IN THE LAB: Gabriela De Souza Costa (Honors College), Semira Oluwaferanmi Adegbie; Avani Chandak; Arly Cruz Aboytes (Honors College); Cindy Kim (L&L Fellow); Kaundinya Challa; Salman Rady; Angela Yun (Advanced Honor Psychology), Nazli Guvener
For undergrads interested in research, please fill out the form: RA_form
Lab Alumni
Former Graduate students
Armita Ghobadi, PhD, 2025, Faculty, Barnard College, Columbia University, Google scholar
Ebru Pinar, PhD, 2024, Faculty, Oxford College, Emory University, Research.gate
Sumeyra H. Ozturk, PhD, 2022, Speech therapist, San Francisco, CA Linked In
Stephanie Baumann, PhD, 2022, Faculty, Auburn University Google scholar
Leyla Eghbalzad, PhD, 2021, Faculty, Oxford College, Emory University Research.gate
Valery Mateo Limia, PhD, 2020, Analyst, Florida Institute of Technology Research.gate
Leslie Evans Hodges, PhD, 2019, Research Associate, Board of Regents University System of Georgia Research.gate
Samantha N. Emerson, PhD, 2018, Research Scientist, Aptima Human-Centered Engineering Google scholar
Lauren Stites, PhD, 2016, Senior Research Associate, Georgia Health Policy Center Google scholar
Former Postdoctoral fellows
Himmet Sarıtaş (2023-2024), Research Scientist, Turkey Research.gate
Murat Şengül (2018-2019), Faculty, Nevşehir University, Turkey Google scholar
Kübra Şengül (2018-2019), Faculty, Nevşehir University, Turkey Google scholar
Wojciech Lewandowski (2016-2017), Research scientist, Potsdam University, Germany Google scholar
Nevena Dimitrova (2012-2015), Faculty, Haute école de travail social et de la santé Lausanne, Switzerland Google scholar