The first blog of my life

Hey everyone,

My name is Tyler, and I'm a rising senior at Cornell University. I'm majoring in Biological Sciences with a concentration in molecular and cell biology. This summer I'm working at the Sackler Institute at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University, and I have just finished my first week there. The institute's summer project is to collect data on a number of children from the New York City area that will ultimately identify relationships between brain development and language attainment. My focus area of the research will be to run eye-tracking experiments linking eye movement to brain processing and speech perception. I will be running these experiments with monolingual children between ages 6-18, and look forward to working with them! After much of my data collection, my aim is to find correlations between (ab)normal development of the brain, its effect on speech perception and the differences in socioeconomic status. Moreover, this research will provide insight into various reading disorders such as dyslexia and their relation to socioeconomic status. For instance, in families with compromised financial situations, time and resources spent on reading and other learning experiences may be jeopardized. This will adversely affect the brain's development at a young age, compounding one's disadvantaged status at a very young age.

I'm looking forward to my summer experience!