Jessie Schwab

Jessie Schwab

Department Psychology
Faculty Adviser Casey Lew-Williams
Year of Study G3
Undergraduate Institution Georgetown University 
Undergraduate Major Psychology

 

Personal Bio I grew up in the Bay Area but went to college in Washington, D.C. I also studied abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark (which was amazing!) and lived in Chicago for a year before coming to Princeton. When I’m not doing research in the Princeton Baby Lab, you can probably find me throwing a study break for my zees as an RGS at Forbes, teaching classes as part of the Prison Teaching Initiative, binge-watching shows on Netflix, or having a board game night with friends.
Fun Fact I’m obsessed with finding deals on Groupon, especially for fun random activities (my previous purchases include skydiving, a segway tour, and an Aziz Ansari comedy show).
   
Research Keywords Child development, language acquisition, word learning
Research Pitch Human infants possess an incredible ability to quickly and efficiently learn language. How do infants go from listening to all of the crazy noise and sounds around them to eventually being able to understand our complex communication system? I study this process of language acquisition in babies and toddlers. Specifically, I'm interested in how differences in the speech that young children hear influence their ability to learn new words. While the main goal of this research is to develop a scientific understanding of the language learning process, it also has implications for improving policy and practice in order to help caregivers, teachers, and clinicians better support children’s language development.
   
Meet and Greet 10/12  
Meet and Greet 10/13 No, I will not attend
Meal for Mentoring 11/14 No, I will not attend
Meal for Mentoring 11/15 Yes, I will attend