Chengjie (Gary) Huang is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences at University of Maryland College Park. His primary interest is in how sensory systems utilize various strategies to solve problems encountered in the environment. Trained as an animal physiologist in his Ph.D. at McGill University and his first postdoc at University College London, he investigated questions pertaining to the electrosensory system in Weakly-electric Fish and the auditory system in the Mongolian Gerbil respectively. Here at UMD, he is interested in extending his work to the human auditory system, focusing on simultaneous electrophysiology and pupillometry measurements to understand how the brain processes speech sounds and the role of listening effort in age-related hearing loss individuals.

Mary Almae joined Dr. Goupell’s APM lab in the summer of 2024 as the lab manager. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience and Biology from St. Mary's College of Maryland. Mary Almae facilitates the lab’s post-award grant management, ensuring the lab runs smoothly on a daily basis. Being in this role, Mary has found interest in the field of Research Administration and hopes to build her career in this scientific field.

Paul Mayo received his Doctor of Clinical Audiology degree from the University of Maryland in 2023 and Masters in Audio Engineering from Belmont University in 2018. He spent his audiology externship with the Hearing Research Program (PI: Judy Dubno) at The Medical University of South Carolina, where he performed clinical tests for a longitudinal study of age-related hearing loss and developed machine learning models for interpreting handwritten audiograms. His engineering work involved nonlinear systems modeling, algorithm design, and audio signal processing. Paul's current research interests include digital signal processing, cochlear implants, sound localization, fine structure processing, and auditory neuroscience.

Obada AlQasem came to the University of Maryland College Park in 2022 to pursue a PhD in Hearing and Speech Science. He is a practicing audiologist, and he previously earned an MSc in Advanced Audiology from the University of Manchester (2020) and a Bachelor’s in Hearing and Speech Sciences from the University of Jordan (2013, 2017).

Angelina Bilokon is currently a PhD student at the University of Maryland. Her focus of interest is in auditory processing and hearing loss due to auditory trauma. She is working in the Auditory Perception and Modeling Lab as a graduate research assistant for the binaural hearing project.

Erin Doyle is an Audiology student in the lab. She graduated from the University of Maryland with her B.S. in Neuroscience in 2022 and joined the lab soon after. She is currently involved in research investigating the effects of aging on the auditory system.

Natalie Field is an Audiology student in the lab. She graduated from the University of Maryland with her B.A. in Hearing and Speech Science in 2023. She has an interest in tinnitus and hyperacusis research. She is currently involved in APM's pupillometry studies and investigates listening effort in individuals with cochlear implants.

Megan Hallihan is an Audiology student in the lab. She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2024. She is a research assistant for the binaural hearing project.

Jillian Keng is an Audiology student at the University of Maryland. She holds a double major in Foreign Languages and Business Management from National Sun Yat-sen University in Taiwan. She also earned a Master's degree in Teaching English as a Second Language from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she developed an interest in audiology. Currently, she is engaged in research focusing on binaural hearing in cochlear implant users.

Vanessa Reyes is an undergraduate research student in the lab. She is a Junior Hearing and Speech Sciences major and an Art History minor. She is a member of the first ever REACH cohort, recently joining the world of research in the fall of 2023. She is interested in a future career in Clinical Audiology and hopes to pursue a specialty in pediatrics. Her research interests include temporal processing and speech perception among adults who wear cochlear implants.

Milana is an undergraduate student studying Physiology and Neurobiology at the University of Maryland. She has plans to work in the medical field in the future and has recently joined the lab, where she is currently assisting in research investigating the effects of aging on the auditory system.

Morgan Platnick is an undergraduate student studying Hearing and Speech Sciences with a Disability Studies minor. Currently, she is working on her Honors thesis studying methods to reduce contralateral interference for adult cochlear implant users.

Gerald Tabe is an undergraduate student in the lab. He is a Neuroscience major, interested in pursuing a career in medicine and research. He currently studies speech processing and listening effort in older adults with normal hearing and hearing loss. He loves interacting with participants, listening to their insights after each experiment, and dissecting other literature in the field of audiology.

Emma Jenkins is an undergraduate senior studying Hearing and Speech Sciences and Psychology. She wants to pursue clinical audiology and has special interests in older adults and hearing aids. In the lab, she is involved with a binaural hearing research project.

Featured Alumni

Jordan Abramowitz

Mikayla Abrams

Ginny Alexander

Pallavi Atluri

Seren Avenilla

Taylor Bakal

Mary Barrett

Regina Baumgärtel

Reem Bechara

Taylor Beinke

Owen Bitner

Golda Bonaparte

Sarah Brightcliffe

Kristen Carlson

Erin Catob

Allison Choi

Ashley Chwastyk

Hannah Cohen

Milena Costantino

Stefano Consentino

Marina Cox

Shelby Creelman

Marjan Davoodian

Bailey Dibella

Sara Dougherty

Kyle Easter

Daniel Eisenberg

R. B. Ellis

Lauren Evans

Rebecca Farrar

Sarah Ferrell

Stephen Fong

Madeleine Frechette

Dayna Gager

Casey Gaskins

Alyssa Giammetta

Peyton Gomes

Brisia Gonzalez

Samantha Green

Kia Griffith

Kelly Hanscom

Daeja Harvey

Allison Heuber

Matthew Jiang

Hannah Johnson

Kylie Kelleher

Becca Kelly (Higgins)

Yuri Kim

Danielle King

Elizabeth Kolberg

Nishani Kuruppu

Patricia Laramore

Marie-Elise Latorre

Emily Leavitt

Tori Levi

Gavin Mahoney

Anna Martin

Liz McAllen

Abby Means

Kelly Miller

Angelo Molina

Debbie Moon

Ani Mosinyan

Udoka Oji

Leila Oyekola

Alexandra Papanicolaou

Anika Peshwa

Sasha Pletnikova

Alicia Proctor

Elisa Rademacher

Rachel Raqueno

Lindsay Roberts

Madison Rolf

Beth Rosen

Philip Saunders

Alanna Schloss

Sarah Shin

Matan Simhi

Roksana Soleimanpour

Olga Stakhovskaya

Madison Suarez

Supreeta Subramanian

Laura Taliaferro

Paige Tunic

Emily Waddington

Arifi Waked

Erin Walter

Marti Weiner

Sarah Weinstein

Tracy Wilkinson

Lauren Wilson

Adelia Witt

Sen Xu

Calli Yancey

Madeline Yoder

Erin Young

David Yun