The Bilingualism and Language Development Lab (BiLD Lab) represented the National Science Foundation at the 4th Annual USA Science and Engineering Festival in Washington, DC.
The BiLD Lab (PI: Janet van Hell, co-PI: Ping Li) was one of only 26 NSF-supported projects, and one of the only two arts and humanities projects, to be selected to showcase its research in the NSF’s Exhibit Pavilion. Researchers in the BiLD lab study the neurocognitive processes related to language development, second language learning, and bilinguals’ use of two languages, with a particular emphasis on language development and bilingualism at middle childhood and beyond.
“This festival gave us the unique opportunity to showcase how we conduct research on second language development and bilingualism using neuroscience techniques and highlight the value of interdisciplinary research by bridging neuroscience and humanities,” noted Janet van Hell, professor of psychology and linguistics, director of the linguistics program, and director of the BiLD Lab. “This was an excellent outreach opportunity to demonstrate the broader impact of research.
“The children were highly engaged and curious to learn more about the brain. Our team of all-female researchers (postdocs, graduate and undergraduate students, with multi-cultural background) also reflected the diversity of the scientific community and showed these children that women are actively and successfully involved in STEM research.”
For more information, see the full news story at Penn State News.