I completed my Ph.D. in February, 2009, working under Julia Hirschberg in the Spoken Language Processing Group, affiliated with the Natural Language Processing Group of the Department of Computer Science at Columbia University.

My dissertation, Detecting Deception in Speech, examines methods for the automatic detection of deception in speech. My interests also include emotional speech in human-computer interaction; the relationship between intention and emotion in speech; the relationship of empathy to natural language understanding; and the potential application of lessons from the performing arts process to the study of these areas. Before beginning graduate work at Columbia, I was a professional performer, working both as a stage actor and a classical singer, and concurrently ran a business developing workflow solutions for graphic arts environments in the advertising sector. I am a graduate of Boston University's School of Music, and Trinity Rep Conservatory in Providence.