Sara Beach

Education

Ph.D. in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology, Harvard University (in progress)

Ed.M. in Mind, Brain, and Education, Harvard University

M.S. in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, University of Pennsylvania

B.A. in Russian, Williams College

Research Interests

The amazing plastic brain: how it learns to read; how it learns to speak a second language; how training can improve speech and hearing in communication disorders.

Current Projects

I’m thrilled to be rotating in the Aphasia Research Lab. I’m working with Carrie Niziolek to examine speech error correction in people with aphasia using both acoustic analysis and neuroimaging. We hope that insight into auditory feedback mechanisms in this population will lead to effective and individualized rehabilitation options.

Publications

Qi, Z.*, Beach, S.D.*, Finn, A.S., Minas, J., Goetz, C., Chan, B., Gabrieli, J.D.E. (under review) “Native-language N400 and P600 predict dissociable language-learning abilities in adults.” * equal contribution

Norton, E.S., Beach, S.D., Gabrieli, J.D.E. (2014). “Neurobiology of Dyslexia.” Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 30, 73-78.

Saygin, Z.M., Norton, E.S., Osher, D.E., Beach, S.D., Cyr, A.B., Ozernov-Palchik, O., Yendiki, A., Fischl, B., Gaab, N., Gabrieli, J.D.E. (2013) “Tracking the roots of reading ability: White matter volume and integrity correlate with phonological awareness in pre-reading and early-reading kindergarten children.” Journal of Neuroscience, 33, 13251-13258.