Joe Palana

I graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University in 2017 with a B.S. in Psychology and a secondary in Celtic Languages and Literature. While an undergraduate, I worked as a research assistant in the Snedeker Laboratory for Developmental Studies studying scalar implicature and cognitive load. Additionally, I spent a summer as a research fellow at the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University studying implicit learning in adults with autism spectrum disorder.

After graduating, I traveled the United States for a year, spending a week in each contiguous state exploring amateur comedy scenes, as part of independent research through a Finley Fellowship. After my fellowship, I began working as an applied behavioral therapist for children and adolescents with ASD building on six previous years working with children with various development disorders as a camp counselor and personal care attendant.

I’m very excited to join the CARE team as a research assistant on the POLO project, looking at novel methods for predicting and optimizing language outcomes in minimally verbal children with ASD.

In my spare time, I still perform stand up comedy around New England and enjoy spending time with my family.