Nicole Mirea, PhD

I will soon be starting a new role as a Data Scientist at Plinth Analytics!

Background: In 2022, I earned my doctorate in Linguistics with a specialization in Cognitive Science from Northwestern, working with Dr. Matt Goldrick. My graduate work investigated how language learners use what they already know to help them learn sound patterns of a new language, through experiments with both human participants and deep learning models. I also analyzed survey data for social good in partnership with Bilingualism Matters Chicago and graduate student organizations at Northwestern. In 2020, I did a summer data science internship at Duolingo, where I worked with a cross-functional team to identify learning strategies employed by users and assess their effectiveness. Before graduate school, I was a front-end web developer/designer for UCLA’s Center for Tropical Research and Institute of the Environment & Sustainability.

Name: In English, my full name is pronounced [ni’kʰɔl ‘miɹə]; my last name rhymes with “lira.” It comes from Romanian, which is one of my two native languages, alongside English.