I am a linguist primarily interested in integrating metaphor and methodology from evolutionary biology into the study of language change.
My research agenda addresses questions of historical linguistics with both traditional methods of comparative linguistics and quantitative methodology from computer science and biology (particularly phylogeny with Bayesian inference). I'm a graduate of Penn State and currently a student in the linguistics doctoral program at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
As a scientist who values empirical evidence, I primarily work with data from Icelandic—a North Germanic (Indo-European) language noted for its apparent low degree of formal shift—and Diidxazá—a Zapotec (Oto-Manguean) language spoken in Oaxaca, Mexico.
In addition, in no particular order I'm quite interested in linguistics in literary analysis, computer networking & hardware, tea, anything involving fermentation, puns, computer gaming, and marine biology (particularly reef chemistry).