Partnerships for International
Research and Education
Partnerships for International
Research and Education

Benjamin Stewart

Benjamin Stewart
2012-2013, Undergraduate Student - Applied Spanish and Russian
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Biography:

I am currently a rising junior in the Schreyer Honors College pursuing a double major in Applied Spanish (B.S. with a focus in Linguistics) and Russian (B.A.), and I am thrilled to be a part of the PIRE Fellowship! In the spring of 2012 I was fortunate enough to be offered a place in Giuli Dussias's lab, and though I was only recently acquainted with linguistics at the time I knew that I had found something remarkable. Initially, I worked under Mr. Jorge Valdes Kroff and examined the effects of gender processing in Spanish speakers. As I became more engaged in research, I found that being able to investigate the scientific foundations of language opened the door to an entirely new take on my majors, and I was fascinated. My research experience in Granada is a culmination of sorts, combining years of Spanish study with all the knowledge of linguistics I've attained thus far at Penn State. I will be working in Dr. Teresa Bajo's lab and using eyetracking to research verb-bias constraints in Spanish-English codeswitchers by manipulating direct object-biased and sentential complement-biased sentences, and I'm more than excited to get going.

When I'm out of the lab and not occupied with schoolwork, I still enjoy keeping myself quite busy. I volunteer for the World in Conversations project as a Conversation Partner and work with international students to improve their English skills, am the President of an emergent a cappella group, sing in the Penn State Glee Club, am a member of the Presidential Leadership Academy (and work with PLA THON as well), and serve as the Vice Chair for a special living option in the Schreyer Honors College (The GLOBE). When I'm completely removed from campus (or when I truly have free time), I relish any opportunity to be outside, be it hiking, camping, or anything else of the sort. I have played guitar for almost seven years now, and I'm a huge fan of zombie/B-movies.